Anna-Nicole and the President We Deserve
Jon Robin Baitz is a talented playwright (and his Brothers and Sisters isn’t too horrible for an emotion channel estrogen offering), but he’s also got some chops writing essays . He tackles how distraction–’what the viewers want’–from Gary Condit to Anna Nicole Smith–takes our eyes off the ball.
“Watching Wolf and Anderson and Dianne, et-al, dance clumsily to the music of Anna Nicole Smith reminds me of the Gary Condit days of 2001, before the towers fell. There is a sea-sick disquiet about it, as though even the anchors now know that at a certain level, the queasy complicity with inattention is fatal.
“As though they realize that this leads to true surprise when the “breaking news” is actually our worst dreams come true. And the next thing you know, you’re watching the president we deserve continue reading The Pet Goat, as thousands burn.”