Donny Deutsch TV

Aaaw, merry Xmas Robblink, you total ad-nerd. ;) Thanx for sharing some of the Deutch show with us overseas!

I caught parts of it and what had my mind going were the bits about the dumbing down of American television. He asked two different guests for their take and both responded with this "blahblah reflects on the times... state of culture... is actually interesting...blahblah but isn't a problem because there's something [on television] for everyone."

It seemed like he wasn't getting the answer he was looking for which made me wish he had said "yes, you can make the argument that with cable, digital, expanded, whatever, there is something for everyone (though, some might argue that with 257 channels, there's still nothin' on) BUT what about the broadcast networks?"

Don't/shouldn't ABC, CBS and company have a bit of a different responsiblity/mission as they are/should be less narrowly defined than cable channels? How does THAT reflect? If you want "smart programming," if you want to escape reality tv, does that mean you're banished to pay television or PBS? Ok, practically everybody's got cable but still...

I guess the show's format, a different guest every segment, doesn't allow for deep, deep debate but I think the effects of the teleplosion from the Big 3 to umpteen million networks are kinda interesting. And ohhhh the Nielsens...