It almost seems pointless to criticize the "entertainment news" shows; they're ridiculous parodies of real news shows (which are massively pointless as it is), and it's a measure of how we've debased public discussion that Brangelina and the octomom are given the massive attention that they are. We should take no pride in the success of Entertainment Tonight and Extra and so forth. They probably don't represent the death of our civilization, but, as the saying goes, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Occasionally, though, it gets bad enough that I find it really irksome. As I'm watching rather too much basketball this weekend, I have been treated to a barrage of ads for Monday's ET. The big story: the world says a tear-filled goodbye to Natasha Ricahardson.
I'm willing to bet that ET hasn't devoted more than a few minutes to the entire life of Natasha Richardson. She was, by all accounts, a great stage actress, but her film career was spotty; she may have received some attention for being a part of the great Redgrave acting family, and I'd imagine there was a flurry of stories when she left one marriage to be with Liam Neeson (maybe not, I don't really remember, maybe Neeson himself was not a big enough star at that time).
She was just not a "star" in the ET/Extra sense, but now it's blanket coverage - why? Because she died in an "interesting" way, and there is no end to the medical experts who want to weigh in with their opinions on a case they know nothing about. So these entertainment journalists can whip up some frenzy, accompanied by pictures of famous people dressed in black, and they've got hours of stories at hand.
It's disgusting, and the people who produce these shows should be ashamed, and the people who are tuning in to hear every detail of the death of someone they never valued in life should turn off their sets and think seriously about how they spend their time.
Occasionally, though, it gets bad enough that I find it really irksome. As I'm watching rather too much basketball this weekend, I have been treated to a barrage of ads for Monday's ET. The big story: the world says a tear-filled goodbye to Natasha Ricahardson.
I'm willing to bet that ET hasn't devoted more than a few minutes to the entire life of Natasha Richardson. She was, by all accounts, a great stage actress, but her film career was spotty; she may have received some attention for being a part of the great Redgrave acting family, and I'd imagine there was a flurry of stories when she left one marriage to be with Liam Neeson (maybe not, I don't really remember, maybe Neeson himself was not a big enough star at that time).
She was just not a "star" in the ET/Extra sense, but now it's blanket coverage - why? Because she died in an "interesting" way, and there is no end to the medical experts who want to weigh in with their opinions on a case they know nothing about. So these entertainment journalists can whip up some frenzy, accompanied by pictures of famous people dressed in black, and they've got hours of stories at hand.
It's disgusting, and the people who produce these shows should be ashamed, and the people who are tuning in to hear every detail of the death of someone they never valued in life should turn off their sets and think seriously about how they spend their time.
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