On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> I watched Celebrity Boxing as well as one or two episodes of similar > series like I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (the VH1 version). > That's what I meant by lowering the bar of celebrity. It isn't simply > an addiction to fame for these people; it's the only chance to get > work in front of a camera these days. And some measure of notoriety > may lead to more work. > > When I started my reply to Bob's post, I was thinking "why would > Samuel Jackson, Jon Stewart, Martin Scorsese, etc., appear on this > kind of show?" It was while I was composing the second sentence that I > thought of the Octomom and how much more likely that she would be the > "celebrity" for a show like this. Or anybody who participated in > Celebrity Boxing. But with all good addictions is the denial. When the writer's strike shut down production and people lost their jobs, it was assumed that the only field these people could work in was the television industry. When I left Hollywood, I worked in retail, the law, volunteered overseas, and became a school teacher. But celebrities in Hollywood are myopic (an ironic phrase coming from me, who can only see out of one eye) and refuse to believe there is a life outside of show business. With that denial, they force themselves into these crappy shows, because they don't believe they can exist without it. Back when I was working in television, a lot of the shows I worked on were game shows. Thanks to WWTBAM?, the genre that had nearly died out suddenly made a comeback, and I met a lot of people who were returning to work in Hollywood after lengthy absences. Some had gone into real estate, others interior design, etc. Sadly, it was the on-air talent who couldn't transition to civilian life. Bob Eubanks appeared as a caricature of himself in films. A few game show hosts did infomercials. A few other veteran hosts took jobs on extremely low budget cable shows and infomercials. It was sad, but they fail to recognize that it doesn't need to be that way. That fame isn't paramount. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
