All great civilizations before us have had their decline. Ours will be the first to play itself out on television. It will be a reality.
On May 9, 1961, then FCC chairman Newton N. Minow delivered a speech titled "Television and the Public Interest." Here is an excerpt of what he said.
"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.
“But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.
“You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.”
I think it is important to note that Minow said this before 24/7 broadcasting, before an infinite number of channels, and, perhaps most notably, before reality programming. Back then, programming came to a close each day, usually with a prayer. Someone should have prayed harder.
George Carlin included a cut called "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" on his 1972 stand-up comedy album titled Class Clown. When he performed this routine, he was, of course, referring to broadcast television, on which there are now only three words from the list that have still not been used. Needless to say, viewers of cable and other forms of pay television are afforded numerous and frequent opportunities to hear all seven words. Isn’t it odd that while Carlin’s seven words are apparently gaining usage on television, efforts to suppress prayer are on the rise. You can bet it is not because programming no longer comes to a daily close.
Surely Minow would have thought “wasteland” to be a totally inadequate descriptor if he had known back then about reality programming, which I believe to be the bane of the medium that has defined our times. I will admit to enjoying the first seasons of Survivors and Apprentice. Been-there-done-that was the cure after seasons one. I always wished I could dance like I was born to it, so I have watched a little bit of Dancing with the Stars. Watching Tom Delay may have cured me on that one. My admission that I will forever be a fan of George Carlin, his list, and all of his other work as far back as wonderful WINO is enthusiastic. I just threw him in as a humorous measure of change. Besides, the progression of his seven words into usage enables me to freely and correctly identify many reality programming offerings as shit.
There are good stories performed by good actors that are more appealing to me than reality shows. I like fiction. Hell, I write fiction. I like drama. I like Grey’s Anatomy, The Closer, Castle, Brothers and Sisters, and more. I like comedy. I like Two and a Half Men and more. I like books. I’m finishing South of Broad by Pat Conroy and have been wowed by the gentleman from South Carolina. Before that it was Greg Iles’ The Devil’s Punchbowl, and it was the best of an unbelievably good body of work from the man from Natchez. I’m getting excited about The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, mine as soon as Suzie polishes off the last hundred or so pages.
Fiction makes no bones about it. It ain’t real, though it often imitates reality. Reality programming purports itself to be real but is almost always the farthest thing from it. I’d say make it go away, but since it now has its own categories at the Emmy’s, the chances of its disappearance are getting more and more slim.
