I know I have not updated this for ages. And well, I had little reasons and aspirations as of late. There has been many changes that I have gone through and sadly, it will go undocumented and it will remain that way. If you knew me well enough or bothered to know how I was doing, this wouldn't be a problem. :P

 

Anyways, back to current events. One fine and particularly boring day, I was just doing my usual YouTube-ing around. I found out about this show called the Maury Show. Showing similarities to The Jerry Springer Show, although i think it has more of a serious undertone and definitely less raunchy. But it doesn't merit it either. The show covers issues such as sexual infidelity, paternity test results, unusual illnesses, makeovers, or parenting. Watching some of the episodes, it clearly shows how much a certain population in the US regard as entertainment. Apparently, the show rates at about an average of 3.5 million viewers per episode.  

 

At first, I felt a faint sort of sympathy for some of the typical guests of the talk show. Eventually, I remembered why I didn't like Oprah, Phil Donahue, Howard Stern or the UK equivalent The Vanessa Show. These trash TV programmes were similar in nature essentially. Explotation of certain sub-cultures and minorities. In the case of the Maury Show, the focus was clearly in exploiting dysfunctional families and distressed minorities. Most of guest were either from some blue collar country, trailer park or some real red-neck Southeners. The show (and the audience) took to embrace and sensationalise some of the worst stereotypes of American society and behaviour. I understand that these are real people, with real problems/plights, and his show tries to fix some of these problems. But it is sad to see how entertainment today exploits and trivialises these pool ol' people. It seems that some of the most viewed and popular segments are called, "Violent, Oversexed Teen Girls", "Paternity Test" and "Sexy, Shocking Family Secrets... Revealed". My goodness! God help us!

 

Anyways, dependent on how curious you are, here are some links to some of my "favourite" episodes:

 

Link 1: Secretly a Stripper

Link 2: Trailer Park "Ah Wanna Baby" Teen

Link 3: The Dope Sisters