Journey Through Time David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell continue their analysis of Reality TV. In Episode 37 From the Kardashians to Donald Trump they return to Big Brother, which changed the paradigm by bringing in the audience. Filmed over 9 weeks, 24/7 this program used surveillance as entertainment, and changed the business model for Reality TV because the infrastructure that supported the format became a money-making venture in its own right. For example, in Big Brother there was an automated telephone line for voting people out (and note that it is voting them OUT on the basis of dislike, not IN) that used premium rates, and the phone line itself- owned by the production company- became very financially lucrative. There was ongoing pressure on the Reality TV producers to innovate by crossing boundaries e.g. encouraging women to have cosmetic surgery on ‘The Swan’ or meddling with people’s family history in ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Survivor was the next breakthrough. We’ve ended up in the situation where so-called ‘Reality’ TV is not real. Being a Reality TV celebrity is now a profession, and ‘celebrities’ are able to recycle through the spin-off shows. That then leads Olusoga and Churchwell to Donald Trump, and neither of them is a fan. When they were casting for ‘The Apprentice’, the producers considered Warren Buffett, Richard Branson and General Electric’s Jack Welch but in the end they settled for Trump, who was at that time bankrupt. Ironically Trump supporters still say that he was a successful business man but he wasn’t then. He was involved for 14 seasons and he has brought to his presidency the mindset of Reality TV. For example, when he was belittling Zelensky in the Oval Office (I can remember listening to the audio of that meeting with my mouth quite literally open- I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!) he actually said “This will be great TV”. Among the many other dubious ‘benefits’ AI can bring us will be algorithmically edited Reality TV which will edit the huge tranche of footage collected by a program for the type of Reality TV you prefer.
The Book Club Episode 26: Mafia and Mystery: is My Brilliant Friend the Greatest Novel of the Century? Apparently The New York Times writers poll placed My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante atop their list– number 1– amongst the 100 best books of the 21st century. Neither Dominic nor Tabby would go that far, but they did enjoy it. I read the whole quartet some time ago (see my review here) and I had forgotten that the first book started with the frame story of Elena in 2010 when Lina has disappeared. They pointed out the use of dialect in the novel, as distinct from standard Italian (something that probably doesn’t come through in a translation very well) and they emphasized the use of doubling in the book, right through to the Elena/Lenu and Lila/Lina names. The two girls do not have a fixed identity and they mimic each other even while they are rivals. Tabby notes that it is as if they are climbing a ladder together, with who is ‘in front’ changing constantly. Dominic gave it 8/10 (which is higher than I thought he would) and Tabby gave it 9/10 on the strength of its ability to show the complexity of female friendship. And as for me, well, it’s encouraged me to go back and watch the series again while it’s still available on SBS.
Tocqueville Road Trip Episode 3: Boundless continent. Reader, I subscribed to the Economist podcasts. As a result, I was able to hear Episode 3 where the presenter John Prideaux follows de Toqueville along the Erie Canal into Michigan, which in de Tocqueville’s time was the frontier. De Tocqueville wondered whether the frontier spirit would spoil the beauty of the environment. In 2026 Pridaux ends up in the township of Saline, where plans were afoot to build a huge data centre as part of Trump’s Stargate project, which will invest $500bn in AI. There he met with Kathryn Haushalter, who was trying to stop the construction of the data centre, but was on a hiding to nothing because excavation had already started and there was no way to stop it. Despite the ‘township’ being the smallest unit of democracy, it cannot obstruct government – nor did de Tocqueville think it should be able to obstruct it. Pridaux has some sympathy for Haushalter’s fight, but in the end sees data centres as just the latest manifestation of the restless energy of America (being an Economist podcast, I think they would say that). Eventually de Tocqueville and Pridaux both end up at Niagara Falls, where Pridaux observes that yes, the frontier spirit did spoil the beauty of the environment, although if you get past the commercial businesses, you can still feel the power of the falls.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 