Tonight is the night we move into a new era: for the first time, a television network is putting on not just a story about some of Scientology’s worst abuses — spying on perceived enemies, degrading treatment of workers, splitting up families — but it’s being dramatized in a 1-hour show that pulls no punches.
We’ve seen the whole thing and can attest to the high production values and the respect with which the Investigation Discovery network and its new series “Dangerous Persuasions” is treating Nancy Many, who had one of the most remarkable careers in Scientology.
Let the live blogging begin!
UPDATE 9:05 PM — LESS THAN AN HOUR TO GO … and it looks like we have quite a few people in the comments already as we wait for the show to start.
Here in New York it’s a frigid night and we’re happy to be indoors. We have the ID network fired up on the big screen — it’s in HD on channel 723 on our Time Warner Cable system.
If you’re in Canada (where it’s airing on the History Channel on Friday night) or somewhere else in the world, you may be able to watch at ID’s website, as some of our commenters have pointed out. We’ll try to get more info on that soon.
And here’s a tip: set your Discus (under “discussion”) to “Newest” in order to see the latest comments about what we’re seeing on television.
9:30 PM — HALF HOUR TO GO … Answering some questions: Sorry, Tory, you can’t see the show here on the blog. We’re just “live-blogging” as folks watch the show on their televisions.
Has anyone definitely found a live feed online for those who can’t watch on television?
Oh, this is exciting.
9:40 PM — TWENTY MINUTES TO GO … And Nancy Many got this statement out of the church about tonight’s show…
You contacted us today concerning Nancy Many’s upcoming fictional film. My apologies for not getting back to you earlier.
Nancy Many is attempting to promote her self-published book in which she gives a fictional account of her time in the Church. Ms. Many was removed from her staff position in the Church in 1979. In 1995, after having been off Church staff for 13 years, she suffered a mental breakdown. She admitted that she wrote her book as part of her psychiatric treatment. As far as we know she is still getting this psychiatric treatment.
She has been acting as a source of misinformation ever since. Ms. Many has no current information on the Scientology religion, its parishioners and humanitarian programs.
Anyone wanting to know about the Scientology religion should visit scientology.org.
That’s from Karin Pouw, perhaps the most quotable church spokeswoman of all time. We do love her work.
9:50 PM — TEN MINUTES TO GO … Hey, this ID network is kind of spooky.
HERE WE GO!!
VIEWER ADVISORY: This is Nancy Many’s Story — In her own words
Wow, this looks good on the big screen. Brighter and sharper than the version I was sent for my laptop.
FIRST PART Boston 1971 — Nancy gets sucked in.
Doesn’t Nancy look great?
Don’t do it, Nancy! Run! Run!
“All the books were by one author.” THAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE, NANCY!
THE E-METER! Hey, that’s a great old model, isn’t it?
ROCK SLAM!
“I loved it.” Yes, the hook was sunk deep, like in so many cases.
“Hubbard didn’t have a college degree and look how he’s doing.” Quick quiz for the oldtimers — in 1971, did Scientologists know that LRH didn’t have a college degree?
THE SEA ORG IS ON THE SCENE!
Hey, that guy doesn’t look like he’s been living on only rice and beans.
Nancy sells, sells, sells, or stays up all night cleaning floors. “You worked from morning till night, seven days a week. That was my life.”
HERE COMES THE GUARDIAN’S OFFICE!
Spy for us, Nancy!
FIRST BREAK! Whew. This is going fast.
Did we tell you this thing was well done? OK, here comes Part 2
“She is now a spy for them.”
This is seriously the scariest segment, for me. She was taking home the personnel files of psychiatrists for the GO to copy. Amazing.
“You can do anything as long as it destroys an enemy of Scientology.”
P A U L E T T E C O O P E R !!!
Paulette: “They turned out so much worse than I thought.”
Uh-oh, Nancy lost Paulette!
Paulette, you look so good! She’s such a great interview.
NANCY GOES TO FLAG … This was in 1976, just a year after Hubbard and the Sea Org came ashore.
Sea Org love!
Nancy and Chris Many marry at Flag in 1976. And Nancy got pregnant that night!
The RPF! L. Ron Hubbard had started the RPF just a couple of years earlier while the armada was still at sea.
Uh-oh, a Messenger arrives! This is a great scene.
Nancy’s smirks at the thought of LRH as the next Messiah. How many other Sea Org members were let in on that aborted idea?
CHRIS AND NANCY GO TO THE RPF!
END OF PART TWO
NANCY’S ON THE RPF AT FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT … 40 people living in that space. Yikes.
Life in the RPF. Muster. Rules. Call everyone “sir.” Never alone.
What a striking psychological effect — scrounging for food from leftovers of others. Now that is control.
Another form of disconnection — the way Sea Org members are cut off from other family, even when they’re still in good standing.
Nancy waddles through the parking garage, ashamed of her condition — pregnant, wearing a boiler suit. She was only 25 years old and had been in Scientology for 5 years. “This is the bottom of the bottom of the bottom.”
And yet, she still thinks Scientology is going to make the world a better place.
GETTING OUT OF THE RPF … Nancy waddles around 9 months pregnant, getting signatures. So she only spent about four months on the RPF. Today, people spend years on it.
Back to work at about $20 a week! And now on to… the CELEBRITY CENTRE!
Yvonne Gillham had started the Hollywood Celebrity Centre in the late 1960s. Now, Nancy was running it.
When I asked her for the name of a celebrity she worked with at the time, she mentioned … Jerry Seinfeld! (He took just the comm course.)
END OF PART THREE!
Here we go: Chris and Nancy facing another stint in the RPF. For no reason, Nancy says.
“For me, it was game over.”
Chris says, let’s go. Chills!
The mustard! Remember that, RPF victims! The mustard!
They take their son to a movie theater. Chris: “I had nothing outside the world of Scientology.”
ROUTING OUT? No, Nancy! Run!
Wow, they got off easy. Sinar Parman had to escape FIVE TIMES before he finally told them to forget their “routing out.”
Sounds like Nancy was working as a WISE consultant. A move up from the Sea Org, apparently.
CHRIS, WAKE UP, DUDE!
NANCY FACES HER INTERROGATOR … I’ve talked to one other person who was sec-checked by this woman. But I forget her name now. Anyone know?
Six to 10 hours a day, for 10 days. Amazing.
“My mind had cracked.”
END OF PART FOUR
Nancy’s losing it after 10 days of intense sec-checking.
“She really was broken.” — Great statements from Chris. Together, their testimony is so powerful.
She’s going Type III! Throw her in the chain locker!
A group of Scientologists who considered that the leadership of SCientology had been taken over by the Marcabians with invisible machines — is she talking about Marty?
That was a little joke.
Nancy and her boy make a run for it!
Nancy getting strapped down on a gurney. This is DM’s favorite part.
“They broke her,” Chris says. Devastating.
Chris is ready to go! “I”m not alone anymore,” Nancy says.
“That was the beginning of our way out into the real world.”
“Scientology is all about money. It’s about power. It’s about control.”
Hey, those credits are too fast! Anyone catch the name of the woman who played Nancy?
WOW. WHAT A SHOW.
Whew. I gotta get off that channel. Those other shows give me the willies. What’s Robert Osborne doing? Ah, TCM. All is right with the world.
Steven Hassan has been making some interesting observations. What’s your overall impression of the show, Steve?
Here in the bunker, we wondered if Nancy tended to blame herself too much for things that really were beyond her control.
Any other general assessments, gang?
We’re told that Janet Porter played Nancy. She did a good job!
AS FOR TOMORROW NIGHT — I have been fortunate enough to be invited to a local event celebrating the publication of a certain book here in NYC tomorrow night. So I may not be able to live-blog the NBC Rock Center show. But I will check my schedule on that. New story in the morning.
Thanks all for a great night!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 16, 2013 at 10:35
