Now they've gone and done it...

Everytime the little man has an idea, the "Man" steals it from him. Now, you'd think we'd appreciate this: being The Enfranchised, we're normally on the stealing end of that equation. We've been talking about Arthur Miller these past few days (in fact, odds are, you were directed here in search of information. Scroll down to see me follow the sordid chain of events.) But just when we're examining (in Pissing in the Wind, our crossfire-like panel discussion when my two co-bloggers try to out-ad hominem cable pundits) the ethics of getting attention from someone(else)'s death, I see this article in the Times.

A contestant in NBC's The Contender (a reference to On The Waterfront, an early version of which was scripted by none other than corpse of the hour Mr. Miller) committed suicide. NBC denies it's related to the events of the show, but you can't expect Joe Schmo to really believe that. I mean, he's dead now, by his own hand. Don't you think people would be watching his hurt feelings a little... closer. And imagine the grief of his family, forced to revisit... (If you haven't cried about it today, It's New To You! (Director's Cut joke for this parenthetical: something involving Must See. Do I really have to connect all the dots for you?))

NBC, of course, is not canceling the show. They're not even shelving it for a period of grieving. According to executives, nothing is changing.

Ha! Nothing is changing? Like this won't end up as a "Very Special Contender" or a lead-in of a Barbara Walters interview with the tear-stricken survivors (not Survivors -- that's a different network).

I guess the challenge, then, is not whether we should profit, in readership or ratings, over someone's death. But how to do it more efficiently than a unit of GE.