Just be aware, this is going to be a rant of sorts so I'll understand if you don't bother to finish reading ;)
From my own LJ: "TV progs of that type are not called 'Fly-on-the-Wall' for nothing. Flies are, after all, known for congregating around that sort of material."
I'm saying it definitely IS a positive thing that BB is being axed - but it's a case of closing the barn door after the horse has fled.
Any prog that gets it's ratings from broadcasting, 24/7, groups of scarily fame-hungry social inadequates (or the 'my-agent-said-this-would-restart-my-career' c-class 'celeb') being made to 'perform' for the public makes me very uncomfortable. My feeling is that a lot of these people need help not exposure of their desperation on national TV.
Now TV is filled with hours of wannabe Maria Careys, Ronan Keatings, Josephs and Olivers during prime time while daytime TV suffers a rash of self-appointed, self-important arbiters of all that is decent and moral such as Springer, Kyle, Trisha, etc & etc & ad. inf.....
To my mind, it's a deeply disturbing con trick where one sadly desperate member of the public gets to achieve their 'dream' of fame and popularity (maybe) while hundreds get rejected by the viewing public and the panel of 'judges' in various disparaging and soul-crushing ways. Thing is, the only people who truly gain from these abhorent spectacles are the panel of 'judges' by the exposure/infamy they revel in and the prog makers who rake in the proceeds from getting the public to do all the work for them. Low outlay but massive returns - that's the way to do it!
It's all like some Milgram experiment gone wrong or the 21st C version of the Colliseum (and we all know what that was a symptom of and how that ended for the roman empire). In fact, these progs give viewers the thumbs up/thumbs down power over the fate of the pitiful participants just by dialling a number. How empowering is that to your average joe or jill? How irresistable it is to be able to either mock from afar with our friends the unfortunates we condemn or take some needy inadequate to our bossom because of just how much they are prepared to do in their quest to be 'popular'.
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27/8/09 23:40 (UTC)Just be aware, this is going to be a rant of sorts so I'll understand if you don't bother to finish reading ;)
From my own LJ: "TV progs of that type are not called 'Fly-on-the-Wall' for nothing. Flies are, after all, known for congregating around that sort of material."
I'm saying it definitely IS a positive thing that BB is being axed - but it's a case of closing the barn door after the horse has fled.
Any prog that gets it's ratings from broadcasting, 24/7, groups of scarily fame-hungry social inadequates (or the 'my-agent-said-this-would-restart-my-career' c-class 'celeb') being made to 'perform' for the public makes me very uncomfortable. My feeling is that a lot of these people need help not exposure of their desperation on national TV.
Now TV is filled with hours of wannabe Maria Careys, Ronan Keatings, Josephs and Olivers during prime time while daytime TV suffers a rash of self-appointed, self-important arbiters of all that is decent and moral such as Springer, Kyle, Trisha, etc & etc & ad. inf.....
To my mind, it's a deeply disturbing con trick where one sadly desperate member of the public gets to achieve their 'dream' of fame and popularity (maybe) while hundreds get rejected by the viewing public and the panel of 'judges' in various disparaging and soul-crushing ways.
Thing is, the only people who truly gain from these abhorent spectacles are the panel of 'judges' by the exposure/infamy they revel in and the prog makers who rake in the proceeds from getting the public to do all the work for them. Low outlay but massive returns - that's the way to do it!
It's all like some Milgram experiment gone wrong or the 21st C version of the Colliseum (and we all know what that was a symptom of and how that ended for the roman empire).
In fact, these progs give viewers the thumbs up/thumbs down power over the fate of the pitiful participants just by dialling a number. How empowering is that to your average joe or jill? How irresistable it is to be able to either mock from afar with our friends the unfortunates we condemn or take some needy inadequate to our bossom because of just how much they are prepared to do in their quest to be 'popular'.
There you go - that's my tuppence-worth anyhow :p
Again, sorry if it's 'ranty'...
*hugs*