American Eyeful
Desperate people doing outrageous things is not my idea of entertainment. Hence, I don't like how reality shows have taken over network TV. (Though if I got a job working on one, I'm sure I'd change my tune.)
But there is one reality show I watch, American Idol. The format is entertaining and the talent shown--singing--is an actual talent the contestants can use. (Very few people make a living searching for food on an island, or sitting in a tube having snakes dumped on them.)
Yet, as enjoyable as I find the show, I still feel a bit queasy the first few weeks. This is where the show winnows out the vast majority of applicants. If you lose on later episodes, at least you have some talent, but in the early shows, the focus is on the hopelessly bad. And not just bad, but those who've fooled themselves into believing they have talent. After they get cut, the show likes nothing better than seeing them complain, or cry. I realize sooner or later these people need to find out they don't have it, but there's something unseemly about 30 million tuning in to watch dreams be crushed.
posted by LAGuy @ 2:41 AM
3 Comments:
[S]chadenfreude \SHAHD-n-froy-duh\, noun:
A malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others.
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2000/05/10.html
Yeah it is wrong. I agree that "Idol" is the best of these shows because it most resembles actual entertainment. But this aspect of the show, which continues through the exaggerated criticisms of Simon Colwell, is not something I tune in for. (Not that I appreciate the exaggerated unctuousness of Paula Abdul either.) It gets further amplified as the "news" plays snippets of "the worst of the worst."
Sorry LA Guy, you're wrong on this one. Watching deluded people is always appealing. My dreams will be the dynamic dreams ever being crushed.
Mr. Anonymous is referring to a famous underground tape where a hopeful yet hopeless guy is trying to convince the recording industry to let him promote huge concerts, though he clearly has no experience in this area. It is funny because his dreams are so grandiose while his chances are nil. But please note 1) it's only an audiotape, we don't actually have to see this dreamer/loser, and 2) we don't dwell on his dreams being crushed--we don't see the crushing, we just hear the dreaming. A TV show where they fool him into pitching his ideas, knowing they're going to reject him, would be an exercise in cruelty.
By the way, I still watch the early episodes of American Idol. It's just during the more humiliating moments that I find it hard to take.
Post a Comment
<< Home