“Bah, who the hell are these people?” every single person in America has shouted at their TV at least once while watching Paris Hilton or the Kardashians or the Cosbys. “They ain’t done nothin’ to become famous ‘cept for bein’ on the TV.” Well, America, it’s time to stop throwing beer cans and yelling at no one in particular, because you have just been proven wrong. According to an in-depth study accidentally conducted by The CW in the form of a reality TV show, it’s actually much harder to get famous than it seems.
This news comes via The Wrap, which reports that The CW’s Famous In 12, a TV show designed to make a normal family famous, has been cancelled after only five weeks of failing to make anyone famous. The show was executively produced by Harvey Levin, the creator of TMZ, who used his vast supply of star-making experience to convince viewers that a normal American family was worth paying attention to. Through the show, social media, and the TMZ site, viewers could get a look into the family and the wacky things they did.
In theory, it would be just like how people tune in to see whatever stupid bullshit the Kardashians are doing every week, except this family was only worth watching because the TV said so. In practice, though, none of that happened. The Wrap claims its final episode only garnered 520,000 viewers, which is a rating that even Community would be ashamed of.
We’re not sure if TMZ or The CW have actually learned a lesson from this “experiment,” but there is a pretty obvious one: As stupid as Americans may be, we aren’t stupid enough to deify someone just for appearing on our magic picture boxes. The Jersey Shore ended years ago; we’ve outgrown such childish garbage. These days, we like our celebrities to earn their fame, no matter how tenuously they do it. The American Dream isn’t about Harvey Levin handing you a TV show, it’s about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and making your own damn TV show. Don’t just tell people you’re famous, be famous.
The most interesting thing to note from all of this is that The CW is filling Famous In 12’s timeslot with repeat episodes of Arrow, a show about a guy who doesn’t sit back and wait to become famous just because he’s super rich. He’s famous because he’s a superhero who shoots criminals with a bow and he’s super rich. That’s how it’s done, TMZ. God bless America, and God bless Arrow.