"Reality TV shows cost less than one-tenth as much as quality dramas, but in most time slots they attract more than half the audience of a drama and therefore command close to half the advertising revenue. That's money in the bank for networks, and debased quality for viewers. When I ask people why they don't just turn off the TV instead of watching this crap, they tell me (a) they have it on as 'background noise', (b) they multi-task with their computer or a book or music, so they're not really watching, or (c) they're broke so it's all they can afford to do. What's scary is they say they wouldn't admit to the ratings services that they had it on, which means the actual number of viewers is probably even higher."
How To Save The World Jul.20.04
