• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 5, 2007

Walking with a successful TV reality show, a network might be moving sprightly in shiny leather shoes one minute -- and then stumbling over torn bedroom slippers the next. 

A&E Network certainly is getting its gait altered now that it has suspended the series "Dog The Bounty Hunter" because of Duane "Dog" Chapman's racist remarks, which were published by the National Enquirer.

Can Chapman and the show recover? Probably not. Don Imus used some pretty wrong words from time to time, and he's back on the air. But Imus has had a multi-decade career; Chapman's "Dog" show has been on the air only four years -- with somewhat of a lesser brand value.

You can debate whether Chapman's use of the "n" word was worse than Imus' ill-chosen "h" word about the Rutgers' women's basketball team.  It really doesn't matter. Once you've crossed that line, it's pretty hard to slow down the entertainment buzz-blog-spin --- even if you've got a good explanation.

TV has no mercy -- especially from sensitive advertisers -- many of whom have a fairly strict code when it comes to such stuff. A&E Network made the quick and easy decision. Reruns are off the air and a fifth season has been suspended until further investigation.

But in reality, it's a goner. Under what marketing campaign could it come back? Sure, Dog has caught many heinous criminals. But that's not enough. He's an imperfect, hurtful hero to some. That's hard to sell on TV.

A&E has a number of other shows of note -- "The Sopranos," "Intervention," and "Criss Angel Mindfreak" But none get the ratings of "Dog." No doubt some A&E media sales packages use "Dog" as a key piece. All that hurts.

If you think Chapman can come back better than ever, ask yourself if a network or a TV producer will hire Michael Richards anytime soon? The memory of Richards' racist rant is still pretty fresh -- which means it might be a long time before he is cast as, say, a crazed terrorist on "CSI: Miami."

One might imagine advertisers to be less sensitive in this growingly diverse world of TV - one that is safe, edgy, boring, compelling, racially charged, as well as politically incorrect.

Nope.  In this fragile word of TV and sponsorship, people want to see the successes, the errors, the apologies, the meetings with religious and ethnic leaders, and the redemption.  But they won't let you have back your exact moneymaking entertainment life.  That's because your reality TV story has come to a real-life conclusion.