UPDATE: My serious goof. The pols were actually asked about their favorite reality show. That doesn’t make their answers any more honest, but it makes them slightly less creepy. Though … is CSPAN really Reality TV? (Avoids obvious “Jackass” jokes …)
Can a candidate’s favorite TV show tell you something about them? (Comments mine.)
DEMOCRATS:
- Delaware Sen. Joe Biden: “Don’t have one.” It’s hard to trust someone who says they have no “favorite TV show.” Do they not watch TV (and, if not, how do they keep any sort of pulse on popular culture)? Or are they just afraid to commit?
- New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: “American Idol.” I should not be surprised by the number of pols who find a big, overrated, abusive talent contest to be great entertainment. Seems a bit incestuous to me.
- Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd: “‘American Idol.” See above.
- Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: College basketball. Honestly, even though I hate watching sports on TV except as a last resort, I have a lot of respect for someone who fesses up that’s their fave. And college basketball isn’t a bad choice.
- Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich: C-SPAN coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ego much? Or maybe just humorless wonkishness and an inability to maintain a life/work balance.
- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama: “Other than the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN? I don’t watch them too often.” See above.
- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: “Fox News.” Oh dear Lord …
REPUBLICANS:
- Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: “None this season; too busy. Last season it was ‘The Amazing Race.”’ Okay, minus points for life/work balance, but at least some honesty. AR is a vaguely interesting show, and I know some clever people who watch it, but the parallels to political campaigning (as with “American Idol”) are amusing.
- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Baseball. See above.
- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: “Nashville Star,” USA Network’s country music competition. See “American Idol,” though I like the local/genre touch.
- California Rep. Duncan Hunter: Watches Versus, previously called the Outdoor Life Network. Which looks to be ESPN on bad steroids. I’d be interested in whether he prefers the yachting competition or the World Cage Match Federation.
- Arizona Sen. John McCain: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball. Minor plus for sports, offset by a sense of pandering to the local population.
- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “American Idol.” See above.
- Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: “None.” See above. Who’d have thought that Tom Tancredo and Joe Biden had something in common …?
So now I want to know more. How much TV do they actually catch? Is it live, taped, or TiVoed? How do they occupy themselves in their down time? Do they have strange hotel requirements (“The TV must be turned onto the Verge network; if not available, a special Verge satellite feed will be arranged”)?
Or, conversely, I’d like to toss out a handful of my favorite shows and see if any of them have ever watched any of them, and what they thought (including gauging the honesty of the sentiments provided).
(via J-Walk)
Intersting.
Though to be honest, Amazing Race was a fun show when I watched it simply because it was the only “reality/game show” that I thought looked fun to actually do.
Looking at the list though you can kind of pick up on the “political” Answer vs the “Real” answer.
Though…
I would have had to answer “None” as well not having cable and only watching shows that make it to DVD or YouTube.
Well, I don’t watch any of the stuff that they do.
I’d probably vote for any candidate whose favorite show was Heroes!
“I’m rooting for, you know, that guy with the glasses!”
Maybe not. 🙂
And, BD, you could say, “My favorite series is X, though I only get a chance to watch it on the DVD season sets …” Or maybe you’d just say “CU Football,” right?
*snort*
Well, since the question was “reality” show….so I would have to say Amazing Race too.
Now if it was broken down into different catagories of shows it would be more telling I would think.
Game/reality?
Infotainment?
SitCom?
Drama?
Of all time?
And so on.
Now for me, current Show Shows would be:
Deadwood
Sopranos
Battlestar Galactica
GitS:SAC
Dr. Who
Wait – weren’t Obama and Kucinich dissed for “missing votes” or sessions in the Senate? (as if every vote mattered to every senator)
Maybe they’re out doing something more productive with their time and catching up on C-Span.
I don’t know if I’d vote for someone whose favorite show was House. That would be some recipe for international relations!
Oh, wait…
Dave! Haven’t you been watching? HRG is a good guy! I’m rooting for him!
My goof — I actually looked at the article, but completely missed that it was about *”reality”* shows. I’ve added a corrective update.
DOF, McCain has drawn the most flak for being the Senator with the worst attendance record this Congress.