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Jewish World Review July 25, 2001 / 5 Menachem-Av, 5761

Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom
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Consumer Reports

Hey, there's no television on my ice floe!


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- A FRIEND of mine told me it was his birthday. He didn't seem all that thrilled.

"I'm 55," he said, sighing.

"Congratulations," I said.

"Yeah … but now I don't matter."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I keep hearing about these TV and radio networks, how they only really measure the ratings of people aged 25-54. Now that I'm 55, they don't care what I think."

I resisted the urge - not to console him, but to tell him they stopped caring what he thought a long time ago.

We live in a youth-obsessed culture. You know it. I know it. But nowhere is it more evident than in the decisions being made on what we watch and hear.

Take the recent gathering of TV critics in Pasadena, Calif., for instance. When NBC president Jeff Zucker talked about his network's reality TV programming - including "Fear Factor," in which contestants lie in a pit of rats, or "Spy TV," in which an unsuspecting man might be caught kissing a woman who is actually a man wearing a wig - he deflected criticism by saying the shows were geared for the 18- to 34-year-old crowd and the critics were too old to get it.

These viewers "have grown up on … the X-Games rather than the Olympics," Zucker said, "and O.J. Simpson and Monica Lewinsky as entertainment."

Oh.

In other words, they're ruined already.

GEARED TOWARD THE GULLIBLE
Of course, that's not how the TV networks see it. They love these young viewers. More and more reality shows (and many more are coming this fall from all the networks, not just NBC) are geared toward younger and younger audiences. Why?

Because they're gullible.

Not the kind of gullible that makes them believe that buff, gorgeous people who gather in the Australian outback are actually there to test their inner strength - and not to get discovered for their own TV series.

No, a different kind of gullible. The gullible that watches a TV commercial about toothpaste and actually thinks, "Hey, I should buy that stuff."

And that's what this is all about. That's the whole thing. The whole war over quality TV. It all boils down to this.

Young people, advertisers believe, are willing to change their beer, their soft drinks, their blue jeans or their shampoo if they see a convincing enough commercial.

Meanwhile, old people - meaning, in some cases, people over 35 - have already made up their minds. They are not likely to buy a Pepsi just because Britney Spears is popping out of her halter top.

The truth is, it's not being old that makes us obsolete.

It's being smart. OLD FOLKS KNOW SNOW Of course, if you're smart enough to know one deodorant isn't much different from the other, you're also smart enough not to laugh at people lying in a snake pit or trying to tempt one another into a hot tub.

And you're smart enough to spot a snow job by a TV executive.

"We're proud these are compelling shows and people are responding to them," said Scott Sassa, NBC's West Coast president, when asked about his reality programming.

Come on. Who's he fooling? How can anyone be proud of "Fear Factor"? Why don't they just say what they mean?

"Boy, are we happy! We found enough gullible young people who are willing to watch this junk to please our advertisers! They'll be making money hand over fist!"

That might not be admirable, but at least it's honest.

Then again, honestly is one of those archaic concepts that is followed only by the tribal elders in our society.

You know, people in their 40s.



Comment on JWR contributor Mitch Albom's column by clicking here. You may purchase his runaway bestseller, Tuesdays with Morrie, by clicking here.

Up

07/10/01: When nobody knew what a Heisman was
07/02/01: Business opportunities for the empathy-impaired
06/25/01: Bunker mentality: At least Archie's meanness was satire
06/18/01: Famous fathers, eat your hearts out
06/05/01: 'No comment' on Bush twins is hard to swallow
05/30/01: Veteran scratches out the hatred
05/22/01: O.J.'s genius
05/15/01: No more kidding around
05/01/01: Haunted by the past
04/24/01: I WANTED TO BELIEVE
04/16/01: Before you file that extension...
04/11/01: Ever want to break an airport agent's neck? This guy did!
04/03/01: The best role models aren't on TV
03/26/01: CAN YOU GET ANY MORE ATTENTION THAN THIS!?
03/19/01: 'March madness' is aptly named
03/07/01: I'm sorry, I apologize, I beg your forgiveness
03/05/01: Young fans' web sites become a Big Harry deal

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