Several years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a movie called ‘Running Man.’ It was a typical action movie with a simplistic plot, wooden acting and far too much violence, but it had one quality that made it an unforgettable movie. It rightly predicted the direction that entertainment would take.
For those of you who never saw this movie, it’s about a policeman who is wrongly accused of a crime and forced to become a contestant on a reality game show in which he literally has to run for his life.
But what impressed - or frightened - me most about the story was the reaction of the fictional viewers. It was the most popular show in the country.
At the time most people thought ‘Running Man’ was just another mindless Schwarzenegger fantasy. But based on what Americans have been watching lately, a ‘Running Man’ reality show could easily be on the television schedule soon.
Our descent into the intellectual abyss of reality television started with ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ Even though Regis Philbin is like fingernails on a chalkboard most of the time, the show had moderate success. But when it was followed with ‘Survivor,’ and the more Richard Hatch ran naked around an island while manipulating his way to a million dollars, the more viewers tuned in.
Granted, there were a couple duds that viewers ignored in droves like ‘Boot Camp’ and ‘Spy TV,’ and for a while there was hope for some sort of intelligent programming - that is, until Ozzy Osbourne’s family blurted out their first @%$#*& on screen.
Suddenly every network was clambering for as many reality shows as they could get. And we got them in droves - and most of which were DOA, I might add, like ‘Around the World in 80 Dates’ and ‘Cupid.’ But unfortunately several of these mind-numbing programs managed to survive, like ‘Fear Factor’ - showing that people will humiliate themselves in unimaginable ways for money, ‘American Idol’ - which is pretty much like ‘Fear Factor’ but with music, and ‘The Amazing Race,’ which I still haven’t figured out what it is about.
The bottom line in all these reality shows is even though they appeal to our basest desires, they do appeal nonetheless. And the networks know this.
NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker said, “You can’t ignore these numbers.”
Now to be fair to Mr. Zucker, this sort of entertainment originally dubbed by the Washington Post as “the summer of sadism” is not really new. The Romans offered up the Christians to the lions on a regular basis because the crowds filled the coliseum to watch.
Four hundred years ago in England bears were chained with a pack of dogs to see which animal survived.
A century ago in America public hangings were community events.
And remember how popular Friday night boxing was on television just 40 years ago?
Zucker and the other Hollywood producers have defended their programs, saying they are only giving people what they want. “The audience is never wrong. They have a huge appetite for this, and we’ve got a responsibility to satisfy that appetite,” according to Sandy Grushow of Fox Network.
So we can expect more - lots more - reality shows this summer. There’s ‘Tuesday Night Book Club’ - something like a real-life ‘Desperate Housewives,’ and ‘How to Get a Guy’ and ‘One Ocean View’ about singles in search of romance, and ‘America’s Got Talent’ - which teams Simon Cowell with Regis Philbin to take humiliation to an even lower level.
Maybe the Puritans were right when they condemned bearbaiting four hundred years ago, not because they were worried about the harm it did the bears, but because of the harm it did those who watched. To take pleasure in another’s misery coarsens us. It desensitizes us. It makes us less than human, they said.
Unfortunately, television viewing, like sewage, runs easiest downhill. It kind of makes you miss the intellectually stimulating programs like ‘The Brady Bunch.’
John Graham is an Advocate Columnist. His column appears each Sunday in the Advocate. He can be reached at jgraham19@woh.rr.com.
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