Wednesday, February 15, 2006

When Judge Shows Invade Prime Time

One of the recurring themes of any judge show, from Judy to Mathis, is that the folks who appear in those fora tend not to display the greatest judgement. And while I like to chuckle at the legion of people who get cell phones under their own name for deadbeats, it worries me a bit when that lack of judgement seeps into prime time programming.

A couple examples have cropped up of late in ABC's programming. First, take the recent episode of Desperate Housewives where Bree, discovering that the man who was arrested for breaking into the Solis home (and who was the proximate cause of Gabrielle's miscarriage) and who is probably wanted after escaping from that hospital, chooses to call her friends rather than the cops. Huh?

Meanwhile, over on Lost, various castaways decide to place enough trust in Sawyer - the well known hoarder and con-man - that he eventually gets control over the group's firearms. Well done, idiots! You've got a guy who you can't trust as far as you can throw, but by all means let him manipulate you into doing his bidding. I suppose we can forgive Charlie - he's pissed at Locke and not that smart to begin with - but Locke and Kate?

I know, prime time TV programs more or less require this sort of poor decision-making to squeeze out episodes and further plot. But perhaps they could find a way to get to the same end without these decisions that seem out of character?

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