OK. Reality TV has transformed the face of America. Or maybe it just reflects what we have collectively become as a society. In either case, reality TV represents the worst in our culture. It has long been said that the way to riches in entertainment is to appeal to the lowest common denominator. In the last decade or so, the TV networks have raised that creed to a high art form.
Viewers tune in by the millions to watch attractive young people act like buffoons. They watch boorish, uneducated fools with no morals prance around for the cameras. They watch as the institution of marriage is reduced to the same level as a new washer and dryer – a game to be played or a prize to be won.
So since I can’t beat ‘em, I’ve decided to join ‘em. Tell me if this isn’t just as good as at least half the reality shows on the air today. And maybe only slightly more offensive.
The idea came to me the other day when we were watching the classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Why not put six real, but not too dangerous, mentally ill patients in a ward with six actors pretending to be patients. We could watch them go through group therapy, interact in the lounge, go through their one on one sessions with the doctors. All the while attractive young contestants, maybe acting as orderlies on the ward, would try to figure out who was acting and who was really crazy.
Of course, the attractive young people would all live in a dorm together for the duration of the show, maybe right above a bar for maximum drunken stupidity. It has everything. Attractive young people. Degrading and demeaning activities. Psychological games.
I think this could be the next great show in the inevitable slide toward televised executions and gladiatorial-style battles to the death.
What do you think? Too soon? Maybe we should wait a couple of years for the bar to sink a little lower. I’m a patient man and we’ll get there soon enough. I’m still working on a title, but I’m thinking maybe “Crazy or Just Desperate for Fame and Money?”
