A lot of shows on PBS start with little quick 10-second commercials. I just flipped past Antiques Roadshow and saw an add for Lunesta, a prescription sleep aid. The voiceover said “Lunesta is proud to support Antiques Roadshow.”
I thought the voiceover should have said “If Antiques Roadshow doesn’t put you to sleep, Lunesta can.”
If anyone were to ever wonder as to the real depth of human self-delusion and denial, watch the first few episodes of a season of American Idol. I hate this show, as I hate all reality TV, but this part of the show is marginally entertaining, and somewhat worthwhile because of its interesting little window on human nature. The rest of the season is worthless, but during the auditions portion of the show, we get to watch the judges suffer through the Noah’s Ark off-ramp of talentless wannabes. I get a small, sick satisfaction out of knowing that Simon, Paula, and Randy has to sit through infinitely more lousy auditions than they have time to show on TV.
What’s actually interesting are some the people who show up for this. People who apparently have not even a remotely accurate picture of how horrible they sound, how awful they look, or just how ridiculous they are in general. As though there are no mirrors in the world.
I must give the show credit — credit for rejecting people who absolutely deserve it. Opportunity should be universal, but at some point merit has to mean something. Talent has to win out. This sense of entitlement must be confronted. At least this is one place in our public culture where talentless, useless people are confronted for their own ridiculousness.
