The pendulum will swing back from this stuff. There have always been vulgar "reality" shows on TV. Incredibly popular on radio and then on TV (It had the highest advertising rates on TV for a while) was "Queen for a Day" where women competed with each other by telling their hard luck stories and trying to be most pathetic. The audience voted which had the saddest story and the woman won a washing machine. In the '70s, The Newlywed Game, That's Incredible and the Gong Show were all primetime hits. People will get sick of this shit--they always do.

That's Incredible and the Gong Show were all primetime hits.

Who Wants to Date My Millionaire Midget Dad makes me yen for the days of Hee Haw.

And though I loathe those shows, some of my family loves them. They can watch them as a family and all the varying generations enjoy them and talk about them. So there's that appeal.

They make me wretch, which doesn't necessarily make them bad. I think the network decisions are bad. Incompetent, actually.

They spent an absolute fortune on The Inside to produce it, but gave it no cable or print ads, and just kind of dumped it in the middle of Summer. Why spend SO MUCH money (THREE PILOTS!) and then sort of leave the baby in the middle of the dark highway to see if a stranger will pick it up or a dingo will devour it?

I want that explained to me.

Don't be too sure. One of the most cringeworthy shows of all time was "This is Your Life" where a celeb was surprised by the host, and then sat in front of an audience and made to ID the voices of people from their past-- "This next voice is of someone you knew during that season of Summer Stock, can you tell us who it is?" who would then come out onstage and tell little anecdotes about the person. They often would get folks barely connected with the guest, and they would be sat on a sofa right next to the person they were tlaking about The host was incredibly unctuous and patronizing, and the subject of the show always looked miserable but was expected to be a good sport. I have seen the Buster Keaton episode in a retrospective and it made me want to gouge my own eyes out.

Who Wants to Date My Millionaire Midget Dad makes me yen for the days of Hee Haw.

I feel stupid for asking, but I can't tell if this is an actual show title, or hyperbole. Cashmere?

Although spending so damn much developing a show and then not supporting it is deeply deeply shortsighted and stupid.

I feel stupid for asking, but I can't tell if this is an actual show title, or hyperbole. Cashmere?

I rest my case.

Okey, so, could it be something along the lines of not getting what you thought you asked for? Did that come out right?

I'm think Exorcist: The Beginning. Morgan Creek got Paul Schrader to do it, knew what kind of director he is, had the script, financed it, still acted surprised when they saw the final product and threw it out the window.

Likewise I guess Fox could have thought they were getting a CSI/L&O-clone with TI, and when realizing their mistake started to mistreat it. As usual, since this would be something they have done before.

I don't know. Maybe this is a silly and stupid explenation, but it's the only one I got and it fits with Fox's treatment of our favourite shows.

Last night while I was at work, my roomie apparently watched both eps of the double feature, since she sat in on me watching last week's episode and got her shit all freaked out. She hadn't watched any before that.

She just got home and said "Oh my god! Can you believe?". I thought she meant the Paul stuff and the Web stuff, and she said "No, from the first episode last night. Can you believe she had been kidnapped and held captive for 18 months!?! That was intense. I love that show!"

Poor thing.

Ok, I'm fairly new to this board (meaning I've been here for a total of two minutes) and I joined because I read Tim's post about Fox "supporting the show," but not extending their options. First of all, let me say that you have the right attitude, Tim. Who cares if Fox wants to cancel the show. You got to spend their money telling a story you wanted to tell. I think that's awesome. I am rather disappointed that they are canceling (or may be canceling) a wonderful program. It's funny, when they showed the promos for "Dancing with the Stars" or whatever the hell that's called, I passed on it in favor of The Inside. I guess I was in the minority. Just so you know, I already sent an email off to Fox in defense of The Inside, so let's hope. I realize I'm just one person, but you never know. Also, I agree with the others in that when the DVD comes out, that commentary be had. Also, many interviews and such with you and the cast. That would be great!