Saturday, November 18, 2006

The nadir of network television

Has FOX lost its mind? After painstakingly repositioning itself as a quality network, with such fare as HOUSE and 24 and no longer the home of JOE MILLIONAIRE and TEMPTATION ISLAND they go off and schedule an O.J. Simpson special?? Just when you thought no network, not even FOX could sink lower than WHO’S YOUR DADDY? they unleash this.

O.J. will tell how the murders would have gone had he committed them (wink wink). I’m sure it will be rich on detail because, y’ know… he has such a great imagination. I’m surprised he has the time since he’s been on this one man tireless crusade to find the real killer. From what I gather he's narrowed it down to someone on a golf course.

The special stems from an upcoming book published by Judith Regan. To contact Ms. Regan you don't call her, you drive by her street corner and roll down your window.

If this special gets ratings expect to see the sequel with Robert Blake for February sweeps. And then for May, Barry Bonds could talk about what his career would be like if he took steroids.

Personally I’m appalled and only hope the Goldman and Brown families attach every penny this murderer makes from this unconscionable stunt.

The only way to REALLY show your displeasure and disgust is to not watch it. Let's hand O.J. the verdict he deserves.

And as for FOX, they already have as many Simpsons as they need.

23 comments :

Anonymous said...

This is worse than Geraldo yanking off the country for two hours before opening Capone's empty vault. Never forgave Geraldo for that. Wonder why he's not doing the interview with Slasher Simpson? Couldn't raise the dough?

Rays profile said...

I was very happy to see my local Fox station has announced it won't carry the Simpson non-confession.

VP81955 said...

DrBear said...
I was very happy to see my local Fox station has announced it won't carry the Simpson non-confession.


I live in the Washington area, where Fox owns a station, so we won't have that option.

Anonymous said...

Please, don't give Fox ANY credit for the quality of "House". That series is a shining example of a showrunner who takes NO network or studio notes EVER. Left to the Fox execs, they would have reduced it to something like "According To House", starring Jim Belushi. Fox execs are morons. Take it from someone who REALLY knows.

Kenny said...

Come on, Anonymous, that's not fair. According to Jim isn't even a Fox show. I'm sure it would have come out more as something like Happy House, 'Til House, or The War at House.

Mike Barer said...

And for an encore, Tanya Harding will host a variety show!

Beth Ciotta said...

Not just a low for television, but for publishing. I heard about this a couple of weeks ago and it's been eating at me since. It's beyond disgusting. I will not watch the special, nor buy the book, nor read excerpts on-line. I'm urging all friends to boycott as well. I've read that some bookstores are refusing to carry the title, and some of those that must are donating all proceeds to The Nicole Brown Charity Foundation. That's something, I guess.

Sorry for the rant. Hot topic for me. Can you tell?

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out with the news channel side of Fox, since Bill O'Reilly has been railing against the Fox Network side and urging people to boycott the show (if he suddenly stops doing this in the upcoming week, it's safe to assume a gag order has come down from Ruppert).

On the other hand, it would be a great gag if after all this hype about the Simpson interview on Fox, Homer showed up on the screen for the interview 10 days from now.

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify what we're talking about - we don't care that fox has an interview with this guy, right? -I mean I'd watch if Osama was interviewed, it's the idea that Fox would pay him for this... Is Fox paying him? If so it's disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Bullseye. Especially the part about Robert Blake and Barry Bonds.

--t

Anonymous said...

Kenny, I stand corrected... your show titles were better than mine. I sometimes confuse the programming from one piece of shit network with another piece of shit network.

Anonymous said...

If the book is a success - and let's face it, it will be, the nadir of American tastes is a bottomless pit - OJ can write a sequel titled "If I Had Shame."

Anonymous said...

Sorry. That last comment was me. I don't know why it decided I was "Anonymous". He's someone else.
BTW, I wish the word verification on that last one was a real word. I'd have made a killing myself - in SCRABBLE!

susinthepark said...

This from the network that cancelled ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. Sickening.

wcdixon said...

Just plain sad.

I was a little perturbed to other evening watching Letterman when he dissed this Simpson thing and shook his head, and then proceeded to do a top ten list about it (which wasn't even funny). Seemed to defeat process of dissing it.

By Ken Levine said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Darnell. EEW.

Mark

Anonymous said...

Ken, of all people, you should get it. Give OJ the rope to hang himself on national TV. I agree with Judith Reagan's comment that the show is, in effect, a "confession." What's more, I'll tell you a great post OJ interview show: Bring back the OJ criminal trial jurors who found him not guilty. Ask them what they think now. By the way, OJ apparently refers to two killers in the special. Who was the other? Can you say Al Cowlings?

Anonymous said...

Don't know what the law is in USA, but in UK you can't enforce a judgment after 12 years. I guess the victims' families got the verdicts in their civil actions in 1995.

Fitz said...

Christopher Hitchens had a great opinion column in today's Wall St. Journal at wsj.com. Probably behind a pay wall, but it's worth reading if you can.
One thing he passes along that I've never heard before; apparently OJ can barely read or write. So I suppose all this hooha leaves him unperturbed.

Fitz said...

Sorry for the extraneous stuff. It all got stuck in the clipboard somehow.

EditThis said...

Ken - Don't think that only FOX network execs are idiots. You should know by now that ALL network execs are morons. Don't get me started on the network. Espcially standard and practices notes (How do they even EXIST without an actual "standard"?) Ooh...I wish I had not read your blog today. Now I'm riled up about the networks!

Anonymous said...

From what I gather he's narrowed it down to someone on a golf course.

Odd he hasn't combined two + two since he's always AT the golf course.

Yes, OJ. Look no further while you're golfing. The murderer is you.