Among the reasons why I may not keep this free cable teevee, despite the wonders of good reception and being able to watch reruns of McMillan and Wife on the Hallmark channel is -- oh, well, just read this:
LOS ANGELES - Reality television has officially swallowed the United States whole. Three of the top four TV shows last week were American Idol, Survivor and American Idol again. Actors and writers walk around Hollywood with beaten looks on their faces, mumbling about the Good Old Days when the boob tube was filled with scripted programming performed by actual artists.
I saw a snippet of one of those shows -- I forget which one, they all run together in my mind until they form some Dante-esque vision of hell where there's a stage on an island lit only by huge tacky klieg lights and unpleasant hosts with snide British accents run around with pitchforks stabbing at unattractive half-naked ex-bar-hags who are too busy fighting over some dufous of a guy who is supposed to be a millionaire but is really a postal worker from Cleveland to notice. Unlike many other sad victims (some of whom openly admit, and even seem to celebrate, their addiction) I am unable to watch these shows because I never could enjoy pain. Watching "reality" teevee is like having the air sucked out of your head with a straw through the sinus cavity, or ten-thousand ice cream headaches all at once, or nails scraping along a blackboard amplified to ten thousand decibels. But, to each their own.
(PS: yes, I am tracking back to those persons' weblogs because I am evil.)
Posted by Andrea Harris at May 17, 2003 02:13 PMI blame it all on my 13 year old daughter. I do not hold myself responsible for the pain I endure each week watching the show.
Posted by: michele at May 17, 2003 at 02:47 PMI feel your pain. My younger sister's fascination with Ur-Bad-TV like the Dukes of Hazzard is one of the main reasons I spent most of my childhood in my bedroom.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at May 17, 2003 at 03:21 PMI honestly have a hard time seeing American Idol as "reality TV." I mean, I suppose it is literally that, but all it is is a singing competition. It's not some artificially weird thing like Survivor or Big Brother or Fear Factor or whatever.
Here you have people singing, and competing against each other. If the singers are good--and the crop here is excellent--then what's the difference between that and watching any other singing competition?
I actually think this is excellent television, and find the whimpering of people who want scripted television returned just a little insipid. Especially considering how awful most scripted television is.
Evil One, I still love you, even though you're wrong again. ;-)
Posted by: Dean Esmay at May 17, 2003 at 05:28 PMI count American Idol as a talent show, not "reality TV". The Mole and The Amazing Race I count as games, and pretty damn good games at that. Survivor and Big Brother are just popularity contests.
I hate the last two, but I still watch them all. Hey, I don't need to be consistent.
Posted by: Dave at May 17, 2003 at 05:49 PMI forgot to mention my deep hatred of talent shows. I kind of consider them to be in the same genus as "reality shows" -- being that they star amateurs. Not that I have anything against amateurs -- Broadway stars have to come from somewhere, but in general I consider the making of such to be akin to the making of sausage -- I really don't want to watch.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at May 17, 2003 at 10:15 PMPS: by the way, you guys know I'm being kind of tongue-in-cheek here, right? ;)
Posted by: Andrea Harris at May 17, 2003 at 10:46 PMI would generally agree, except the talent for this particular run of American Idol has been impressively good. Not to mention that the show was screamingly funny during the first few weeks.
Star Search is hideously painful dreck to watch. American Idol is fine television.
But since you made fun of me, I stayed in my room all day and cried. Then I ate some Hagen-Dasz and watched Lifetime for a few hours, then called my mother. I felt much better.
Posted by: Dean Esmay at May 18, 2003 at 05:37 PM