The Olympics Are Over: I'm Depressed

This complaint is somewhat related to advertising, but moreso to television. Anyway, the close of the Olympics has me depressed because:

1) The Olympics are fun. I've played at least three sports a years since I was nine, so I could watch almost any sport--withstanding anything labeled "synchronized _____" and "ice dancing." (It's not that I hate figure skating. It's just that after 214 hours of triple axles and triple lutzes, the last thing I want to see is a guy in skin tight lycra prancing around on his toe pick for another three.)

2) They only come every two years (winter Olympics in Vancouver, February 2010 baby)!

3) For the past two week I knew I'd have something to watch when I turned on the TV. Swimming, gymnastics, soccer, diving, men's volleyball, women's volleyball, beach vollyeball, water polo, team handball, track & field. (Although somehow I missed the entire decathalon and heptathalon, but I guess that's what they get for using the metric system. Does anyone get that?)

4) But what depressed me most were NBC's commercials for what will be airing this fall to replace the programming I've been enjoying for the past two weeks, because they only showed those commercials about a thousand times: America's Toughest Jobs, Crusoe, Knight Rider, Chuck, Lipstick Jungle, Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy, Celebrity Apprentice, Deal or New Deal, The Biggest Loser and worst of all:

Sunday, Bob Costas should've signed off with, "Hoped you like the Olympics, America, now you can go back to watching crap."

Unfortunately, NBC can't air Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and Life 24 hours a day. The real biggest losers--people without cable. At least we get football in two weeks, excluding NBC of course, who has the worst NFL coverage of any network, including the crack technical team at we'll get you that crucial replay in two minutes-CBS. Remember "Must See TV?" I don't either.

--Captain Awesome, Copywriter

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From the Intern Sweatshop: Britney, The Atlantic and "Your Mother"

Once again, we tossed a laptop down into the dungeon we lock our interns in, and this is what they threw back. Apparently, they also snuck a television and a magazine subscription in there as well. Maybe it's time we fine-tuned our security or perhaps stopped letting other interns guard the door. Anyway, once again, From the Intern Sweatshop...
--The Cap'n

After months of horrible publicity, Britney Spears may actually be taking a positive turn. Her normal tabloid cover page has been abandoned for a more tasteful approach, an intellectual magazine and a television sitcom.

Britney appeared on the Monday March 24th episode of How I Met Your Mother as Abby, a dermatologist’s receptionist with an unlucky crush on the main character, Ted. Viewers gave a surprising 85 percent rating to the episode, according to Yahoo! TV. Apparently the quality of the show was slightly better than Spears’ Video Music Awards performance in September.

The Atlantic magazine has also taken a liking to Spears, hence her appearance on their April cover.

Why would an intellectual magazine like The Atlantic put Britney--a faded diva who's in and out of rehab, doesn't quite understand the utility of underpants, and mothers her children the same way a three year old mothers the poor family cat--on the cover of their next issue, you ask? The same reason CBS put her in a television episode: to help Britt save some face; that, and The Atlantic is desperate for sales.

It’s scary that people have focused so much attention on celebrity life. Sometimes I talk to my friends about the most recent episode of One Tree Hill as if I know the characters. “Did you see what Lindsey did last night to Lucas? I couldn’t believe she left him!” Apparently, the entertainment industries have been numbed by the same epidemic: forget the news, forget the world, and focus on celebrity drama.

The entertainment masses seem to be confused lately, so I’ll make it clear: people buy tabloids to hear gossip, and people buy The Atlantic to read the latest news on why Obama should be president. People don’t buy The Atlantic to sprawl out on their couch with chips and laugh about the misfortunes of the rich and famous. But many do turn on the television to numb themselves to the world and catch up on celebrity drama. So a television comedy might be exactly what people want to see from Spears. That and, of course, the newest drama over the custody of her children or the most recent baring of her “soul” as she gets out of a car.

--Megan Stewart, Intern

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