Another Road Sign on the Way to DamNation
From Morford's Morning Fix, which was mostly about his and his girlfriend's new found lust for all things snakey and nasty like that. Let me just go on record as saying that snakes aren't pets, they're wild animals and are dangerous. Just like the idiots who keep scorpions as pets, um, hey dumbass, if it gets loose it can KILL you. How can that be called or considered a pet?
Anyway, here's the Fix excerpt.
The Most Savagely Depressing Commentary On America You Have Seen Today

Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks for the week of Nov. 3-9. Each ratings point represents 1,067,000 households.

1 NFL Football: (Sunday), ESPN, 6.5, 7.08 million homes.
2 Auto Racing: Winston Cup/Rockingham (Sunday), TNT, 3.4, 3.7 million.
3 "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 3.3, 3.54 million.
4 "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.43 million.
5 "NFL Primetime" (Sunday) ESPN, 3.1, 3.4 million.
6 "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 3.1, 3.37 million.
7 "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.18 million.
8 "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.13 million.
9 "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 2.6, 2.84 million.
10 "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.95 million.
11 "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.87 million.
12 "WWE Raw" (Monday), Spike, 2.6, 2.84 million.
13 "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.81 million.
14 "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday), Nickelodeon, 2.5, 2.66 million.
15 "Sportscenter" (Sunday), ESPN, 2.4, 2.55 million.

Now, what does this information tell us? The first is that 9 of the 15 listings here are on Nickelodeon and that tells us several things, among them, that kids are watching far too much tv. There are no dramas, no sitcoms and really nothing of any substance here. Sports, kids shows, lame fake wrestling (which continues to astound me that people actually STILL watch this crap, its awful, people, you can get more entertainment in a bowl of Rice Krispies) and a sports wrap up show.
No news, no specials, no Jessica Lynch movie, no Elizabeth Smart exploitation TV, no State of the Union address (would that be news or comedy?).
At least Baywatch is finally off the air. But I do think this bodes very poorly for the current state of American culture. Sure Spongebob is good funny stuff but it accounts for a third of the top fifteen! Am I the only one alarmed by how popular a cartoon about a (debatably) sentient sponge that wears pants is?
Ah, its better than that awful Pokemon crap or the dozens of more stupider spinoff concepts. (And yes, I know that stupider isn't a word, I'm using it for sarcastic effect, jeez!).

This does serve as a snapshot of our culture though, what we value most. Football, auto racing and cartoon sponges. How utterly pathetic.