September 18, 2003 - 7:07 p.m.
When I was a little kid, I used to watch World News Tonight while waiting for dinner to be ready. The smell of Hungry Jack dinner rolls would fill the house and the news would end almost in perfect coordination with the oven timer.
What came next (besides really good dinner rolls) was always Entertainment Tonight -- sneak peaks at the latest movies, news about celebrities and the listings of birthdays of celebrities my parents didn't want to admit were that old.
I'm watching Entertainment Tonight now, too, in a newsroom at MSU, and I have to say, this show sucks. And by "sucks," I mean watching it is like watching that scene in Castaway where Tom Hanks performs a tooth extraction with an ice skate.
Let me tell you about the way things used to be, back in the era when TV producers had souls: The hosts used to sit at an anchordesk with over-the-shoulder graphics and real live stories. They had a movie reviewer and the show was mostly based on how current events were affecting the film industry. For example, when earthquakes hit, they would do a story on filming being delayed or a celebrity whose beautiful home was destroyed. The shots were steady and calm, and you could actually watch it and come away feeling as though you learned something.
Now, not so much.
The editing and camera work is all over the place; they don't hold a shot for more than one second, and if they do, the camera is whipping around or zooming in quickly or bouncing as it runs down a street. Every voice-over is accompanied by this awful dance music in the background. Boom-chick-boom-chick-boom-chick-boom-chick... Aaaaaaah!
Maybe it's just mirroring an industry that has become obsessed with selling sex and unattainable glamour. For example, previewing an upcoming episode of "Fear Factor," one of the hosts just said, "Contestants will also search for big kidneys while swimming with pirhanas." No joke.
Or maybe the show itself is pandering to what it thinks will get more people watching, and younger people watching.
It seems like the show's producers believe most of its viewing audience doesn't have the attention span to keep its eyes on a screen that's still for more than two seconds, but I'm willing to wager that if half of America is like me -- you know, sane -- they don't have the patience.
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