Absolved

I've been watching two bad television shows the past month because they are beautiful to see.  One is "Pan Am," that horrible show about the travails of a group of stewardesses flying around the globe in the 1960's.  It is truly awful, but I record it on Sunday nights and watch it on Monday late, in the dark, with nobody around.  But wait.  It gets worse.  Someone told me about another show, "The Playboy Club," which was better.  So I watched it, and marginally, they were right.  It was the difference between Nestles milk chocolate and Nestles dark chocolate.  Both were visually stimulating and both were written by thirteen year olds for less sophisticated viewers.  But that is the standard for network programming at its highest level.

So I was shocked when I read that "The Playboy Club" had been cancelled after only three shows.  "It was doomed from the start," reads every report on the internet.  The PTA was against it, I think.  Sexist.  Racy.  Just plain bad for people.

So, of course, I couldn't be more for it.  In truth, it was a lousy revisionist text, as is "Pan Am," that pretended to disapprove of the thing it was exploiting.  It would have been a better show on cable, of course.  But it had higher production standards than most network shows.

O.K.  I'm just pissed because I won't be able to sit alone in the dark and watch something I wished were better.  But Jesus Christ--"Dancing with the Stars"?  Really?

It is Sunday.  Now I have confessed to many sins.  Some of you believe in absolution.  That is a formal release from guilt and punishment.  I'm counting on it.