• by John Gaffney , October 30, 2002

Reality Is For People Who Can’t Face Plastic Surgery: I don’t like reality TV. I think it’s boring as hell. It’s a huge cop-out on creativity, and TV should be more about creativity than it is right now. But I’m also a business realist, and I understand that the people want what they want. So give’em what they want. Now VH-1 has had to bail on that kooky couple David and Liza. E! set up another injection of Anna and The Osbourne’s await for Thanksgiving. Now, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I think the latest installment, “Supermodel,” is an excellent reality series idea. Number one: it has a lot of sponsor potential, and product placement potential. I don’t even need to spell that out. Number two: it’s a great audience grab. My seven year old will watch it, my wife will watch it and I’ll pretend that I’m not watching it. Number three: it’s aspirational, like American Idol and to an extent, Survivor. I’d still rather see a well-written comedy or Austin City Limits. But Supermodel might work on merit. “You better work, girl.”

Uncle Walter’s On My Side: I have been trashed (don’t worry I love it) more than a few times over the past few weeks about chiding the news media for being too timid about Iraq and the Beltway Sniper case. Just want you to know that recent comments from Walter Cronkite (not comparing myself. I inhaled, and therefore I am not trustworthy) are chiding as well. "Unless journalists are doing their job, and doing it well, our democracy is in deep trouble, and perhaps cannot even survive," said Cronkite yesterday at Robert Morris University. "There is a lot of speculative material on the air that is not feeding the public's need to know. It's exploitative."

Decaffeinated: Saw The Early Show this morning. I like Hannah Storm a lot. Outside of that the show has less chemistry than a Bush family reunion.