By Phil Riske, managing editor
I know my age has something to do with it, but today’s television sitcoms and reality shows are — let’s call it like it is — stupid. They are aimed at a demographic that is, however, not stupid.
So why do people watch such stupidly titled shows, such as “How I met your mother”? Wow, what a great plot.
There is, nevertheless, a difference between stupid and insipid. Worse yet, exploitive.
If you haven’t seen it, I introduce you to “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” starring an obese family and featuring an obese 6-year old girl.
I’ll let a few reviews express my industrial-strength gripe about this form of entertainment:
The Hollywood Reporter pronounced the show “horrifying,” explaining: “You know this show is exploitation. [The Learning Channel] knows it. Maybe even [the stars] know it, deep down in their rotund bodies. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a car crash, and everybody rubber-necks at a car crash, right?”
TV Guide’s “Cheers & Jeers 2012” issue commented, “Jeers to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo for existing. Alana Thompson and her family have lowered the TV bar to new depths, while introducing viewers to the terms ‘forklift foot’ and ‘neck crust.’
My conclusion: Reality TV (which often is staged) needs to find a new direction—down to the cutting room floor of television’s vast wasteland.
