The Opiate of the Masses

At first I thought this writers’ strike was going to have the unintentional effect of improving society (until we all switch over to Telemundo just because they still have writers). With nothing to watch on TV, families would spend more time with each other, and we would eventually bring peace to the planet.

Unfortunately, I was totally wrong.

What is instead happening is the networks are dusting off all the television shows which were filmed but didn’t make that discriminating cut which such winners as “Caveman” passed. Meanwhile, Fox is rapidly becoming the all American Idol channel, except for the moments it decides to run “classic” episodes of its primetime shows. “See how it all began, with the first episode of ‘House’ this Wednesday” (actual commercial). (I actually do like “House,” but it was just funny the way they tried to make it sound like an ingenious programming selection instead of a desperate attempt to fill a time slot.)

Stay tuned for about a million “new” reality shows, since they don’t need writers. Soon we’ll probably see the likes of The Clock Channel (“Coming up on The Clock Channel—six o’clock!”) and “When Buildings Collapse.”

It’s times like this when I’m proud to be an American. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Mexican soap operas to watch.

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