Too Much Reality TV

Here in Thailand, at my house, I get both UBC cable and Sophorn cable. (The German guy who lived here before me wanted Sophorn because it had German channels, but kept the UBC.) Therefore I have about 150 channels to choose from.

A lot of the primetime shows that are on in Asia are from America, but are not even remotely popular there. The one I watch is "The 4400" (apparently only on the USA Network in America).

The most popular shows in Asia seem to be the reality programs... especially the ones where people get damaged. At the top of the heap (or bottom of the barrel, as it were) is "Maximum Exposure." You remember all those "World's Wildest _____ Videos" (car chases, explosions, animal attacks, pastrami overdoses) where in one hour you'd be subjected to 10 or 15 videos of things gone horribly wrong, and then at the end, the announcer would say, "miraculously, Jimmy only escaped with minor cuts and a sprained ankle."

Well, now you have "Maximum Exposure" and its ilk. These were all the videos that the other tamer shows' producers watched, cringed (perhaps retched), and then shelved as too hideous for sensible viewers. I got as far as the guy diving off the roof into pool and only hitting the water after hitting the concrete deck. (Although I did accidentally catch a rollerblader falling about 10 feet and landing on his head... which brings up another pet peeve about the channels showing these programs, which is that their previews don't censor themselves, and the bug-munching-pus-squirting scene from "Fear Factor" is played 3 times an hour, every hour.)

My father has sent me a couple of videos via e-mail which contain "Maximum Exposure-esque" material. So apparently there is a desire to see this stuff in America as well. (And I don't claim to be uninterested: I used to visit The Gore Gallery about once a year to see gruesome pictures of mangled corpses in car wrecks or suicide shotgun blasts. But for some reason, for me, the moving images of actual injury happening is much more disturbing than the clinical still shots made by a crime scene investigator after the fact.

Well, I checked the listings for New York City, and yes... you too can be subjected to Maximum Exposure. Saturdays at 4:00 a.m. on CBS.