These days, kids don’t know anything. Granted this is coming from two people who are barely off the playground themselves (at least mentally), but we’ve just about had all we can take of the mindless, superficial parades that crowd airwaves this time of year. Case in the point: the illustrious drivel-fest known as the Teen Choice Awards.
The show opened with a spoof of the uber-popular Disney Channel Original Movie “High School Musical.” We definitely approve of a spoof – nothing is easier to make fun of right now than “High School Musical.” But to accomplish this rousing satire, they filled the roles formerly occupied by this month’s Rolling Stone cover hottie Zac Efron and his gal pal Vanessa Anne Hudgens with old people. Of course – the elderly are always hilarious.
But the “High School Musical” parody was nowhere near as unfunny as the idea of Disney-alumna Hilary Duff hosting. Duff carried the two-hour award show with all the grace of someone possessing a high caliber resume including both “A Cinderella Story” and “Raise Your Voice.” And we won’t even get into “Lizzie McGuire.” So, yeah, it was terrible.
Let’s get real: why are we still going through this? It shouldn’t be our job to sit here and fill everyone else in on the fact that this has absolutely no real value. At least other award shows celebrate people’s real accomplishments in fields like television, film and music. In all honesty, Efron probably didn’t have to put in any extra hours to win “Choice Male Hottie.”
Although we can give the ceremony props for roasting Lindsay Lohan in a segment called “Lindsay’s Wild Ride,” we can’t say it made up for the rest of the show.
If teens want to vote on stuff, that’s great. (Although we’d prefer if they took that desire to choose and applied it to the presidential race. Vote or Die, right?) But do the results of what is little more than a magazine poll have to be broadcast on network television? Why is society now pandering to teens? Shouldn’t this kind of stuff be the headline story on MySpace? It’s bad enough that those braces-sporting, prepubescent Tiger Beat subscribers took over Facebook. Must they take over prime time television as well?
