The media is a touchy topic for me, as you may have read in last month's column. The music industry needs a hero, but they are not alone. Television, though they are dictated by a ratings system, and apparently doing quite well, is notorious for tapping every teat until the milk gets sour, causing viewers to seek mental vitamins elsewhere, such as the internet.

The industry has come across an excellent idea. Why pay writers to write shows for us, and pay actors to act in them, when we can exploit Joe Public for free, while generating the same advertising dollars from corporations? X times Y equals more profit, and trend following Americans jump on the bandwagon fervently, so they can have something to laugh at in the future, when they're not watching “Behind the music.”

But Shane, what about the millions the winners get? Has anyone read the fine print? The 'Million dollars' that people get is annuities over a forty year period, which equals out to be about 25 g's a year, pre tax, of course. It would be fair to estimate that that is what the people in the mailroom make. Do you see my point? They're saving a ton of money while everyday people become over night celebrities. These 'celebrities' have the hassle of not being able to live a normal life, not get normal jobs until the heat cools off, and they to watch as the people in editing rooms chop their words up to make them look like buffoons for the sake of a good angle. Their reward for this: roughly four hundred bucks a week. Imagine that momentarily and ask yourself it it's worth it.

On the other end, you have skilled writers, comics, and actors who aren't able to work due to this phenomenon, and they are forced to leave the business to chase something more stable. Funny, isn't it? Stable people leave their lives to chase the dream, while people who are trained for it leave the dream to become more stable. Ring around the rosy, mind you.

The argument for this could be that TV was getting stale. Not really the case here. The American sitcom has lived a successful life, and even though dozens are introduced each year, the cream rises to the top, which we've had with Friends, Seinfeld, Cheers, and tons more. One hundred episodes is a guarantee of profitable syndication, earning money for everyone involved down the road, and providing the viewer with good programming. Five years from now, people will still talk about the Seinfeld episode in the Chinese restaurant, and nobody will remember who won Survivor 2. Why? Because it doesn't matter. It's a temporary fix for the viewer to observe someone not unlike their own self go through a fantasy world and suffer, thanks to lightning fast edits. The viewers feel better about themselves after that, but these thoughts are fleeting, because as soon as the vindicating endorphins leave the body, the viewer feels like an idiot for watching it, and the cycle repeats. “Who shot JR?” on Dallas perfected the cliffhanger approach, which is used to this day. The wrestling industry has followed that method too, with great results.

I'm not trying to save TV…I couldn't if I tried. I don't have an answer, but I can offer a suggestion. Go create your own reality, your own ratings, and your own revenue. You won't need corporate sponsorship, and you'll feel much better about yourself. Until next time…….