Please, Sir... May I Have Some More...

Celebrity Worship.
Just what is this weird, morbid fascination that Americans have with celebrities? And I don't mean all of them...I mean the shallow, spoiled celebrities? And must we have even more TV shows about these people?

Now, I realize that reality shows are cheap and easy to make for the producers, and that is why we have this glut of TV that fits that genre. OK, that's cool. To be honest, some of it is pretty darned entertaining and I often find them to be the equivalent of mini social experiments that seem to explain (or should I say "expose") a lot of the American Cultural Personality. Sometimes good, most often not, but nonetheless I start to get some idea of why we act the way we do and have the expectations that we have (and why we seem to scare and/or aggravate the rest of the world in the process).

Anywayyyyyyy...that aside.... there seems to be a disturbing trend toward pushing these larger-than-life, gotrocks and glitter, had-everything-they-could-have-ever-wanted-yet-still-whine-unhappily, dumb as a plastic soapdish personas on us. Why do these people fascinate us so? Why do we glaze over and stare at their childish antics like 5-year-olds zoned out on the Teletubbies?

Are we actually jealous? Do we feel that their lives represent the "American Dream" that we have been striving for since we were old enough to understand the concept? Or is it something else? Perhaps that we simply can't believe that someone with that kind of "success" could possibly behave (or talk, or dress, or whatever...) in such a fashion! I'm just not sure. All I know is that someone must be watching because the shows - and these people - just keep coming. And that means that someone else is making the big bucks from it or it would go away (much like spam, I think - who are the freaks actually opening those emails??? STOP IT!!!). But I digress...

Well, for whatever reasons, be ready for a whole new crop of pseudo-celebrities, fading divas, spoiled rich kids, silicone chantuses, and wild-child half-wits with pockets of cash and an entourage of "peeps" to be coming to a screen near you this season. It'll be fun, right? Just be sure to leave your intellect at the door.

Mr. DeMille, They're Ready For Their Close-Ups.