SURVIVAL

One of my friends recently sent me a joke about a hypothetical "survivors" show. I've never been a fan of this sort of show. For one thing they aren't about real life at all. They have a camera crew with the participants who can help if any real trouble surfaces. The contestants invariably come off as greedy above all else. Filmed reality usually turns out to be stupider and meaner than anyone in their right mind would want to be. The only thing worse is the "Jerry Springer" type show where the participants have taken the fun out of dysfunctional by berating/assaulting/battering one another in public for problems that make no sense to non-participants, but the audience eggs them on to escalate the violence.

This reality show business all got started when writers got organized, asking to be better compensated for their work. Not that it's the writers' fault that the producers decided the television public doesn't tune in to well-scripted (not to mention witty) programs. It's apparently too much effort to produce a Carol Burnett Show or M*A*S*H or Maverick or even Mr. Ed. We do get a lot of police drama. In the evenings there's a CSI for everyone. But I still find myself looking at TVLAND and NICK AT NIGHT, because they show cogent, reasonably intelligent programs to which an old fogey like me can relate.

The irony of this dearth of script writers is that reality show participants are now hiring writers (at below union scale) to write "natural, witty" repartee that can be dropped into the participants on-air "conversations".

The word of the day for January 7, 2009 is "survival" - Pronunciation: \sər-'vī-vəl\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Date: 1598
1 a: the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing. b: the continuation of life or existence [problems of survival in arctic conditions]. 2: one that survives.

Our quote for the day is from Virginia Satir (20th century), U.S. family therapist and author. As quoted in The Winning Family, ch. 16, by Louise Hart (1987):

The recommended daily requirement for hugs is: four per day for survival, eight per day for maintenance, and twelve per day for growth.

;^)

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