Dateline, 20/20 - are we out of stories or just conservative?

Cafe Society
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I was watching Dateline the other night, hadn’t watched it in quite a while.

They aired a story about how you can easily get hookers in Las Vegas.
Apparently there’s gambling there too, and strip clubs.

20/20 had a special piece about how kids are wearing revealing clothing; bare midriffs and the like.

So, my thoughs were

  1. I’ve just wasted an hour of my life that I’ll never get back
  2. Are there just no more stories out there to tell? Are they gonna report about how great sliced bread is next?
  3. Am I now old enough that I’ve seen all the possible stories they can tell and nothing’s new anymore?
  4. Is this a function of art immitating life in the new conservative US?
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My guess is that they’re probably working on one or two big stories and they needed to throw out some filler while they’re researching.

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I like how every 6 months or so on the local news they do this big expose on this hip new underground drug that the kids are really into. Supposedly this drug is called “Ecstasy” (also known as “E” on “the street”) and there’s a good chance it might be bad for you, or even dangerous. Oh, and apparently they buy it from, get this, DRUG DEALERS.

Hey, thanks for that info. That should be a pretty big newsflash for people who get their drug information from “Little House on the Prairie” or something. (“What? The kids don’t sniff the ether anymore?”)

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I hear their latest big story is an investigation into the rumors that the Pope is Catholic.

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There’s gambling in Vegas???!!!

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And hookers too!!!

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Remember they are “news magazine shows” that air in primetime and have to cater to viewers to compete with entertainment programs rather than just other news programs. The only ones I can stand on the major networks now are 60 Minutes and sometimes 60 Minutes II. Although II’s story selection could use some work and they should cut down on the celeb stories.

OTOH, real news stories might require Stone Phillips to think or Barbara Walters to attempt to move a botoxed facial muscle. The resulting disasters from either event might spell the end of network TV.

Can’t you just be happy with endless car crash safety tests, consumer ripoff stories, and John Stossel being so much smarter and wiser than all of the rest us and feeling the need to tell us about it week after week?

What more do you want? Pat O’Brien’s ass-kissing interviews with fluffy celebrities? How about stories and interviews that are really promos for upcoming movies, albums, and “farewell” concert tours by fading rock stars trying to sock enough money away in the bank that they don’t wind up on the county fair circuit or sharing a double bill with Kansas?

As for news reports about Ecstasy, everyone knows that the kids only get into that drug if they go to these strange things called “raves” or if you’re a bad parent and let them go to Burning Man.

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so, y’all don’t think it has anything to do with our society becoming more conservative?

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You think our society is becoming more conservative? Really? What’s your definition of conservative?

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Where do you live that seems to be becoming more conservative? Here in California people are barely wearing clothes anymore.

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[sub]Note to self: Check out California sometime.[/sub]

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Note to Happy: These are usually people who should be wearing a body-length paper bag.

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And 20/20 hasn’t reported on this yet?

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**

Admittedly not a new magazine per se , but you always know it’s Sweeps Month when FOX-5 in DC is teasing an expose about Univ. of Maryland girls doubling as call-girls. Because, you know, this is an important story that affects so many of its viewers. Or because they have most of the stock footage in the vault, regular as clock-work . . .