The Show Must Go On

Posted by Cynical Sarah on March 2, 2007

I was digging through some old paperwork an stuff earlier this week when I came across a folder filled with some papers I wrote in college and some autographs I’d accumulated since elementary school.

One of them was a signed photograph of Richard Grieco. It was even still in the envelope it had been sent to me in after I’d written to him at an address I’d found in one of those teen mags. Who knows what I wrote or even why I wrote other than he was a cute guy on TV.

Like every other kid, I was easily star-struck I guess. Whether it was a sports, movie or television star, we all had one or two or 20 people we’d be excited to have even the slightest contact with – even a simple stamped autograph on the back of a photo postcard.

I still keep up with all the celebrity news, but it’s not the same anymore. It’s not about a fascination with their fame and fortune and the fantasy of somehow getting that life too. Now it’s about seeing how “normal” they really are too.

However, there are still some people who’ve grown up and not gotten over the fantasy. Aside from the celebrity stalker types, the majority of those who just didn’t grow up enough to get past the star-struck stage still have an obsession for certain celebrities.

This past week, the locals here saw firsthand how adults can still get wrapped up in celebrities to an abnormal extent.

There was a protest out in Burnaby near one of the studios where Stargate: Atlantis films. It’s not one of the shows I watch, but from what I read, the show had killed off one of the main characters and fans were demanding that the character be brought back.

Grownups, so upset about a television character being killed off, who took a day off work to go protest outside of the television set.

There are a few shows on TV that I watch all the time and definitely a few favorite characters. It’s not often though that I think to myself, “Man, if they take away my show (my favorite character, etc.), I don’t know what I’d do. I‘d have to give them a piece of my mind for sure.”

It does make me wonder what kind of adult does that sort of thing. What kind of life must a person have to be so wrapped up in a television show that they “need” to have it, or they “need” to have certain characters on the show.

When you’re a kid it’s all about wanting that life too, the life of a celebrity. When you’re an adult, I think it’s all about being lost in the fantasy. The show you choose is just an escape from your daily reality.

For some of these people, Stargate may be what takes them away from whatever they think is the crappy part of their lives. I suppose, if your life was really bad, you might fight for whatever gave you some relief from that, even if it meant protesting for your favorite character on a television show.

- Sarah L. Polson

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Tags: celebrities, humor, television

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