shiny @ MindSay

"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

"The Spawn"

Last night I mentioned the promo for this Friday's "20/20" that disgusted me. The promo article is on the web and I wanted to show it to everyone so you can see how tacky this is...

Be My Baby

A Unique Look Inside the Intense Competition of the Open Adoption Process

April 26 — In a unique television event, Barbara Walters documents a young birth mother's journey as she selects who, among five anxious couples vying for a child of their own, will become parents to her child.

"I was basically deciding if they're going to have children or not. I was kind of playing God," says Jessica, 16, about her heartwrenching choice of who would adopt and raise her unborn baby boy while allowing her to continue to play a part in his life.

20/20 cameras are there as each couple tries to convince the pregnant girl that they would be the best parents for her soon-to-be-born baby. But after all of the heartache, will the 8½-month pregnant high school sophomore really be ready to sign away her legal rights once the baby is born and she can hold him in her arms?

I wish I was making this up. But the text in its entirety can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/Living/Adoption_promo_040426-1.html.

I'm the last person to advocate censorship on the airwaves, believe me. ABC has a right to broadcast this drivel. But come on! This isn't a game show here; this is being passed off as a segment on an ABC News program hosted by Barbara Walters. Is this really a good used of ABC News's resources?!?

I understand that all of the participants are consenting to come on the air and have been filmed once the teen-mom's decision has been made. (Yes, it was all pre-filmed, a fact that certainly isn't apparent during the promos for the show.) But does America really want to see five couples begging for a baby on TV, game-show style? Do we really need to see a sophomore in high school explaining that she's "playing God" as she makes her decision?

The FCC has been fining broadcast organizations right and left for indecent content. Hey, Michael Powell: Can you find any fucking decency here?

Of course they're not going to go after something like this. They can't go after Barbara Walters; after all, she's a national treasure. ABC News perhaps, a subsidiary of Disney? Ha. They won't go after someone as golden as Oprah, either. The wrath is saved for the shock-jocks...

One final thought about this show -- throughout it all, the teen mom-to-be "still doesn't know" <wink wink> if she'll actually give up the baby at all -- she might decide to keep it. But who knows? Maybe one of these couples will get lucky! I don't know much about adoption, but I can guess that if a decision has to be made about who will get custody of and nurture a child for the next 18 years, the decision will probably best be made in the presence of bright lights, TV cameras, and a woman who pronnounces her consanants like she's three years old.

What better environment can you have to make decisions about your child's future?

6 witticisms - What now?

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