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by Kaya Styn We've come full circle. Wacky shows about aliens and talking horses no longer entertain us. Now we crave to watch us sit on a couch and argue. People just like us. With faults. And unwitty comments. And no laugh track to remind us what is funny. It's kind of like what happened to porn a few years ago where "Amateur Porn" became popular. The 'characters' of porn became so outlandish and the scenes so formulaic that we craved to watch our neighbors 'do it'. In bad light. With love handles and blemishes. And awkward camera angles. Then again, there's little in our society that can't be paralleled to the porn industry. So now, we have The Real World, Road Rules, Survivor, Big Brother, COPS, and more. I can't imagine who picks folks for these shows. "Let's see...let's make the abortion doctor room with the priest...and the bi-polar-Nazi-tweaker-beauty queen go on a safari with...no wait...even better, let's just lock her in a room of all mirrors and give her nothing but Boone's Farm Wine and film it."I can't help but think these programming executives were the same people that as kids put a bee and a spider in a jar and shook it up vigorously to hoping to get them to fight. Same principle for these shows, really. You know who I'm talking about...the same people that, in junior high, danced around the two guys squaring off chanting, "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!" One thoughtful guy brought a toothbrush. Which, I might add, they all ended up sharing -- thus benefiting the entire group. Someone else brought a ukulele. A uku-freakin-lele! Are you kidding me?! First week, I'm voting you off. No question. Another person brought The Bible. I respect their beliefs and I think it would be interesting to discuss religion as we say grace before our rat dinner...but as your ONE luxury item!? When we're trying to catch a RAT for DINNER, you know what I don't need? A uke-freakin-lele and a Bible! Bring something we can use, like a fruit roll-up or hand-held electronic slot machine. Or maybe we should turn off the TV and stick to watching bees and spiders in jars.
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