Taradiddle #1
Awarded on 3 October 1999
It may be difficult for the illustrious readers of The Corporate Asylum to believe that I, The Inmate, on rare occasions succumb to the wiles and seductions of network television, but it's true. Throw your preconceptions to the corporate hatchet men. I sometimes even laugh, though not without some cynicism. However, surrender to prime time television does not come without sacrifices in the void of sitcom plot lines. Most television writers rely on the sophomoric lie that must be covered up in increasingly preposterous scenes where characters inevitably regress into cartoonish buffoons.
When I do watch network television it is usually NBC, probably because years ago I was addicted to Cheers and Hillstreet Blues. Now, however, I will be awarding my once favorite network with The Corporate Asylum's first Taradiddle award. Yes, NBC, the National Broadcasting Company, the home of Friends and Frazier and Tom Brokaw. A television network most probably dedicated to excellence in their Mission Statement, but one which routinely offers, like the other networks, mediocrity, banality and triteness.
This Taradiddle is not awarded for an overused sitcom plot or an unobjective news story, but rather for the public advice spots entitled, "The More You Know." NBC wants to explain to you how to be a good parent. So, what is it they want to reveal to you? What is it they think you need to know? Feed your children; talk to your children; discipline your children. It's a good thing that this advice is being broadcast on a weekly basis because if most of you are like me I usually forget to feed my kid at least two or three days a week. Thank God for television.
Does NBC think their viewers are so irresponsible and so immature that they do not know this? How much do these attitudes affect their decisions about programming? What was the meeting like where they decided that their viewers needed to hear this? Let's assume that some viewers do need that kind of advice, do the rest of us need to hear it?
The phrase itself, "The More You Know," is puzzling. The more you know what? The more you know the more you will significantly add to your stash of wisdom and insight? I suppose there is no better way to increase this stash than to listen attentively to the counsel of NBC. Just what do network executives think of their viewers? This can be easily deduced by evaluating their programs and commercials, but it is more blatantly obvious in the 'The More You Know" spots. In this case the more you know, the less you want to know.
Therefore, for insulting their viewers, for presuming a parental role, for their condescension, audacity, arrogance and for their ability to enter into a realm where they have no business being(pun intended), we hereby award NBC with The Corporate Asylum's first Taradiddle Award. May their reign be short and their catharsis soon.
©1999 The Corporate Asylum
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