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The fall network schedule discloses that if TV producers
had to take tests in school, they would all fail, since
even a teacher with a degree from Adams State could
probably see the plagiarism in sitcoms like Ferris
Bueller's Day Off
and Uncle Buck.
If deriving TV shows from movies is the coming trend, then there might be a reason to get excited. The other night, we joined some friends in watching the video of Roger and Me.
It's a quasi-documentary about what happened to Flint, Mich., during the past decade when General Motors decided to move 30,000 jobs to Mexico. Not only is it the blackest comedy since Dr. Strangelove, it is also encouraging.
For years, we thought Salida was the only town in America run by idiots. But the civic leaders of Flint sounded so familiar in their responses to hard times: Raise taxes to build tourist facilities and attractions, teach everybody to flip hamburgers, be friendly to strangers who might have money to spend, etc.
However, the major premise of Roger and Me is that big corporations demand loyalty from employees, but the corporation does not reciprocate -- loyalty is a one-way affair. Since big corporations sponsor TV shows, that aspect of Roger and Me is about as likely to become a TV series as Dan Quayle is to exhibit intelligence.
But much of the humor of Roger and Me comes from how the film crew gets treated by various GM officials, who are rude, contradictory, condescending and deceitful -- that is, they're exactly like most people in power that we all have to deal with.
So why not try a new series called America's Rudest
Out-of-Home Videos,
wherein you'd take your video
camera on all your errands. We could see some great
scenes:
·The school administrator who tells you that you don't know anything because you're just a parent, and he's a professional with a doctorate (in driver's education).
·The realty agent who demands that you list your old house with her before she'll even consider showing you other houses. Maybe someone could get her to explain why you'd want to list with someone who seems to care more about listings than selling.
·The garage where they do $300 of work on your car that you didn't authorize, and your car stays there until you pay.
·The clean-living environmentalist who drives 600 miles a week, but demands that you put out your cigarette.
Every day, we all suffer dozens of undeserved abuses and insults. Putting them on TV wouldn't eliminate the problem, since the petty tyrants of America have no sense of shame, but at least we'd have some fun.
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