Originally published July 14, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1391
“I want to decide who lives and who dies.”
–Crow T. Robot
It’s really coming true, isn’t it. From peek-a-boo websites to game shows where people screw up their courage to face Regis Philbin and try to land a million dollars (although, considering the tax cut, the show’s name should really be changed to, “So You Want To Be a Half-Millionaire?”) to—most hideously—the new shows that make such future-vision films as The Truman Show, EdTV, and Network seem short-sighted in comparison. After all, Truman was ultimately more parable than prediction: Man’s relation to his creator, with man deciding this time around to walk away from the Garden of Eden on his own, leaving an unnecessary God whining and begging for him to come back. And EdTV, a marvelously realized comedy that was unfortunately overshadowed by Truman, was nothing more than the story of a network formalizing what already exists on assorted websites—twenty four hour observations of one person’s life.
But shows such as Survivor and the forthcoming Big Brother take voyeurism and add something new to the mix: Cruelty.
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