Trebek, Sajak, Woolery, and Lewinsky

In an article entitled, “Lewinsky to Host Dating Reality Show”, the Associated Press writes that “former presidential intern Monica Lewinsky has a new gig: host of a dating game on Fox called “Mr. Personality.” The article continues, “’Mr. Personality’,” which debuts April 21, will feature a stockbroker named Hayley and 20 masked men vying for her affection. Hayley must choose a man based on his inner beauty. In addition to hosting the show, Lewinsky offers dating advice in her role as Hayley’s confidante.”
Further, we learn that, “Lewinsky is not sure if she’ll continue in television. She’s still designing purses and is considering law school or graduate school in psychology. ‘I’m trying to see what is going to work best for me and what is my career,” she said. “I’m trying to figure out my life.’”

Sometimes, articles just write themselves.

Stop me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the young lady who didn’t want to be famous for being Monica Lewinsky? I’m sure I’ve missed some things (not exactly being an ardent Lewinsky-watcher), but I know that Jenny Craig managed to find some justification for employing Ms. Lewinsky as a spokesperson, and now she’s been chosen as a game show host because…? The imagination is staggered at several points in the article. “Hayley” must choose a man based on his “inner beauty”—and Ms. Lewinsky is going to give her “dating advice”, presumably on how to accomplish this? One wonders what pearls of wisdom will drip from the lips of this venerable sage, this fount of courtship insight. I’ll pause here while you try your own hand at composing one of the many punch lines begging to be supplied at this point.

I remember just a few short years back when “Survivor” kicked off this current “reality show” craze, thinking how its existence represented a pretty clear indicator of a culture in decline. Wow…by today’s standards, “Survivor” looks quite tame. We’ve taken voyeurism to a new level, as we cheer on our favorites, mistaking this faux “reality” for the real thing. I guess this is “reality” because it isn’t tightly scripted; if that’s our definition, then perhaps it passes, but “reality”? You kidding me? In one of my weaker moments, I watched about ten minutes of this tripe a few weeks back. I can’t name the show, but what I remember was two couples engaged in a timed test of their ability to work together to grab cockroaches out of one bin by mouth, transfer said roaches from one mouth to another, and then to a second bin. Now that’s a slice of everyday realism, right?

What does it say about the state of affairs at Fox that it would choose a person with no apparent talent—whose only claim to fame being that of her status as a tramp—as host of its new show? What does it say about us that we are so captivated by such contrived nonsense? Are we so bereft of our own “reality” that we find pleasure in watching others humiliate themselves so?

It’s hard to know how successful Ms. Lewinsky’s new game show will be; let us hope that it is met with the apathy that it so richly deserves. It is likely too much to expect that this…ummm…lady will fade out of public consciousness in the near future. For the sake of common decency, let’s all do our part to speed that possibility, however remote it might be.

And for goodness’ sakes…let’s all get a life, shall we?

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  1. Ed Martin on September 19, 2006 at 5:34 pm

    Hey some of us OLD folks do watch these “Reality” shows to remind us of, of, of,of. Oh well maybe tomorrow I will remember.

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