Death of the American Imagination:

Today I was sitting at the house and watching television when the realization came upon me that Reality TV is invading every facet of life. Think about it, from The Learning Channel, to Food Network, to the History channel there is some kind of reality television show on. Be it Pawn Stars, John and Kate +8= divorce or even Toddlers and bad parents and pretty much all of the shows are so alike they begin to play off each other.

Take Pawn Stars for starters. There is Pawn Stars, Cajun Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn, and at least three others shows which are pretty much the same aside from the amount of drama allowed to happen. Or better yet, how about all the talent shows? American Idol, America's got Talent, the X factor, all of these shows guarantee an element of realism when a hopeful contestant sits in front of a panel of judges and pours their heart out to them lyrically. America would like to think that there is no element of control and that this show is 100 percent reality television but they're dead wrong. The judge panel that is aired is the third judging panel that contestants have to go through before they are allowed in front of the main judges. Hundreds upon thousands of contestants never see the light of day, but still there are those utter failures who get up there and make complete asses of themselves and the human race by attempting to belt out a ghetto version of "I will Always Love You," or something as equally worse. If there are three other judging panels then how the hell did that guy make it on there? He was allowed on to add drama to the show and present conflict for the whole world to see.

Another element of this cancer is the MTV craze that has spawned shows from the Real World, to Jersey Shore, to Teen Moms. Teen moms is a perfect example of the intentional adding of drama to a show. Here you have six, or less, teens that are observed making utter chaos of their lives. Sure there is always that one kid who's attempting to do something with their lives, but less than 1/3 of the show is dedicated to that teen, the rest are the fat girls who beat their husbands or the ghetto girls who steal from their moms and love their douche bag boy friends and America just eats it up. With each new show that is produced, quality programing such as the Drama show and the sitcoms are slowly being phased out of scheduling all together. And with each non reality television show that bites the dust, there are six other reality television shows waiting to take it's place. Top contending shows like Lost, Heroes, South Land, Terriers, lost their homes on network television and were replaced with crap like Redneck Millionaires or Pimp my Mobile home and thus the cycle of junk is complete.

Here's something to keep in mind. American cinema already has a bad enough name to begin with. Some other countries claim that Americans don't have the attention span to sit in a film longer than 90 to 120 minutes. They claim that the American mind can't handle complex plot lines without something being blown up or some blonde bombshell showing their breast to keep the American entertained. We're the Dog the Bounty Hunter society that is excluded from nations that produce such films as The Guard, the upcoming Tyrannosaurus, or even the original Japanese horror films that we just love to destroy with the remake. Come on America take back your damned minds! Don't let them be ruined by junk television that serves no other purpose but to pollute and to destroy. If you'd like to do that to yourself then please get a hammer and hit yourself in the head as the rest of us take back our televisons and settle the spot light on award winning shows like the Big Bang Theory or Justified, or even White Collar and Law and Order. Take the time to tease your mind, to build up your imagination, and to flex that muscle we like to call "The Brain." It's now Hard America and please hurry up before another season of American Teen Moms who Can't Sing or Be Decent Human Beings clogs up the air!!

Just my thoughts
J.