Another Sign of the Pending Apocalypse
P brought home People, the fluff magazine that is basically nothing but ego stroking for celebs and gossip just one half notch above the National Enquirer.
The cover of the issue she brought home was with John Ritter taking center stage because of his recent death. Yes, the same day that Johnny Cash died. And sure, there was a little banner across the top noting Cash's death. But come on, leading with John Ritter over Johnny Cash? Using Ritter's death instead of Cash's to sell magazines?
I wonder if it worked. It bothered the freaking hell out of me though.

Why? John Ritter was an actor, not an especially good one and not an especially funny one either. He was a sitcom star, the lowest and most utterly droll of the television offerings (with the possible exception of soap operas that do nothing but delude women and women in men's bodies all day, every day). Sitcoms are, by their nature, pathetically predictable, low stupid comedy that relies on cliches and stereotypes to deliver the laughs (usually forced upon the audience by the application of a laugh track). Sitcoms are incredibly poor entertainment (and yes, I know there are plenty of people out there who love Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and any of the other crappy half hour shows that suck ass from start to end).

Johnny Cash was a musical legend in both person and deed. He crossed stereotypes, appealed to a far wider group than any ridiculous sitcom ever could (and no, Baywatch doesn't count though it was the highest watched show in the history of TV when it was on and I bet its reruns still trounce most shows it goes up against though it was a thoroughly stupid show that could just as easily have been watched without sound and the viewer would miss nothing of the storyline). Johnny Cash sang about America, he sang about the fiery passion he felt for his wife, he sang about good times and bad times and was an icon on the music scene for decades.

John Ritter's claims to fame include, Three's Company where he had to fall at least twice an episode, Problem Child 1 and 2, both terribly stupid movies and 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter, a show I never bothered to waste a half hour of my life watching, why?, there was nothing new there, just rehashed jokes that were barely funny the first time they were used twenty years ago.

Johnny Cash broke new ground, he broke the rules, he made his own rules and didn't give the least bit of a damn what people thought of him, good or bad. He was old school cool.

How People decided to run him second fiddle to John Ritter's death is beyond me. But it bothers the hell out of me. Don't worry though, I'm over it. And don't think I am happy either man is dead but I think the world is a far worse place because of Johnny Cash's passing than John Ritter's, heck they're not even canceling his show, the one he starred in, the one that featured him. How is that going to work and is it just a bad attempt to capitalize on his death. Its just a little sick, I think.

One more thing, the idiot judges who awarded Everybody Loves Raymond yet another Emmy for their terribly uninteresting show should be exiled to an island in the middle of the ocean. Everybody Loves Raymond is incredibly bad TV that can only make old people laugh. How these terrible entertainers command such income for their awful work is beyond me. But whatever, it means that it should be relatively easy to sell out and make millions but duping the country into liking some crap I write.