5/23/17 The Almighty Buck
Mid 60's and mostly sunny.
Entertainment television is bereft of ideas. Scripted shows are mostly ripoffs and reboots (there are a few quality exceptions, yes, yes I know) and competition shows have spawned the creepiest, ugliest, chill-inducing versions of themselves: the kiddie versions. What the hell though right? Nobody is forcing the parents of America (and around the world) to shove their progeny in front of the camera for a buck. So I'm predicting that it's only a matter of time before we cross that final Rubicon of bad taste: Ladies, gentlemen and people across the gender spectrum I give you The Bachelor: Kids Edition!
Now before you get the Internet cops after me and think I'm suggesting some sort of depraved act I will say to you I am certainly not. However I am aware that in certain cultures arranged marriages are still a thing. So how long before that thing becomes a competition show? Think that's too tasteless? Oh come on, all it takes is time and the desire for filthy lucre. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks there were calls to make that date a holiday and I was (and still am) strongly opposed to this. If Memorial Day has taught us nothing else it's that given enough time people will turn a solemn occasion into an excuse for parties and, you guessed it, sales. People told me that I was nuts, that it would never happen and I said oh just you wait, a generation from now you'll have Wal Mart saying "The towers came down and so did our prices!" Horrible, people said. Ridiculous. Wait, I said, and it didn't quite take a generation for someone to do it.
Yeah, they went out of business but they won't be the last. Just keep waiting. If there's a buck to be made by exploiting something people will do it.
Entertainment television is bereft of ideas. Scripted shows are mostly ripoffs and reboots (there are a few quality exceptions, yes, yes I know) and competition shows have spawned the creepiest, ugliest, chill-inducing versions of themselves: the kiddie versions. What the hell though right? Nobody is forcing the parents of America (and around the world) to shove their progeny in front of the camera for a buck. So I'm predicting that it's only a matter of time before we cross that final Rubicon of bad taste: Ladies, gentlemen and people across the gender spectrum I give you The Bachelor: Kids Edition!
Now before you get the Internet cops after me and think I'm suggesting some sort of depraved act I will say to you I am certainly not. However I am aware that in certain cultures arranged marriages are still a thing. So how long before that thing becomes a competition show? Think that's too tasteless? Oh come on, all it takes is time and the desire for filthy lucre. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks there were calls to make that date a holiday and I was (and still am) strongly opposed to this. If Memorial Day has taught us nothing else it's that given enough time people will turn a solemn occasion into an excuse for parties and, you guessed it, sales. People told me that I was nuts, that it would never happen and I said oh just you wait, a generation from now you'll have Wal Mart saying "The towers came down and so did our prices!" Horrible, people said. Ridiculous. Wait, I said, and it didn't quite take a generation for someone to do it.
Yeah, they went out of business but they won't be the last. Just keep waiting. If there's a buck to be made by exploiting something people will do it.
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