Where Fun Comes to Die

Glass ceilings are typically easier to feel than to see, but here is some rare footage of a glass ceiling in its natural habitat — the business world.  Under the headline “CBS executive asks: How do you want to be remembered?” CBS television exec (and female) Terry Wood discusses what lessons business executives can learn about personal branding from television personalities:

Q: OK, what about business executives who have achieved success? What can they learn from TV personalities?

A: TV personalities draw the audience in by commanding the screen and making you want to watch. A good leader does the same thing: inspires you, draws you into the process. Leaders must face their audiences, not sit in their offices. They have to be bold and step out there and lead and get people excited about working for them.

Q: Surely, you don’t recommend that executives take time in the middle of the day to watch Judge Judy or Dr. Phil?

A: The way those personalities connect, I think a lot of leaders in business could learn from it. Leaders have to cut to the chase and make their points, so I think they can learn from watching these celebrities. Many do. If they aren’t able to watch on their DVRs, their wives certainly tell them about it.

Did you see the glass ceiling invoked?  In this case it is the suggestion that leaders of business are all straight males with wives who stay home watching daytime television.  Terry Wood is apparently ranked no. 32 among Hollywood Reporter‘s 100 most powerful women in entertainment, ahead of Tina Fey, Rachael Ray, Tyra Banks and Miley Cyrus, and she seems to want to stay there — even if it means pulling up the businesswoman ladder behind her that she herself climbed up.

Fox Television is planning a new television program tentatively titled, “Smile, You’re Under Arrest.”  The show features law officers setting up elaborate sting operations to lure criminals with warrants:

“It is a reverse Punk’d,” says Fox President of Alternative Entertainment Mike Darnell. “Instead of the worst day of your life and then a joke at the end, this is the reverse. This is the best day of your life, and then we arrest you.”

The show exploits humanity in ways similar to those depicted in post apocalyptic films such as Mad Max :

One of three set-ups just shot in Arizona features the cops luring a criminal to a movie set with the promise of making him an extra and paying him a couple hundred dollars. An elaborate film set is staged and filming begins on a faux movie. The set-up continues as the director then gets mad at the lead actor, fires him and replaces him with the law-breaking extra.

The scene escalates with the fake director introducing the mark to a supposed studio mogul and continuing to create this dream-comes-true sequence. Finally, all the participants are revealed as officers of the law, and the criminal is apprehended (before signing waivers to let the footage be used in the show).

Other scenarios include a fake fashion shoot where the subject thinks he is about to become a supermodel and another in which the mark becomes an auto racer, a set-up which ends when a police car comes up behind him on a race track to pull him over.

Producers rationalize the exploitation:

“If it were a regular person you’d feel bad for them, but they are all wanted by the law,” Darnell says.

If I were a regular person, maybe I would feel guilty tivo-ing the entire series…

For my maiden voyage on this blog, I’ve decided to class up the joint with a little “celebrity” gossip (well, considering the subject, perhaps quasi-celebrity) and food talk. (Oh yes, we are definitely heading in the right direction.)

Today’s post is brought to you by the pear tart at Patisserie Claude, a tiny little place near me with a proprietor by the name of — you guessed it — Claude. Monsieur Claude reminds me of dear old Professor Helmholz — a notorious curmudgeon until you discover that, underneath it all, he is really just an ooey gooey softie.  Claude’s pear tart makes me squeal. The shell with buttery layer after layer of flaky crust tenderly cups the thin wedges of pear as it makes its way directly into my piehole. Yum.

While I’m on the topic of tarts, the career arc of Ashley Alexandra Dupré (a.k.a. the Eliot Spitzer “escort,” the quasi-celebrity portion of this post) may merit closer inspection in these economically uncertain times.  Ms. Dupré’s interview in People magazine this week brought a few things to mind. While I’m NOT saying that we should all run out and commit some misdemeanors, let us consider these facts: (1) already offered $1 million to pose for Hustler, she has millions of dollars in potential income as a result of (2) her participation in a crime for which she has received immunity, for which she will not be punished (by the law), and (3) for which she continues to receive (undue?) national attention in People magazine and an interview with Diane Sawyer. Her punishment obviously lies in the eyes of the public and the tainted reputation she totes with her from that day forward, but this leads me to the question “how does one value a reputation?” Or, in these circumstances, perhaps more appropriately “what is the value of morality?”

With perfect information, would people actually choose the above path? Are there people out there who may envy an ex-escort her (possible) millions, regardless of the baggage and reputation (or lack thereof) that she carries along with her?

Fame is fleeting, and fame acquired through these means rather distateful in my opinion.  But in this celebrity-obsessed world, fame is almost always followed by some degree (or, in the case of Ms. Dupré, likely millions of dollars worth) of fortune. I wonder, then: Is it true that everyone has his/her price?