NBC went right ahead and aired Stars Earn Stripes, despite protests from Nobel Peace laureates

After years of apathy toward the rampant skirmishes and squalid living conditions of Flavor Of Love, a coalition of Nobel Peace laureates has finally come together to protest another reality show—NBC's Stars Earn Stripes, the competition in which myriad, loosely defined "stars" engage in military exercises under the watchful eye of retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, who went through all that for this, apparently. The collective, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recently wrote a letter to NBC president Bob Greenblatt (who read it while astride a nuclear missile plummeting to earth) decrying the show for comparing war to an athletic competition, adding, "Preparing for war is neither amusing nor entertaining [particularly when it involves Todd Palin]" and calling upon Greenblatt to reconsider airing it.

Of course, the network went ahead with last night's première anyway, and it featured all the casual grenade-launching and blasé discussing of sniper kills that caused all the consternation in the first place, leading protest groups such as Military Families Speak Out, Veterans For Peace, and Peace Action to announce plans to picket outside of NBC's headquarters. Nevertheless, the network maintains that the show is not about glorifying war but rather "thanking the young Americans who are in harm's way every day," according to a statement. "Hey, thanks for putting your life on the line. As a token of our gratitude, you get to hang out with Nick Lachey," the statement says, basically.