The Lowest Common Denominator

I blame Jerry Springer.

In 1994 - in the name of ratings, of course - the former politician & Phil Donahue impersonator decided to regularly drag his "talk show" (and its guests and audience) through the sludge at the bottom of the barrel.  And a new type of show was born:  The Lowest Common Denominator.  For a while, backbiting and fistfights were reserved ONLY for The Jerry Springer Show.  If you were under-educated and had a beef with someone, typically you had (and still have) a really good shot at your 15 minutes of fame on Jerry's show.  But these days, you have a lot more chances to launch that fame - maybe even get your own show! - and drag out your fame to 26.87269 minutes worth (e.g. the KarmaKarmaKarmaKarmaKarmaKardashians).

Now, I'm a writer.  I understand that entertainment is typically borne out of conflict.  In (most) movies & TV, you don't have a bunch of people just sitting around doing nothing.  Yes - even SEINFELD, the TV show "about nothing" revolved around some sort of conflict.  By definition, both media launch from the notion that things get worse before they get better.

But there's a HUGE difference between scripted, FICTIONAL entertainment, and its unscripted, "non-fiction" red-headed stepbrother.  What we (audience included) have effected from this 17+ year tango with "real" conflict is a generation of Kardashians:  people whose obsession with celebrity pretty much gives them license to be bad and/or to create conflict where conflict may not necessarily exist, up to and including 72-day sham marriages.

Nowadays we have everything from "Real" Housewives to the Snookie Situation (and everything in between) to keep us entertained.  Tattoo bars, baby tiaras, outwitters/outplayers/outlasters...  The list goes on.  Not a day goes by when there isn't a block of programs featuring mud-flinging, bottom-of-the-barrel-dragging real(ly artificial) "reality" playing out in front of the cameras for the promise of fame and (mis)fortune.

What's funny is that - when placed in the field of today's reality fare - Jerry's 1-hour block looks relatively tame....

<<<Filling the spreadsheet, one "real" cell at a time.>>>