Les Bonnes Choses

The bar for celebrity has been set rather low these days.

I was standing in the Barnes & Noble passing time among the bargain books and new releases when I noticed the magazine rack. Perfect. In the few minutes I had, I could get caught up with the specs on the most recent computer components, find out the names of the latest teen crushes I should be making fun of, and be able to identify the cars I'll see on the road next year. The Barnes & Noble magazine rack doesn't sell books. It sells the future. And it was there that I caught a glimpse of what this world is coming to, and it's not pretty.

Spoiler: I'm about to pass judgment on people I have never met.



When I was a little kid, I liked to watch Entertainment Tonight. By the time I reached eighth grade however, my paradox detector had developed, and I could no longer stomach a television show about people that were celebrities because they were on a television show about celebrities. Say what you will about John Tesh's smooth adult contemporary style, I gained respect for him when he stopped sharing the screen with Mary Hart's mannequin smile to focus on his music career, such that it is.

So like the kingmakers of yore, media outlets can find the silver lining in any sort of screw-up, so long as it can hold people's attention for 26 half-hour episodes, and mine it for all it's worth. I can't see how giving away a free ride in life to douchebags and fall-down-drunks from New Jersey, or to teenage moms can possibly go wrong.