Jay Leno on Oprah

Great question. Oprah is on at 4:00 here, and it's 5:00 right now as I'm reading your discussion, so I missed it. Maybe the media does tend to give too much attention to Hollywood and movie stars, but we tune in and listen intently don't we. I've listened in every time they talk about Jay Leno and Conan because I like both of them and feel NBC really messed up both of their lives and careers with their cost cutting measures. But maybe we all get involved with these things because we need a break from all the horrible images from disasters like Haiti, and the problems and stress of everyday life. It's a diversion.

Well I think there is only so much actual news (in this case Haiti) before people start feeling depress and are in need of escapism. In North Amercan we generally have a low threshold for these real events that arent pleasing. This is reflected in our culture both in that proportion of escapist programming and the mignitude money spent on making the entertainment industry so massive.