How 'bout that Cloris Leachman, huh?

In response to someone who accused my posts of perpetuating "Doon and Gloom," you should know that the other night I spent some "quality time" watching the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. Another ratings sucess for ABC. And how 'bout that Cloris Leachman, huh?

Initially Talent/Reality shows, like Dancing with the Stars, were seen by network executives as little more than stop-gap programming during and after the writers strike. But as viewers of traditional programming migrate to more daring cable fare, Talent/Reality shows are filling the ratings gap. The genre is especially popular with the 20% of the country doesn't have cable or satellite. Like it or not, increasingly they are the "core" audience for broadcast networks.

So I predict more primetime singing and dancing in the weeks to come. In addition to the on-going Presidential campaign, that is...