By Joshua Shea
If you ever want to feel disconnected from the world, take a vacation just hours after one of the world’s most famous people dies.
I’ve been back from a long weekend to Virginia for my brother’s wedding for a few days now and with the exception of about 10 minutes of television time in the hotel room, I didn’t watch a bit of the Michael Jackson coverage, so now, a week after his death, I don’t have the overloaded media blitz feeling that so many are openly sharing, although looking back to both Princess Diana and JFK, Jr., I do know how you feel.
The key to having it go away is to stop caring about it, negatively or positively. Paying attention to things is what keep the media going. The media works the same way that any supply-and-demand product or service in our capitalist world does. Bad movies that are poorly attended leave the theaters fast because they are taking up space that more popular and profitable movies can occupy. Television shows without viewers – be it a sitcom or news program – don’t last.
Over the last decade, celebrity news has blown up. There was a day when Entertainment Tonight was the only celebrity news show, and it was far less about personal lives 20 years ago. Now, you’ve got show after show of Inside Entertainment Access Showbiz Hollywood Tonight blending together. Why so many shows?
Because like reality shows, they are cheap to produce and people watch. Look at it this way: It may cost $1 million to produce a single episode of an entertainment news show, but $10 million to produce a single episode of a sitcom. That sitcom needs to not
|
|
only attract 10 times more viewers, but also attract 10 times the advertising revenue to break even that the entertainment news show does.
Math dictates that I can have nine people watching a sitcom that is losing money, yet only two people watching the entertainment news show and it’s making money. Now, let’s say there’s a really big story…maybe about a pop star dying. Instead of two people watching, there are six. Yes, it’s still far less than the sitcom, but it’s more profitable than ever, even if it is the same excerpt of Thriller is played over and over and the same “family friend of the Jacksons” is seen running from show to show to give details of the death.
The key, when you’ve had too much, is to simply turn it off, not keep it going and start grumbling. Does anybody remember when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or Deal or No Deal were on almost every night of the week in primetime? Now the shows are half-hour versions in syndication. Remember about 15 years ago when Dateline NBC was on almost every night and newsmagazines – also cheap to produce – were on every network every night of the week? Eventually, viewers get tired and even those inexpensive shows reach a point where they are no longer profitable. Instead of complaining, and still watching, the best thing you can do if you’re fed up with Michael Jackson coverage…or swine flu coverage…or Jon & Kate Plus Eight coverage…is to turn away completely. People who complain about the hype are even more guilty than those who
|
|
enjoy the coverage at perpetuating it.
* * *
It’s July now. Happy July 4 weekend.
The best thing that you can do for your neighbors in the Lakes Region is to look up at the sky, pretend you see blue, and start living your life. Hopefully if you’re reading this over the weekend we’ve had three or four straight beautiful days, but if the last 40 days are any indication, it hasn’t happened.
In casual conversations I’ve had with several area business owners, people have stopped complaining about the slow economy and have started talking about how crippling this weather pattern has been. While more businesses were leaning on the lamely-named “staycation” crowd to be their bread-and-butter, it’s not turning out that way. Why would someone in Augusta or Sanford want to come here if they know it’s just going to be that kind of drizzle where you need your windshield wipers, but not quite at the lowest setting?
Enjoy our local restaurants. We’ve got recreation galore around here. Heck, try a night at one of the local motels or go camping at one of the many campgrounds in the region. It is times like these that we have to support our neighbors and between the economy and the weather, this is a time that your neighbors need you. Check out our Summer Fun section in this week’s paper and ignore the sky above.
* * *
I catch flack for my frequent criticism of Republican strategy, but want people to know that I can spot when the Democrats are being ridiculous as well. This press release came into my email on Wednesday:
|
|
AUGUSTA – This week Les Otten, a Republican, announced his candidacy for his Party’s nomination for Governor. In general, his website content is unremarkable. Otten’s policy positions are reliably vague and the site is adorned with average
photos of the candidate and is emblazoned with “Otten: A Republican for Maine”. Otten’s logo and website design, however are nearly an exact copy of the Obama website and “O” which is now famous following the 2008 Presidential Campaign.
The Republican candidate’s blatant plagiarism drew rebuke from Arden Manning, Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party. “Otten and Obama share the initial O in common but that’s where the similarity ends. Republicans just don’t get it. They think they can succeed if they stand for all the same ideas that were soundly defeated in 2008 and support all the same policies as George W Bush, but simply change their branding to copy Barack Obama’s website and logo. Well, to copy an Obama slogan myself, ‘that’s not change, that’s more of the same.’”
“The truth is, Barack Obama was not elected President because he had a snazzy graphic and well designed website. Barack Obama was elected President because the majority of Americans identify with his policy positions and values, and support his leadership of our nation.”
The evil Republican stole the O? That’s the most you can come up with? It’s not as if it is a slow news week. Blame him for talking about Michael Jackson too much or causing all of this rain. Vowel stealing is the kind of rhetoric that will work against you, although you can get away with ‘Y’ – sometimes.
|
