Wednesday, October 31, 2007

everybody wants to be on reality TV

On Monday I watched 'Good Morning America' while getting ready for work. It was the first show since that horrible beach-house fire that killed 8 college students. In typical GMA format they had gotten one of the dead's roommates to talk on camera about the tragedy so we could watch these poor people's hearts break. Diane Sawyer will get some factual details and then walk them right to the emotional edge until their voices crack and their eyes well up.

We see it, every tragedy. Every Shooting. Every Car Wreck with the Captain of the Football Team. "How are you holding up? What was your last Memory of Johnny? Cry for us, Kid, feel this pain."

What was weird was that this girl was smiling, and trying her best not to. She was dressed up like she was going to a wedding, with pearls and her hair just perfect at 7am, 23 hours after her roommate burned to death. She said all the right things, but the delivery was practiced, and devoid of any strain. Incredibly Polite.

This was her chance. The cameras are here.

"I just KNOW, she's smiling and looking down on us right now"
Wow.

Maybe the kid just doesnt know how to deal with something so huge. I dunno, it just seemed like she was completely uneffected. The good part was that it seemed to fluster Diane Sawyer abit as she tried to ratchet up the questions, until she had to back off, so not appear badgering.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe the girl was in shock? The events of the previous 24 hours so surreal she hadn't even begun to grasp the reality of the situation?

or

Maybe she hated her roommate and started the fire and is now on TV talking about it, without getting caught?

steakbellie said...

I'm going to assume she was just not processing the whole thing.

She didnt look tired or confused or even one hair out of place, and although she said all the right words, her delivery was bizarre. Her frown kept breaking into a smile. Like a REAL smile.

I certainly feel aweful for what things must be like, but it just caught me as funny.....

Leonesse said...

I find it odd to go on tv right after something like that. I think these interviews are tasteless.

Dave S. said...

Agree. The coverage of the story in general is pointless, other than to communicate some sort of "be careful when you loan your beach house to eight college kids" lesson (duh, really!). It's like the coverage of any other house fire or car accident you might see on your local news.

I mean, it's shitty that it happened, but who really cares other than the families directly affected by it?

CoffeeDog said...

It's to the point where news isn't news any longer, just a drama show. When that bridge collapses in Minny, the news stations were asking people who were almost 5 miles away "What do you think the people who were on the bridge thought about when it collapsed?" America is just one huge (and awful) reality TV show.