• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 16, 2006

News flash: Some--but not all--syndicated TV magazine shows are looking for more bad behavior from top-notch celebrities.

Top syndicated TV entertainment magazine "Entertainment Tonight" perked up 5 percent in the week ending Aug. 6 from the previous week, and 10 percent over the year before because of the Mel Gibson drunken rage story. "Inside Edition" did the best, jumping 13 percent for the week and 21 percent from a year ago. "The Insider" rose 4 percent for both the week and the year. "Extra" jumped 11 percent when compared with the previous week, but was flat year-over-year.

Only "Access Hollywood" showed slippage--down 4 percent for the week, but up 5 percent from a year ago. The Hollywood Reporter noted that "Access" dedicated the least amount of time to the Gibson story.

So here's the question:  Does one congratulate "Access Hollywood" for taking the high road, or reprimand it for not capitalizing on a major entertainment story?  Morally, the show should be congratulated for not wanting to further the spread of hatred and intolerance. But from a capitalistic point of view, "Access" missed some key advertising revenue gains in the always-lower-ratings summer period.

If we do honor "Access'" accountability, where does this stop?  If another famous actor gets drunk in a big-time restaurant, trashes the place, and screams, "Great chefs start all the wars in the world!," should "Access" pull that story as well?

Perhaps entertainment shows should become just business news shows, sticking to topics like ratings, advertising sales, box office revenues, music tour grosses, TV production costs, performers' salaries, financial and legal issues.

Or do we let all the news in--no matter how ugly and sensationalistic?  Proponents of this point of view feel viewers should be their own editors--especially in an Internet world that offers up an avalanche of information (even though much of that information can be wildly inaccurate and not confirmable.)

Okay. I decide for myself. These behavioral entertainment stories do indeed occur, are isolated (sometimes), and have deeper meaning for the world (sometimes).

Now back to your regularly scheduled cheating husband episode on "Jerry Springer."