Television Multitasking

I've been watching too much reality TV lately. It's strangely addictive. I hate it. I love it. I spend the entire time thinking about how much better I could do whatever it is they are doing. That I could kick all their asses. Which may or may not be true, but I can make myself a legend in my own mind if I want to.

But I can't help but think back to the good ol' days when I used to watch Star Search with Ed McMahon. The singing competition, the acting, the comedy, the modeling. Split up by gender, of course. And nothing much has changed, except that instead of everything going on in one half hour, it takes an entire season of full hour long shows so that they can show how psycho people are when you throw them into uncomfortable situations with total strangers.

It often seems like talent is secondary to who is going to create problems. And people have this strange desire to always see other people cracking up into a million little pieces when the going gets tough. But in the end, it's still just some lame show from the eighties. I had a hard time turning that one off too.

Would we all spend less time watching TV if we could roll these shows into one that gets right to the point? Would we be more loyal to the whole thing? The Apprentice. Survivor. The Starlet. American Idol. America's Next Top Model. The Bachelor. The Bachelorette. All in one half hour. One stop shoppping. We roll everything else in life into one, why not this too? It could be like the mall of television. Is this the one area where people want to keep everything separate? Not multitask with television talent?