Of the top 25 TV shows broadcast last week, 7 were on Univision, 1 was the All-Star Game, and 11 were reality shows. Only six English-language scripted shows made the list. For good or ill, reality is taking over.
Compare that to OverthinkingIt.com, where a search for “reality” turns up over 179 articles, including a lot of Lost, Back to the Future and Total Recall commentary. Meanwhile, searches for “reality TV” and “reality show” turn up fewer results, most of them in the comments section or on an open thread. A couple of years ago, frequent commenter Gab asked “does anybody watch any reality TV, or is that… below… the Overthinkingit uh, cast?”
Only CSI will survive...
We’re not above reality TV (or much of anything, really), but that side of popular culture can be difficult to Overthink. While we can examine the characters, the production and the terrors that these shows presage for our society, this site tends to deal with broader themes.
Wikipedia says that there are ten subgenres of reality TV, but I argue that there are only four themes.
[Today, we step into the Think Tank, our steel cage match of ideas and friendly one-upsmanshp, to consider what is the best logo in the world. Read carefully all the entries and vote for your favorite at the end.]
Perich: The Red Cross
The Red Cross has the superior logo, out of everything in the world that does currently or could ever possibly use a logo, for the following reasons.
Wrather, Lee, and Fenzel overthink peak oil and peak rock, the meaning of hip-hop, the ringtone bubble, politics, pornography, and artistic protectionism and offer a new feature, OTI picks, while Wrather manages to say something offensive to every nationality, ethnic group, and world religion. Spoiler alert for Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger.
Warning: This podcast may be NSFW. Also, a lot of the offensive stuff is meant facetiously.
OTI Picks
Lee’s Pick: Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger Videos (www.wcnews.com/holovids)
Fenzel’s Pick: Boston News Net (www.bostonnewsnet.com)
Wrather’s Pick: Hello My Future Girlfriend (www.2atoms.com/comedy/worstoftheweb/blount.htm)
Download Episode 13 (MP3)
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