In the mid 70’s there was a classic film called NETWORK. It starred William Holden, Peter Finch and  Faye Dunaway. It was a groundbreaking film with a screenplay by Paddy Chayevsky chronicling a fictional television network struggling with ratings and their solutions to get those ratings higher.  The premise of their solutions began with the stream of consciousness ranting of the network anchor, brilliantly played by Peter Finch that led to the infamous cinematic line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.  The rest of the film details the benefits and pitfalls of the network, the people within the network and television itself losing its very soul and surrendering to the benefits of huge ratings. 

This film is fictitious, but it was a cautionary tale, much like Animal Farm or 1984 or Brave New World. You could see tidbits of truth that applied to your own day, but the actions that were realized in those books seemed so fantastic that you never really thought they would happen.  Well, Big Brother is all around us.   A satellite can focus in on your home from space and we have the power to see if from the friendly folks at Google Earth. The cautionary tale of the film Network has been proven to be absolutely true.   Broadcast television, while many times crossing the line of good taste long ago, has truly gone off the deep end.  All of the networks have come close, but one has finally proven it definitively.   The network is FOX.  The show is called THE MOMENT OF TRUTH.  

The fact that this concept passed through all the safeguards and made it to broadcast television is shocking.  So shocking in fact, that I’m convinced that we are going to get a visit from Charlton Heston in any one of his biblical roles.  Mr. Heston will then proceed to symbolically smack America with his Mighty Rod he stole from the burning bush, or come to think of it,  Mr. Demille after filming the Ten Commandments for watching this trash.

Everything about this show is filthy.  Americans have to stand in line and go through an audition process to get on this show.  They have to meet with asst producers, go-fers, etc on the show’s staff and tell their life story.  These people want to ruin their lives.   They are planning on doing it and hoping it will happen so they can make a large deposit of cash in their bank accounts.  I hope these people are actors and their just doing it for the a quarterly check, but I fear they are not.

 For all practical purposes, this show is a slicker version of the Jerry Springer Show.  But to compare The Moment of Truth to the Jerry Springer show is an insult, to Jerry Springer.  At least on Jerry Springer’s show, these people know this is primarily theatre of the absurd.  Jerry makes no pretensions about what it is, (except for his final summation at the end of each show, which is tender and bizarre at the same time); it is theatre, the more obscene and outrageous the better.  And these people don’t have a chance to win money. They just flaunt their tales of horror, insanity and woe just to have the chance to be on television.  The contestants on The Moment of Truth go through the audition process knowing they have the chance to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. The price you pay for that possibility is to ruin the life you came in with.

The Moment of Truth consists of a series of questions.   The contestants are hooked up to a lie detector. The more questions you ask, the more money you can make.  Of course, the questions get more invasive and private as it goes on.  The contestant is on the hot seat and has the option to walk away if they don’t want to answer.  But you know and I know that they made a deal with the producer to stay on that seat because it’s good television. So what we are left with is millions of people salivating over whether the contestant will really go as far as we want them to go.  What question will they ask that will bring it all down on them?  How far will these people go for a chance at hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Questions such as “Have you ever slept with another man while married to your husband”, or “Have you ever slept with one of your wife’s friends”, or “Have you ever stolen money from best friend?” or “Have you ever embezzled from your company?” are just some of the questions. These idiots, (yes, I truly believe they are idiots) actually are willing to ruin their lives for the pursuit of this potential money.  They are willing to humiliate themselves on national television, ruin their family lives, hurt the person they are supposedly in love with, humiliate their children, their parents, their friends, and much more.  For what?  Greed and fame is the only thing that I can think of.

What is the difference between this show and the shows that were being presented on NETWORK.  In the film, there was a show being aired on UBS, the fictional network in the film about a terrorist group that would commit an act of terrorism weekly as millions watched.  Can you honestly say we aren’t within 10 years of that actually happening on cable television and probably broadcast television?  As long as Americans sop up this tripe and advertisers think you’ll supply your own big napkin to wipe away the tripe and yell for more, they’ll keep sponsoring this stupidity. 

This show makes me want to wash my hands and brush my teeth for a few hours.  My breath can’t get fresh enough from the second-hand filth that this show emanates.  Seriously, the fact that people go on this show and Americans watch it concerns me deeply. It’s a horrible statement about our culture. It’s not mindless entertainment.  It’s degrading and hurtful to our society.  We are slowly being dumbed down by shows such as this one.   Yes, we have the choice not to watch it, but the fact that it’s even out there and Americans are willing to make such a sacrifice for the sake off temporary notoriety and potential financial gain is sickening.

Maybe Mr. Finch was on to something.