Wow.
Disillusioned as reality television tends to leave me, I’ve never quite gone This Guy. This guy, who is, let us say, not a fan of Bristol Palin’s, shot the TV after she performed on Dancing With the Stars (Mondays 8:00 PM ET and Tuesdays, 9:00 PM ET, ABC, DISH 245) this week.
Look, Ma! Via
That made the fluff- time special spill over into talk radio and the blogosphere, with even Rush Limbaugh weighing in on the buzz. What did this all mean?
It means that we, as a nation, need to chill. When Jon Freakin’ Stewart is telling the left it’s going overboard, it’s going overboard.
Bristol is, of course, seen as an avatar of her mother, conservative firebrand Sarah Palin. Although 2010 has been good to the right, most of its leaders don’t have a huge national platform, and those who do aren’t showing a great deal of interest in the 2012 rectal exam also known as a Presidential political campaign.
When Bristol was invited on board, ABC had perhaps one of two goals for her in mind:
- She was cannon fodder, asked to join the cast to leave just as quickly after a ritual humiliation
- She was a ratings stunt designed to make an aging DWTS Water Cooler Topic #1
If the latter was the goal, then mission well accomplished. This is an opportunity to release the post-election safety valve for those on the left, frustrated and concerned after the results of the mid-term Congressional election. And the right is quite feeling its oats while steeling itself for the 2010 White House battle.
But in the interim, there is Bristol.
Some have argued, even on the right, that the outside cultural battle “ruins the integrity of the contest.” I would argue that happened when somebody thought it was fair to pit reigning Olympic champions in gymnastics and ice skating against recovering alcoholic octogenarians. Otherwise… enjoy the continuing merge between the media, politics, celebrity, and the great big disco ball on a stick.
