June 28, 2010
In my absence from the computer world, I’ve been watching more television. I’ve caught up on my usual shows like Top Chef, The Good Wife, and some brainless TV that shall remain nameless. But in my channel surfing, I happened upon a new reality game show that has me truly appalled.
The show is called Downfall and it airs on ABC…the premise being that contestants have a certain number of time to answer trivia questions; meanwhile several prizes are lined up on a conveyor belt that they can win. Keep in mind that these are relatively big prizes that include grand pianos, appliances, and cars to name just a few. As the time passes and the contestant cannot answer the trivia question, the prizes roll off the conveyor belt and are thrown off the roof of a skyscraper only to break into pieces at the bottom. Yes – the show destroys perfectly good items all in the name of entertainment.
So I have to wonder: is this the kind of entertainment America wants these days? Really? In this terrible economy, with people struggling to make ends meat, do they really find it fun to watch things crash into a million pieces? It’s horrifying to me. It’s unconscionable. But mostly it is sad that the public sense of interest has fallen to such a bitter low. No wonder book stores are closing. No wonder libraries are closing for one day a week. It makes me sick as a writer to think that people are watching that junk on TV because it can only mean one thing: they are not reading or using their imagination.
Creativity has been thrown out the window along with the baby grand piano and the new car I saw fly off the roof. I better get my computer back before I become even more jaded!