Weekend "Entertainment": Who's watching?

As one sits back and reflects on a weekend of great(??) infotainment,you can't help but wonder, what does the word entertainment mean?Forget Oxford or Webster, this word has been given a whole new meaningand dimension by our media.

Does it mean watching a flop movie star,turned highly overrated TV anchor, sit alongside a average (at best)cricketer and laugh their way to glory (gory), or watching thehard-hitting crime shows. A handful of people like yours truly are still recovering from the blows. They claim to show the heinous nature of crimes and help in catching criminals, but since when has glroifying crime helped catch a criminal?? They are packed with sensation, and are inspired from America's most wanted. While the original was more than helpful with catching criminals, the efficacy of the Indian counterparts remains to be seen. what they promote is,more creative ways to commit crime. one reputed news channel even carried a detailed segment of Dawood Ibrahim's rise from the son of a constable to a multi millionaire don.

And now to the Great indian laughter show, the show has been a success with the Indian public. yes, some of the contestants deserve credit,for their creativity, flair and novel ways to make people laugh, what requires Einstein's brains is to know the reason behind Shekhar Suman and Navjot Singh Siddhu laughing persistently. They look like paranoid androids, programmed to laugh after fixed intervals. And Siddhu even manages to raise his arms up and down and occasionally headbang, as if he was at a Rage Against The Machine concert. And his collection of Idioms, proverbs and phrases seems to have been exhausted, someone please buy him something new. One couldn't help butadmire his tenacity & guts as a cricketer. Of late however, he has the performance of the Indian team after the world cup 2003, one GRajaraman (journalist with outlook and ESPN) , a very famous and reputed one at that, made a valid point on how they beat lesser teams and made it to the finals and got bamboozled in the finals. Siddhu somehow managed to potray as if the person had made a comment on WC2003 performance, ridiculed him and even got applause from the (Dunce)audience. Seriously, if that is the credit dished out to a learned man, our media is doing a good job of it. The same channel had claimed that Mushtaq Ali had captained India, when and where, no one wouldknow, for he's dead now and no such records exist. !!!!!!!

Then, there is KBC. Being a quizzard and the great respect i have for my comrades, i will be hush hush about my opinions. What i couldn'tget is why Saif Ali Khan had turned up along with Preity Zinta to do ahour long trailor for 'Salaam Namaste'.But what i do admire is the way Amitabh Bachhan handles the show and proves beyond all doubt, why he's the sarkar.

As mush as one hates the BCCI, a arm that runs the game, has no proper office, no permanent meeting place, controversial elections, and everything else in between, one must thank the powers that be for imposing the experience clause in the tender. For if ZEE sports got the rights, it would be armageddon and apocalypse rolled in one. They managed to broadcast a series where less than 1000 spectators turned up at the venue, to all of asia. And the luncheon/ Supper shows were out of this world. Their was the 'wannabe Mandira Bedi' Tina whose knowledge of the game rivals the average indian's knowledge ofamerican football. And the male host was even better, he asked waqar,why was kumble named as an extra in the all time asian 11, Waqar though, thankfully had some senses left and promptly told him that it was a insurance in case some one got injured. And the 'Panel' carried on their discussions in Scottish punjabi (waqar) and kapil's 'rapidex' brand of english. Here are two cricketers, legendary and iconic, gone astray. Though one mustn't forget that the couch potato indian public,true to its reputation, watched all the matches and prove how 'good' the coverage was.

There was of course, the usual dosage of EPL and F1,which does bring reliefAnd yeah, there was the usual 'Desparate Housewives' and 'Sex of theCity', two shows which potray housewives and four single women yuppies(not so young, but nevermind) in their own ways. While they havetheir detractors, one can't deny the critical and commercial success.and yeah, the ever growing popularity in the metros. The screening ofHum Tum also did help, a candid unique look at the interactions of a boy and a girl and their turmoils with life, relationships etc.I dont really know where our electronic media has headed, but it can'tbe anywhere half decent. For the sheer quality (lack of) ofprogramming, they leave me bemused.And please, someone please tell the news channels not to make idols out of criminals.Thos country has enough troubles already.