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Love Stinks... and So Does
Christopher Francis
December 4
I have been away the last
couple of weeks sleeping off my turkey coma and trying to deal with the
rush of holiday shopping. So I come back to my keyboard to find a few
things that I need to discuss.
First of all, "The Bachelor" has proven again that for the most part
that the people who watch this and other dating shows are (for lack of a
better term) a bunch of suckers. I wrote in a column back in February
that this type of show is for the people who believe in the fairy tale
of "Happily Ever After", "Prince Charming" and all that romantic
fantasy.
What has gotten the audience in an uproar is that Brad Womack, the man
ho in question, picked NO ONE, which was a Bachelor first. There have
been broken engagements, promise rings, and a wedding (Trista). But this
was a first. But the message boards were in an uproar. It's the usual
"I'll never watch" or "ABC lied to us" garbage. And then Ellen DeGeneres
calls him a "jerk" and then backs down.
That was the left cross so to speak...and here is the right hook which
knocked me on my butt...from laughter. On the "Bachelor" recap special,
it looked like we were going to see a happy couple tie the knot. Byron
Velvick and Mary Delgado came on and said they were about to get
married. The next day, she was arrested for battery when they disagreed
about leaving a condominium. She socked him one...he didn't want charges
pressed...they did anyway.
Let me tell you something people. When I see relationships like this
fail...I laugh. I laugh hard. I get a ton of schadenfreude out of this.
Because I said it before and I will say it again. RELATIONSHIPS THAT ARE
BORN FROM TV SHOWS ARE DOOMED TO FAIL. And anyone who thinks they can
find love, or believes that love can be found from TV, are either naive
or just plain stupid.
Is anyone shocked, for example, that Tila Tequila might be putting on an
act for the cameras on her dating show and might be straight as an
arrow? Nope...and people need to get with it.
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Another person who needs to get with it, is one Christopher Francis. Who
is he? Well, on the November 28, 2007 edition of the Price is Right he
won a $2000 camcorder and a $500 bonus for a perfect bid.
One more thing, he also is a news producer for the CBS affiliate in
Tucson. And he is not happy about being caught.
Here's the deal. I am not going to get into name calling on this one.
But here is a bit of explanation.
I know for a fact that I will never be on the show ever. Because I know
too many people who work for the show and I write about the industry. He
should have known better.
According to his blog, this is how he answered the question when asked
"What do you do?"
"I'm a television news producer in Tucson, Arizona."
Bingo end of story. That is what you call legally a "sin of omission."
He knew he worked for a CBS affiliate and no matter how many ways you
can try to defend it (as he tries to do in a later blog post), you work
for CBS.
He admits reading the rules and that the pages didn't announce that
fact, or that the rules on the net stated the same thing (which CBS has
now changed).
In the two blog posts, he tries to spin it six ways to Sunday. But being
in your mid 30's doesn't excuse the fact that he may have (intentionally
or otherwise) been trying to skirt the rules.
I appreciate his honesty in telling the producers after he won the
prizes, but would not the right thing to do is disqualify yourself and
not put yourself in this mess in the first place?
Chris, I know you are a pretty net savvy guy and will probably read
this. I just say this: CBS was just protecting its property. And look
what happens in many places in your industry when facts might be padded?
They do get caught. This isn't a corporate monolith being stingy. It's a
simple fact of rules being followed.
Simple as that.
Jason
Block found love and game show fame the old fashioned
way... he earrrrrrned it. E-mail him at
jb.regis@verizon.net. |
