THE B-LIST REVIVAL

by Malik Isasis






















I haven’t caught a lot of television in the past month in a half, mainly because it is summer and it’s when the networks throw everything but the kitchen sink into reality programming, hoping that something sticks.

I caught the train wreck that is Scott Baio is 45 and Single. VH1 has dominated the celeb-reality programming with Surreal Life and its various spinoffs Flavor of Love, and its derivatives I Love New York, Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School; not to mention other shows such as Celebrity Fit Club, Breaking Bonaduce, and
Hogan Knows Best. And know Scott Baio is 45 and Single.

I am not in the business of belittling people because they are trying to make a living. There is a sense of exploitation here on VH1’s part, using former stars from the 80s and exposing their neuroses, and unresolved pathologies for general consumption.

Scott Baio seemed both contemptuous and embarrassed about having his own reality show. There is a scene in which he reluctantly joins his former lover and co-star of Joanie Love Chachi, Erin Moran in an autograph-signing event.

"Can I have a kiss?" A fan asks Baio at the event. Baio is resentful and refuses to kiss the fan on the cheek because “I don’t know where your face has been” he tells her.

Other networks such as Bravo Network, A&E, ABC and NBC have all jumped on the bandwagon of bringing in celebrities to expose the warts and all. A&E will be airing The Two Coreys, which stars former drug-idled heartthrobs of the 80s Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.

This 80s revival of former stars has absolutely no social value but the lack of imagination in the networks is a symptom of a much bigger and dangerous problem in American culture: media consolidation.

In 1983 50 corporations controlled majority of the media in the United States; in 1992, 90% of the media was owned by two dozen corporations and by 2004 the number of corporations that owned a majority of the media had fallen to six. Today the vast amount of United States media is filtered through approximately six huge conglomerates: Time Warner,
Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., Bertelsmann of Germany, Viacom and General Electric. Each company boasts of its holdings. Have a look.

Basically, six CEOs control what we see and hear. This lack of media diversity has resulted in the unimaginative politicians, movies, network shows and news we receive in the United States. Is it no wonder Bush and the Republicans has gotten away with murder?

THE SMELL TEST

The corporate media continues to give the despotic Republican Party a pass on their filibustering and obstruction of Democratic legislation to end the occupation of Iraq. See hear. The Democrats’ strategy of keeping the Senate in an overnight, marathon session is being called “Political Theatre”, and “Anti-War Spectacle” by the media, using Republican talking points.

The Republicans continue to support a failed policy in Iraq; however the corporate shills in the media find ways of marginalizing the Democrats, allowing the Republican Party to stand knee high in bullshit and pretending not to smell it.

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