What kind of world do we live in?

[Seacrest]

decay wrote:
i guess i don't watch much international TV, you are right.

i barely watch American TV!

Me neither.

decay wrote:
so these nimrods, they're ALL highly paid, worldwide?

Not sure.
Simon Cowell makes 9, count 'em NINE figures. (not that he is or isn't a nimrod).

If these people bring in ratings/sell products, then, unfortunately they are worth what the nimrods paying them pay them.
The irony is, American networks started using them because they were cheaper than bonafide "stars".

[hal]

The only things worse than TV today is the TV 'entertainment' news of the day...

turn your tv off!

[decay]

Simon Cowell is the exception - he's a show creator/producer - not a "reality" person like in Big Brother.

http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=314&issue=114

very long (and good) article. one excerpt:

Quite apart from the cost of purchasing the rights to such a successful show, Big Brother has other large expenses. Continuous surveillance of contestants requires a production team of about ‘200 people…including 50 cameramen [sic] and 13 producers’. Celebrity Big Brother has the additional cost that, while the celebrities are not exactly A-list, they still expect substantial fees. Shilpa Shetty was allegedly paid somewhere between £200,000 and £300,000 simply for appearing in the show.

Survivor, which uses exotic locations and is produced up to the standards of primetime US network TV, is also extremely costly for a reality programme. The justification for this expense is that these programmes deliver extremely valuable audiences, which in turn earns broadcasters very large advertising fees.

[morlock]

decay wrote:
Survivor, which uses exotic locations and is produced up to the standards of primetime US network TV, is also extremely costly for a reality programme.

Yeah, I keep waiting for the camera to turn away from the participants cooking lizard-on-a-stick, to show a pudgy grip and a teamster complaining about only having 4 flavors of cream cheese on the craft services table.

[Lux Interior]

$tevie wrote:
You don't have to let these people stink up your life.

[Yoyodyne ArtWorks]

Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.

- E. Roosevelt

We are a nation of small minds.

[hal]

I suspect that if she were alive today, she'd amend it

Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.
The smallest minds discuss reality TV.