Soft Focus with Jena Friedman

Series of TV specials on Adult Swim

Anu Valia (Special 1)
Jena Friedman (Special 2)

Presented byJena FriedmanTheme music composerJosh EpsteinCountry of originUnited StatesOriginal languageEnglishNo. of episodes2 (list of episodes)ProductionExecutive producers

Jena Friedman
Anu Valia (Special 1)
Joshua Cohen
Mark Costa^[a] (Special 1)
Keith Crofford^[b]
Matt Harrigan^[b]

Producers

Griffin Pocock
Paige Boudreaux^[c](Special 2)

Editors

Jon Philpot (Special 1)
Heather Capps (Special 2)

Running time

17 minutes (Special 1)
22 minutes (Special 2)

Production companies

Factual Productions, Inc.
CNT Productions
Williams Street

Original releaseNetworkAdult SwimReleaseFebruary 18, 2018 (2018-02-18) –
January 25, 2019 (2019-01-25)

Soft Focus with Jena Friedman is a series of TV specials created and hosted by Jena Friedman. The first special was aired on February 18, 2018,^[1] while the second on January 25, 2019.^[2] The specials are produced by Factual Productions, Inc. for air on Adult Swim.

A third Soft Focus special was in the works in 2020,^[3] but was ultimately cancelled due to production difficulties stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

Plot

Each Soft Focus with Jena Friedman special starts off with an investigative report segment focusing on a sensitive subject such as rape or online harassment, 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

No.	Title	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	Soft Focus with Jena Friedman	February 18, 2018 (2018-02-18)	N/A
The first segment, titled "Soft Focus Special Report: Campus Rape," draws inspiration from the teen pregnancy crisis by assigning male college students a life-size doll, named Cannot Consent Carrie, to take with them. Friedman tasks the men to take the dolls out and show them a good time. The second segment features an interview with Gilberto Valle, a former police officer known as the Cannibal Cop.
2	Soft Focus with Jena Friedman 2	January 25, 2019 (2019-01-25)	N/A
The first segment, titled "Soft Focus Special Report: Sexual Harassment in Gaming," explores the problem facing women in gaming who are harassed by men. Friedman commissions a virtual reality game to test on male gamers to give them the experience of being a woman in gaming. The second segment features an interview with software entrepreneur and presidential hopeful, John McAfee.

Release

The first episode of Soft Focus premiered on Adult Swim's live video stream on February 16, 2018, was released for on demand 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 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The special would have featured segments on revenge porn and anti-trans bathroom bills.^[4] The bathroom bill segment was later release on Jena Friedman's YouTube channel and features interviews with straight pride activist Don Grundmann as well as transwoman and Cal State LA Professor Talia Bettcher.^[5]

References

^ "Shark Party Media". www.sharkpartymedia.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-17.
^ "Soft Focus with Jena Friedman 2 | adult swim". YouTube. December 17, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
^ Interviewee: Jena Friedman (April 9, 2020). Adult Swim Podcast - 33 - Jena Friedman. AdultSwim.com. Event occurs at 43:34. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
^ ^a ^b Jena Friedman [@JenaFriedman] (June 24, 2022). "This whole thread… I've been following Carrie's work for a while, she's pretty cool. I'm also sad all over again that the revenge porn segment we were working on for Soft Focus 3 got axed due to the pandemic… would have been cool to "educate" my favorite demo of @adultswim bros" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ Friedman, Jena (November 14, 2021). "Soft Focus With Jena Friedman: Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills" (video). youtube.com. Jena Friedman.