Rant against Dancing With The Stars

I've kept to myself over the past couple of years, but last night I hit the final straw. Last night in Philly, the Philadelphia Eagles were on Monday Night Football, which is on ESPN. In local markets, the game is broadcasted on their ABC affiliate so it can be seen in the area.

Except instead, local ABC punted the Eagles game to PHL17, which is the former WB which, in reality, is like the bastard child between the big three and Fox. NBC does their news. I don't even know anything worthwhile on this station except Entourage repeats.

Anyway, ABC moved the Eagles game in favor of the continually popular Dancing With The Stars.

Take two minutes to let it sink in. I'll wait.

................................................................................................

Anyone else laugh or can't believe it? Believe it.

Look, I know not EVERYONE is a sports nut like I am. It's a shame, but that's what makes our country great. But to bump a LOCAL game for a national show? Really? Why not bump DWTS to the other station? No? Too much sense?

So then it got me thinking, WHAT exactly is the craze over DWTS? Cause I've never watched an episode. I also hate dancing unless I've had several strong cocktails or I'm at a Bruce Springsteen concert. All other circumstances, I'm just relaxing.

I don't really watch any of these contestant "you vote who wins!" deal following the American Idol format, because I don't care. The shows drag on with those stupid segments and try to create drama out of nothing. Who cares? And they do these shows so often, why should I continue to care who wins this year vs last year? I hate it. Too much time wasted on nonsense that I can't will myself to watch/care/listen to someone who cares.

These shows are successful because they're so simple & cheap to produce. It's not like if you missed last weeks episode you are entirely lost. It gives people a sense of purpose because they "somewhat" control the outcome - if they count every vote. I'm skeptical on that too. But they're everywhere. I don't even know all of them, but show like Idol, DWTS, ABDC, America's Got Talent, all that stuff. Annoys me.

It strikes me as how simplistic our country is. We don't want to wrap ourselves into a serious show (like an Arrested Development or those two shows critically acclaimed this year but were canceled before episode 3 and I have since forgotten their names) and we'd rather oogle over D-list stars and see if they can dance. It actually is hurting my head thinking about it. And it's still the top rated show with nearly 20 million an episode. That's why ABC Philly didn't pass it along - they wanted the ratings. Although you'd think - in a strong football town - that the Eagles would get better ratings than the D-Listers. (even if they were A-Listers, I don't care. It could be George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, I'll watch The Wire reruns)

I don't want to be too harsh because I have close friends who I know love the show, but to me, I can't watch. It's too weak. There's no real storyline or plot or anything that I could remotely care about for all of these "voting" shows. It saddens me that a large portion of our country is so obsessed.

Let's aim higher people.