Saturday, July 10, 2010
The $64000 Question—Big Money, Just Imagine
The Idiot Box has a duty to perform-not only does it attempt to titillate & tantalize in its blind expansive ambition to bring more followers into its claustrophobic embrace, it also strives purposefully to drag its viewers to a Below-Mean-Sea-Level intelligence above which it actively renders unprofitable to rise. And it performs it with the sassiness of a Boxer in Animal Farm.
That there are some 150+ channels in India alone is no accident, most catering to a Least Common Denominator across socio-economic classes, miles of disparate geographies and a sameness that does not exist in any form in real life.
Perhaps to usurp the lucrative space that forms the interplay between in-your-face “entertainment” and moolah before the Grizzled Blogger steps up in October, a new path-breaking TV game show begins tonight.
The host speaks with a strangely am-locked-in-a-cupboard-and-can’t-get-out demeanour and throttled voice, the participants painstakingly embody the audience that the show is intended for.Clean-shaven man, made-up wife and bright-eyed children. “Just watch TV” is the refrain verbally & visually, and the content caters to all family-members in the form of sauce-boo-boo cereals, Reality Bites, cartoons, screened films and advertisements—most helpfully self-referential, of course !
“No boring questions that test your General Knowledge, Mathematical Ability, Analytical skills or knowledge of World Affairs…all that you need to win is a love for watching television! 'Big Money' gives all the TV addict families a golden opportunity to make use of all the hours spent watching TV!” – says it all, doesn’t it ?
Since it is suuccch an interesting format with an unmatched combination of lassitude and learning, who can resist tuning in every hour or whenever aired ?
Axe-lent, axe-lent, raady for Next !
That there are some 150+ channels in India alone is no accident, most catering to a Least Common Denominator across socio-economic classes, miles of disparate geographies and a sameness that does not exist in any form in real life.
Perhaps to usurp the lucrative space that forms the interplay between in-your-face “entertainment” and moolah before the Grizzled Blogger steps up in October, a new path-breaking TV game show begins tonight.
The host speaks with a strangely am-locked-in-a-cupboard-and-can’t-get-out demeanour and throttled voice, the participants painstakingly embody the audience that the show is intended for.Clean-shaven man, made-up wife and bright-eyed children. “Just watch TV” is the refrain verbally & visually, and the content caters to all family-members in the form of sauce-boo-boo cereals, Reality Bites, cartoons, screened films and advertisements—most helpfully self-referential, of course !
“No boring questions that test your General Knowledge, Mathematical Ability, Analytical skills or knowledge of World Affairs…all that you need to win is a love for watching television! 'Big Money' gives all the TV addict families a golden opportunity to make use of all the hours spent watching TV!” – says it all, doesn’t it ?
Since it is suuccch an interesting format with an unmatched combination of lassitude and learning, who can resist tuning in every hour or whenever aired ?
Axe-lent, axe-lent, raady for Next !
