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« Roush Dispatch
Reality Rejects and a Madman's Manifesto
Sanjaya Malakar by Frank Micelotta/Fox
One of the weirdest TV weeks ever continued Wednesday as reality TV continued to get it right, with American Idol finally kicking the ridiculously out-of-his-depth Sanjaya Malakar to the curb. But does this leave Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell something — anything — to talk or argue about?
Meanwhile, in the actual real world, the horrific saga of the Virginia Tech shootings took yet another surreal turn when NBC revealed and analyzed on air the existence of a disturbing package of video, text and photos sent by the shooter on the day of the killings. Unimaginably, he went to the post office between sprees to mail his deranged manifesto to the media in a final bid for media immortality. (I have decided not to name the shooter here, in a personal bid to deny him, at least in this space, that publicity.) This package of angry rants and deadly poses, resembling a nightmare vision out of Taxi Driver, is without question legitimate news, and its contents will be devoured on air and online for a long time to come as we all try to make sense of it and perhaps even learn from it. And yet I can’t help looking forward to the day when the media will cease broadcasting these clips and photos in what seems an endless reel of free (if posthumous) publicity for this pathetic young man’s tragic actions.
In this facebook era of instant online gratification and indulgence, where everyone can feel like a star on the Internet — at least in their own little corner of the electronic world — the shooter played the old-fashioned media like a champ. He gave them a bloody awful show, then fed the beast with a breathtakingly bizarre “gift” from beyond the grave. In a perfect world, wouldn’t it have been nice to have just marked it “return to sender” and let it rot?
Shifting gears back to “reality” TV, Sanjaya’s Idol ouster was unquestionably the biggest news in this blockbuster genre all season. The kid, so charming in auditions, was lost on the big stage from the start, and that was clear the moment the actual competition began. To keep him around until the “magnificent seven” round (Ryan’s words) was just perverse. Maybe it’s a function of the fact that this week we all grew up a little, but when Simon bluntly declared on Tuesday that this novelty act had lost its power to amuse, Sanjaya was toast. But I will give Sanjaya props for losing with class, and twisting the words of his farewell song to mock the nation’s obsession with his malleable mop of hair. (Other Idol thoughts: What a shock to see Blake in the bottom three. Melinda is my hero for refusing to play the producers’ game and pick sides. We all know she’s the top, but Jordin isn’t far behind. If there’s justice, that will be quite a final two to pick from.)
Oddly, all of this week’s ejections in the major reality shows were satisfying. If Sanjaya was the worst singer on Idol, Clyde Drexler was the most egregiously laissez-faire nondancer on Dancing with the Stars this season, and after Carrie Ann Inaba described him as “the worst” in no uncertain terms, America seemed to finally listen. And on the CW’s popular guilty pleasure America’s Next Top Model, the absurd Jael (who could teach Chris Richardson a thing or two about being nasal) was finally shown the door, though this time it meant flying home all the way from Australia. In modeling, I’m willing to concede that there’s room for the unconventional, but the unconscionably annoying? Twiggy was right: Jael would be laughed out of any professional agency.
All of this makes me curious to see if Survivor can keep this week’s streak going by booting off the right player. One problem: I can’t say I care who stays or goes during this boring season. Moving the show to China (not a tropical island!) in the fall may be just what the franchise needs to wake it (and us) up again.
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Apr 19, 2007 9:34 AM
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It has been a bad week. I keep watching the Will Ferrell "Landlord" video as a distraction.
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Apr 19, 2007 11:51 AM
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Matt, you are so right about not saying that man's name. I have thought the same thing over and over these past few days. I feel compelled to read the coverage ... it is so horrifying ... but I read it to hear about the heroism of the students and professors, and because we need to recognize their names rather than his.
I know this kind of thing has happened before, but this one, for some reason, really woke me up to the fact that we must live our lives to the fullest, because we (or our children) could just be sitting in class and killed by a sad, pathetic, mentally deranged loser.
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Apr 19, 2007 11:53 AM
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Matt - Thank you for choosing not to give the mass murderer more exposure. Because of NBC's actions, I will no longer be a viewer of its Nightly News program. I am shocked and horrified that they chose to air this disgusting video with no thought or concern for the victims' and their families. The entire broadcast should have been devoted to them rather than the person who ended their lives.
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Apr 19, 2007 11:56 AM
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I wish the networks would finally realize that sufficient tribute to a large tragedy does not involve blanket coverage in which the same news is repeated over and over. I was appalled when some nets were criticized for NOT dwelling on the tragedy during prime time. I'm certainly up for updates when new facts become known, and I don't mind investigative pieces which also sum up the news. But staying on a story just so you can't be accused of not taking it seriously is a disservice to the public.
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Apr 19, 2007 12:08 PM
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You are right Matt and thank you for not giving him more time in the spot-light. It is extremely disrespectful to the victims, victim's families, and Virginia Tech for the media outlets to continue giving this madman all this media attention. How about they spend time talking about the professor that blocked the door of his classroom with his body to prevent the shooter from entering and killing more people. Or the RA that went to go help a student and ended up getting shot. Let's spend time talking about that.
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Apr 19, 2007 12:21 PM
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Matt: OK so you don't give the mass murderer here in the U.S. exposure. I applaud that. Please also avoid talking about Survivor next year while they are in China. I mean, you wouldn't want to give exposure to a country that peddles in numerous acts of wholesale slaughter, would you?
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Apr 19, 2007 12:41 PM
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I feel exactly the same way about the NBC release of those photos and footage. On one hand, they are news and newsworthy and in a small dose during the nightly news, I wouldn't complain.
That said, with today's 24-hour cable networks and with the attention that's been focused on Tech, the constant replay has gotten to be distasteful, if not repugnant. The local CBS affiliate in Roanoke (which is also Blacksburg's local news) has stopped airing the images and will only do so if included in a package from CBS. I think that one station's defiance to broadcast them is admirable and wish others would take notice as well - enough is enough.
Or, if they would play a video to death, play Nikki Giovanni's rousing speech at the ceremony on Tuesday, rallying the students and mourners to grieve, but to remain strong, and to celebrate Tech for the life that goes on.
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Apr 19, 2007 5:06 PM
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Matt: OK so you don't give the mass murderer here in the U.S. exposure. I applaud that. Please also avoid talking about Survivor next year while they are in China. I mean, you wouldn't want to give exposure to a country that peddles in numerous acts of wholesale slaughter, would you?
Give me a break, that makes absolutely no sense. You can't even compare the two situations. The gunman sent in those materials seeking publicity and glorification for his violent actions. How does that have anything to do with Survivor being in China or China itself?
I'm disgusted by the idiot news media for playing right into that psycho's hands by giving him the publicity and exposure that he wanted. Congrats. A man kills 32 people on a college campus and then asks you to show his self-congratulatory rantings on air and you comply. Ironically, I'm sure the money they make for the rights and ratings to that will put their kids through college.
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Apr 19, 2007 5:38 PM
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olo:
By supporting China, CBS is supporting, in part, a regime that killed many (many) more than died in the U.S. this past week just for the Tiananmen tragedy alone. Add in Tibet and their involvement in Darfur and I am sickened by the whitewashing that this government is about to receive on CBS and in the upcoming Olympics in the interstitial promotional packages that will air ad nauseum.
So when Matt, or you, say we shouldn't feed into that killer's hands with publicity, I say the same thing should reasily apply to a whole country. Why shouldn't it?
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Apr 19, 2007 5:56 PM
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So I guess you don't buy any products or textiles that are made in China then, right? And you make sure not to use cell phones or electronics that contain cobalt that is mined in the Congo? And you won't be watching the 2008 Olympics? And conversely any country that does business with the United States is supporting, in part, the Iraq war.
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Apr 19, 2007 6:10 PM
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Kind of, yeah!
So you won't be using any GE products since they own NBC and they aired the video of the shooter, right? And you won't be purchasing any products from any of the commercial sponsores of the TV news programs that aired the footage on any of the networks, right? Riiiiight.
We all do what we can in this interconnected world. But actively promoting the top level of a government that actively kills its own citizens and attacks neighboring countries does not have to be one of them. But go ahead, sit back in your laz-y-boy made in China. Wouldn't want to get in the way of your television consumption. Sorry.
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Apr 19, 2007 8:18 PM
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I'm being careful to avoid the news programs. I've only seen a few of those images and they made me feel sick. I don't understand how this is supposed to help us fathom a twisted mind. It's only put pictures in MY mind that I wish I could erase.
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Apr 19, 2007 8:33 PM
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I agree that giving a forum to a dead insane killer is not a good idea. We even had a rambling sick post in the member blog section here, praising him and the things he said. (Removed by TVG) The insanity spreads and though I don't believe in censorship, I do believe in having some sense of decency.
I spent weeks wanting Sanjaya to be voted off and when he was I was sad. There was just too much ugly talk about this very young man. He cried real tears and as a mother, it broke my heart a little. Not enough to want him to be still there - but enough to not say anything cruel about him.
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Apr 20, 2007 12:44 AM
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The Star of American Idol is gone. The rest are supporting players. Jay Leno got it right tonight when he said we're now left with that one girl, what's his name, and who cares? It doesn't matter who anyone votes for anyway, because the producers have the right to throw out votes at their discretion as printed in the fine print at the end of the show. And we all know that is exactly what happened on Wednesday night.
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Apr 20, 2007 4:24 AM
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