Jun 26
Another Step Closer to the End?
That’s essentially the question posed by The New York Times’ TV Decoder blog, in pointing out that ABC’s new reality series, Wipeout, just became the highest-rated new show of the summer.
The premise of the show, according to the blog, is that families compete for cash and prizes by making their way through a mud-filled obstacle course.
There are those who genuinely think such programs mean society’s destruction who blame the media for that. “If they’d stop showing such awful programs,” these people might say, “things would be a lot better.”
“What things?” I ask.
Will the absence of reality shows make people turn off the television and actually have a conversation with each other? Will their sudden disappearance make folks read a book instead?
Or will they just pick up the remote and find something else?
Wipeout doesn’t sound like the kind of show I’d be remotely interested in. Neither does that CBS show Swingtown that the family groups are having such a hissy-fit about. And the funny thing is, when either of those two shows are on — I couldn’t venture a guess what either show’s regular time slot is — I manage to find something else to watch, anyway.
It’s as simple as picking up that little remote control that’s sitting right there next to you. You know, that little thing you grab every time a commercial break comes on. If you don’t like what’s on, that same little remote works while the show itself is on, too. It doesn’t deactivate itself after the commercial break ends.
Give it a shot.
