Ernie: Stumbled upon "Shark Tank" on TV. There is a semi-annual get-together in Florida organized by an Evangelical scholar who works at a DC think tank, who was perplexed and annoyed by reporters who were assigned stories about religious topics and were clueless about much of anything to do with religious questions, Like a journalist from the NYT who called him to ask about the latest SBC brouhaha over the role of men in marriage. "Well," said the Evangelical, "as it says in the book of Ephesians...." "Stop right there," said the reporter. "What is epesh... what did you say it was? Who is the author? When was it published?" This was what brought about the "Religion Boot Camp," now held in Florida every year for news people so that they can learn the basics of religion. The point about sharks is that the opposite kind of thing can occur, religion people who know little about popular TV. Since I am "Exhibit A" you will excuse my not knowing diddle about Shark Tank. Assuming that "everybody" knows all about Shark Tank is not justified even if you might suppose so because of.... what, I do not know. But in all of my life popular television shows meant next to nothing to me or next-to-nothing. A few exceptions along the way (All in the Family once upon a time was a rare exception) but at the 99% level I could care less. While I may be in a minority that fact also means next-to-nothing to me and I could care less about that, too. What is also clear is that there are millions of Americans who also could care less. Methinks you should factor us in this minority into your equations. Like a teacher at Alice Lloyd College, where I once taught, who not only is indifferent to TV shows, but who won't have a TV in his home. He was in the news a few years ago in the Kentucky press. Not sure why you assume that literally everybody watches popular TV shows. Cannot begin to tell you the numbers who simply don't care, but if it is under, say, 15% of the population, I'd be very surprised. My guess is that 25% may be more like it. I do watch entertainment television but it is strictly hit-or-miss. When I need a break from research, which could be any time of day or night, I cease my labors and surf until something interesting is on the screen. Then a half hour later, maybe an hour, and its back to the grindstone. So I stumbled upon Shark Tank. Must say that its production values are top quality, and the 3 pitches I saw were very well done. But when all is said my reactions was "so what?" Each of the 3 gee-whiz products had zero relevance to my life. None at all. The show's format is interesting, of course, where sharks -investors- decide if they will shell out a few million in exchange for owning a large chunk of a fledgling company. OK, that is a good approach. But what if the products being pitched are gee-gaws or otherwise have no objective value in the larger scheme of things? I just did not see any relevance to my life in the products I saw. Therefore, I have no plans to watch the show again. But I know about the format now and that's a plus. Billy
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