Oh sh*t! Mike Wallace! Run!

At the beginning of this week, American television networks submitted their slates of programs for the 2004-2005 to the scrutiny of advertisers.

The week before last saw network executives screening about 30 pilots per network, followed by day or so of research, when those pilots are market-tested to sample audiences across the United States. Several days are then taken for scheduling, during which the executives decide which programs will debut in the autumn, which programs will be held in reserve for possible airing at midseason, and which pilots won't be developed into programs at all.

Sometimes market-testing damns a program to oblivion, sometimes network executives dismiss the results of market-testing (believe it or not) and decide to take a chance on a risky program anyway. Of course, it helps if the risky program has a powerful star or producer whom the network execs want to remain on the good side of. (Cop Rock, anyone?) But who knows? Maybe sometimes the execs feel that a program deserves a shot to find an audience.

The generation of American capitalist (or Zionist) running dog propaganda is nowhere to be found on network execs' list of objectives; putting asses on seats is invariably at the top of it. And if Americans are like other peoples (a point disputed by both anti-Americans and American exceptionalists), then a program that appeals to a mass audience in America (whether it's through fake breasts crammed into a red one-piece or witty repartée in a Boston watering hole) is likely to appeal to mass audiences elsewhere.

Most of America, frankly, is much smarter than television assumes they are...We proved that.
- Kelsey Grammer, lead actor, Frasier