David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. Losing this award will be torture
It’s the sort of headline that doesn’t quite scan the first time you glance at it:
Rights Group to Honor TV Show for Realistic Depiction of Torture/Interrogation
Your initial thought (or, at least, my initial thought) would be: What kind of demented rights group would honor depictions of torture? Go to the website and the page is seemingly sadistically entitled, “Primetime Torture – Excellence in Television Award.”
Ah, but the key word is “realistic.” The point of the award is honoring a program that shows, as has often been noted, that torture doesn’t work, that no reliable information will come from a suspect whose lungs are filled with water and whose teeth are strewn about the floor of a concrete cell.
In other words, it’s basically “The Anti-‘24’ Award.”
And the nominees are:
* “Lost,” for an episode exploring the emotional fallout of torture, both from the standpoint of the victim and the one inflicting the pain;
* “The Shield,” for a storyline in which Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) is torturing the wrong guy;
* “The Closer,” for Kyra Sedgwick’s depiction of Brenda Johnson as an interrogator who uses smarts, not force, to coerce confessions;
* “Boston Legal,” for a storyline about a man mistaken for a terrorist who was abused at Guantanamo Bay; and
* “Criminal Minds,” for an episode demonstrating how cagey questioning and discussion can yield better information than force.
The ceremony, sponsored by Human Rights First, is set for Oct. 15 in New York. Still and all, it’s hard to imagine that a torture-themed awards banquet’s going to approximate the sort of rollicking affairs most entertainment-industry soirees.
On the other hand, it can’t be any worse than a ceremony honoring reality TV in which participants depart missing some of their teeth.
Comments
I guess this finally proves, once and for all, that you Hollywood types really do have an award for everything!
Posted by: Suzy Q | October 5, 2007 9:51 PM