Spiralling Out Of Control

In recent weeks, I have read articles, tweets and comments from social networking sites about Jan Jan, a child of six years old performing a 'macho' dance number for a noontime show in the Philippines called Willing WIllie. Naturally, there was outrage and public condemnation. And rightly so - the incident was blatantly child abuse, clear exploitation and should be unacceptable in any modern and evolved society.

However, I find it bizarre how Filipinos reacted so violently over the incident when Philippine television is filled with programmes that exploit the poor, objectify women, and poke fun at those who are seen less important or less beautiful in society. You've got noontime entertainment shows that have scantily-clad women performing sensual dance routines, contestants in game shows that wear offensive or inappropriate clothing (I still remember an episode of Wowowee where a contestant wore a t-shirt with a huge swastika splashed across the front!) and drama shows that portray darker-skinned characters in a negative light.

Until producers, TV hosts, artists and everyone in the entertainment industry change their mindset and deliver high quality, informative and non-sensationalist programming, you'll always have victims like Jan Jan, who, in his family's desperation for a cash prize that they would never get to earn even if they worked 24/7 for the rest of their lives, are exploited and abused.

And unless government remains unable to provide its citizens with decent jobs paying decent wages, people will do whatever it takes to survive. Even if it means putting their nearest and dearest in perilous situations.

Absolute Rubbish!

Now, before I start, can I just say that I am under no illusions that my taste in TV (and in films and music for that matter) falls somewhere between awfully cheesy and positively dreadful. Just one glance at the contents of my iPod will get you to agree. I have everything from Britney Spears, S Club 7, Barry Manilow…all the way to the Masters of Cheese, Westlife.

But my husband is something else. A self-proclaimed music and film aficionado/guru, he looks down at my music and DVD collection with contempt and disdain. And yet, for all his snooty-nosed musings, he watches 2 TV shows that I think are worse than all my easy listening CDs combined.

As I type this, I am subjected to yet another rubbish episode of ‘Masters of Science Fiction’. I’ve never seen anything so utterly cringe-worthy in my entire life! These one-hour shows every Thursday evening on Bravo (need I say more?!?!) have the most ill-conceived, badly written and painfully shambolic scripts I have seen since Mission to Mars (don't even get me started on that one!).

Tonight’s episode is about a scientist who has developed these silver bird machines, who are supposed to uphold the delicate balance of the earth. So, like miniature Robocops, these creatures fly around the earth stinging the bad people with laser-like powers. And of course, just to add a bit of a twist (if you can call it that), the birds turn bad and go on a stinging spree.

Total and utter rubbish! Even my youngest niece can come up with a better story than that! Worse of all, my other half actually acknowledges that the show is crap, yet every week, we sit together and watch something even worse than Big Brother or I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

To top it all off, Sundays are dedicated to another Bravo TV masterpiece – ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’. A whole day of this pretend cop and his family of equally dodgy characters is almost impossible to avoid. Dog (yep, that’s his name) owns a bail bonds company in Hawaii, and when a criminal goes on a runner, he finds them and brings them to justice – with a twist! He gets all gooey and gives unsolicited advice for these hardened criminals to mend their ways. Aaww shucks!

I think I’ll be sticking to listening to my cheese this weekend. No, I don’t think – I know.