Back in 2008, when the Republicans chose Sarah Palin as the candidate for vice-president of the United States, I suggested in this column the development was “reality TV run amok.” I called it a “So You Think You Can Be Vice-President?” phenom, a sequel to the Alaska-only reality TV show So You Think You Can Govern?
Well, was I ever correct? It has come to this: Tuesday, on a packed night of network TV dramas, only one drama actually matters in any visceral sense – the finale of Dancing With the Stars (ABC, CTV, 9 p.m.). Not because the show is the biggest TV phenomenon on the planet. It isn’t. It’s popular and slick entertainment, but it’s not at the level of an American Idol finale or The Academy Awards.
It matters because of them – the Palins. And it behooves you to watch, because you’re watching a revolution unfold. The U.S. has turned into some kind of Palin-ville. The Palins are the defining figures of the moment in America. They’re everywhere. Politics, books, Facebook, all-news TV, The Learning Channel, the celebrity dancing show and the celebrity entertainment news shows. They have become so ubiquitous and influential that now they and their followers control the politics of dancing.
Okay, so maybe you’re devoted to watching the news and documentaries on TV. You sneer at reality TV, amateur dancing and singing competitions on television and all celebrity news. It’s all beneath you. Well, if that’s your way of thinking, the ground is what’s shifting beneath you.
You want to know why Dancing With the Stars matters now? Long story short: A few months ago, producers of the show announced that Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol (the one who got knocked-up and had on/off thing with the baby’s dad) would join the list of “celebrity” dancers. On the program, a celebrity is paired with a professional dancer. The duos compete in various styles of dance. The best couple wins, with the emphasis on the celebrity’s ability to learn and execute dance styles. There are studio judges but public voting determines what happens.
Now then – the other day, this comment was posted on the website of the news magazine The Week: “It's not bad enough that we have to watch an idiot pollute our politcal (sic) process but, to have to watch her overwieght (sic), uncoordinated daughter rise above truly talented dancers, due to her political supporters, makes my blood boil. If she wins, I'll never watch again – it's a sham and a disgrace!”
You get the picture? Bristol is not much of a dancer, but it appears that vast numbers of Sarah Palin supporters have voted her through, week after week. Thus, Bristol Palin ended up in the final performance show Monday night and could well be crowned the winner Tuesday.
This matters because what has driven the reality-TV genre is the reasonable belief that ordinary people, with all their messy baggage and lack of sophistication, are more authentically American than the fictional doctors, lawyers and detectives being portrayed on network dramas. Either the ordinary person is seen as noble, by being ordinary, or broadcasters gamble that the viewers are transfixed with horror by the trashy lumpen proles turning up on TV.
In 2008, when choosing Sarah Palin and pushing her family and life into prime time, the Republican Party was thinking along exactly the same lines. The Palins are straight out of Survivor, Big Brother, Wife Swap, Love Cruise, Temptation Island, Married by America and Are You Hot? That seemed a provocative claim in 2008. Now as 2010 nears an end, Sarah Palin and her family have their own eight-part reality series and, simultaneously, Bristol Palin is the most important figure on Dancing With the Stars, thanks to Palin’s political supporters.
The rise and rise of reality TV is not the end of civilization. What’s happened is that the reality-TV culture and frame of reference – all its simple-minded systems of meaning and signifiers of authenticity and heroism – have changed the American political system. If it’s true that reality TV can be coarse and vulgar, as some people assert, then it is definitely true that political discourse in the U.S. has become coarse and vulgar.
It’s all connected, obviously. Viewers engage with reality TV because they want to believe in something “real,” even as they know it isn’t truly real. A lot of Americans are engaged by Sarah Palin and her family because they believe she represents something “real” even as they know Sarah Palin isn’t that bright or capable as a politician.
That’s the way it is. And those who want the “real” of politics to be imposed on the “real” of reality TV are determined to win. They don’t know or care that the idea of the political “real” is derived from the “real” of reality TV.
Whoever said the revolution would not be televised was wrong. It’s on TV, on Dancing With the Stars, of all things.
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I'm away to Vancouver for a couple of days. Andrew Ryan will guide you tomorrow. Reports from Vancouver start Thursday.
Check local listings.
