''Soft Focus with Jena Friedman'' is a series of

TV special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

s created and hosted by

Jena Friedman Jena Friedman is an American comedian and writer. She is the host of the comedic true-crime series ''Indefensible'' on AMC+. She has been a field producer at ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and has written for ''Late Show with David Letterma ...

. The first special was aired on February 18, 2018, while the second on January 25, 2019. The specials are produced by Factual Productions, Inc. for air on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

. A third ''Soft Focus'' special was in the works in 2020, but was ultimately cancelled due to production difficulties stemming from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Plot

Each ''Soft Focus with Jena Friedman'' special starts off with an investigative report segment focusing on a sensitive subject such as

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

online harassment Cyberbullying (cyberharassment or online bullying) is a form of bullying or harassment using Electronic communication network, electronic means. Since the 2000s, it has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and Adolescence, a ...

, resulting in a social experiment that also functions as a prank. The second half of each special features an interview with a controversial real-life figure.

Episodes

Release

The first episode of ''Soft Focus'' premiered on Adult Swim's live video stream on February 16, 2018, was released for

on demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until ...

streaming shortly after, and premiered on television on Sunday, February 18, 2018. The second special was released similarly, albeit over the course of the same day, with the live stream, on demand premiere, and television premiere all occurring on Friday, January 25, 2019.

Cancelled Special

A third ''Soft Focus with Jena Friedman'' was in the works in 2020, but was ultimately cancelled due to the

lockdowns A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic. The special would have featured segments on

revenge porn Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...

and anti-trans bathroom bills. The bathroom bill segment was later release on Jena Friedman's YouTube channel and features interviews with

straight pride ''Straight pride'' is a reactionary slogan that emerged in the 1980s and early 1990s; primarily used by social conservatives as political stance and response to "gay pride", a slogan adopted by various groups (later united under the moniker LGB ...

activist Don Grundmann as well as trans woman and

Cal State LA California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...

Plot

Episodes

Release

Cancelled Special

References

Notes

External links