Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Can you say "schadenfreude"?

Because that's what FOX should change their name to. I am blaming this as the reason I cannot stop watching Moment of Truth. That show should just change its name to Divorce Court...or team up with it in a special "Where are they now?" follow-up episode to this week's Moment of Truth.

It was a special highly controversial episode "you weren't supposed to see" (ironic since it was its first night without the American Idol lead in). In fact, the episode was preceded by an announcement by host Mark Walberg, who said if he had a choice, he wouldn't have aired the episode. He also tells us that "the truth is often not pretty. So here it is." We are further enticed to stay tuned to this episode with the promise that Lauren will "take the truth too far" and "destroy her marriage," these quotes being repeated before every commercial break.

As we get to know her, we find out that she's been married to a cop for 2 years, and the questions are focused on her past deviant behavior, including stealing, flashing strangers just for fun, and how close she is with her family. And after about 20 minutes when she said "I don't care about the money. I really just feel better getting this off my chest" we really should have known that something was about to go down. These are the questions she answers "yes" to truthfully :
"Have you ever pretended to be asleep to avoid having sex with your husband?"
"Do you blame your husband for your lack of close friends?"
"Have you ever taken off your wedding ring to appear as if you were single?"
"Do you believe you might have been in love with a former boyfriend on your wedding day?"
(Special guest for the next two: her ex-boyfriend)
"If I told you I wanted to get back together with you, would you leave your husband?"
"Do you believe I'm the person you should be married to?"
"Since you've been married have you ever had sexual relations with anyone other than your husband?"

But here comes the kicker. After answering "yes" to all those questions, this comes up next:

"Do you think you're a good person?"

Again she answers yes. This time though, it's false. But the placement and the fact that the show knew she lied about this the first time, can really only lead to this conclusion:

FOX is an evil genius. It knows exactly what it's doing with every show it makes. I hate it for the evil, but I just can't help loving it for the genius.

Is it possible to feel schadenfreude for yourself?

No comments: