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Monday, April 8,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
Reality shows
should leave
exploitation
for adults only
shows featuring children as quality program
Though there has been a slew of “reality”
shows in the wake of the success of “Survivor,”
the stars of these melodramatic television pro
grams should be restricted to consenting
adults, not impressionable children who may
be manipulated or forced into participating by
their parents.
Two new shows will feature youngsters in
“real” predicaments, such as reintroducing res
cued orangutans to the rainforest and building
survival rafts on a deserted island. The BBC is
working on a documentary-style soap opera
called “Serious Jungle,” which has children as
young as 12 roaming around the Borneo tropi
cal rainforest. The children will have intensive
survival training for a week and will then live
in the forest for two weeks alongside untamed
bears, rhinos, crocodiles and millions of poi
sonous insects. You know, just your typical pre
teen experiences.
UPN has already premiered “Under One
Roof,” a show featuring five dysfunctional fam
ilies — including mom, dad and kids — who
leave their domestic lives to move to Fiji and
compete, a la “Survivor,” for a vacation house
on the island. The kin are mostly teenagers who
provide a lot of angst and are embarrassed by
the antics of their often-quarreling parents.
Luckily, “Roof” was placed on hiatus by UPN
last week, sparing viewers from the melodrama
until further notice.
So what’s wrong with putting children and
teenagers into a reality television setting? Noth
ing, if their parents are willing to pay enormous
psychotherapy bills in the future. Children
shouldn’t be forced or manipulated by their
competitive parents to compete in “Under One
Roof,” and pre-teens don’t need to fight off wild
animals in Borneo on the whim of a producer
who wants to capture the drama of cries for
mommy. Reality television probably has never
been truly real, and we are getting sick of the
networks’ repeated attempts to exploit other
wise sane people.
Kids are bound to be traumatized by these ex
periences, and these kinds of shows distort
what young viewers see as reality. We should
let adults over 18 embarrass themselves on tele
vision and leave the children alone.
'e know the television ratings race is
reaching new lows when desperate
producers start pawning off reality TV
ming.
Editorial Policy
Editorial Board Members
Jacquelyn lewis
editor in chief assistant editorial editor
Jeremy Lang Jerad Nicholson
managing editor * community representative
JullBlauderlsaugh Audrey Sheppard
editorial editor community representative
. j. PelerHockaday
I. , newsroom representative
Oprah closes another book
The reigning queen of talk show tele
vision, Oprah Winfrey, announced
Friday that she would no longer be
featuring books regularly on her show be
cause she couldn’t find any more en
thralling novels. Oprah’s Book Club, a sta
ple of Winfrey’s feel-good television
repertoire for six years, helped millions of
her disciples get motivated about reading
quality literary work.
But now that Win
frey’s inspiration
from literature has
waned, so will her
fickle viewer’s inter
est in continuing the
book club’s tradition.
Winfrey an
nounced last month
that she is ending
her show in 2006,
leaving two decades
of tears, laughter
and shameless nar
cissism as her lega
cy. In addition to
hosting the “The Oprah Winfrey Show,”
she is also the founder of her own pro
duction studio, Harpo Productions,
runs Oprah’s Angel Network, graces
every cover of and writes for her own
monthly magazine, “O,” and continues
to gracefully balance her personal life
with being one of the most influential
women in entertainment.
Winfrey’s name gives automatic cre
dentials to any project she touches, and
she has succeeded like no other woman
in the industry, earning $150 million in
2000, according to Forbes magazine.
But the unparalleled power and reach
over her constituents as a television per
sona is proved most obviously with the
success of her book club.
With Winfrey’s blessing,(m^ny of her
Lauderbaugh
editorial editor
book club selections sold more than
1.2 million copies as soon as they were
announced, and all of her 46 choices
thus far have been featured on best
seller lists. The role model single
handedly became the biggest authority
on literary quality in the nation, thanks
in part to her loyal viewers and high
profile author friends, like Maya An
gelou, who were willing to talk about
their work on the show.
But what will become of the Oprah
Winfrey literacy crusade now that the
chapter has ended on her book club?
Publishers and writers alike consider a
nod from Winfrey as money in the bank.
Although there are critics who claim
her selections are less than literary mas
terpieces, the arguments haven’t kept
people from reading.
Winfrey’s stated reason for the demise
of her book club was that couldn’t find
any more books she felt compelled to
share with her viewers and that it was
hard to promote a novel every month. In
fact, Oprah’s selections have come spo
radically, with only six books endorsed
in 2001, compared to 11 in 1997.
So does this mean Winfrey has read
all the literary treasures there are in the
world, and current works are inconse
quential? With so many new titles and
talented writers emerging, I find Win
frey’s excuse flimsy at best. Let’s call it
like it really is — Winfrey is too busy
preening for her magazine’s cameras
and building shrines to Dr. Phil to con
tinue her bookworm ways.
In March, President George W. Bush
invited Winfrey to tour Afghanistan’s
schools to help show U.S. support for
women and girls attending classes after
the fall of the Taliban regime, but Win
frey said she had prior obligations. Pass
ing up an opportunity to further her
l r t l | r i ■ i III;' 'I ill,
public appeal is uncharacteristic, and
heck, if she had accepted Bush’s re
quest, she could have finished a lot of
insignificant books on her plane ride to
and from the Middle East.
However self-promoting Winfrey has
become, she deserves praise for her ef
forts in keeping literacy an important is
sue in a daytime television market
wrought with soap operas and smart
mouthed circuit court judges. And al
though it is pathetic that it took a talk
show guru to reignite American interest
in quality literature to begin with,
Oprah’s Book Club commands credit for
simply making reading attractive and
enjoyable again.
E-mail editorial editor Julie Lauderbaugh at
julielauderbaugh@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions
do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
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