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Michaele and Tareq Salahi: Idiots or...
..geniuses?
Which one are the Salahis? Idiots? Or geniuses? One or the other. Here's what the AP is reporting: That Michaele and Tareq Salahi urged the networks to "get their bids out" and that they won't do TV until they get a little grease, in the "mid-six-figures" range. (So: Idiots or geniuses? ) Mid six figures? Isn't that around $500,000? Yes, it is. That would suggest “idiots,” insofar as the networks wouldn’t have paid Michael Jackson that much. Nevertheless, I’m leaning towards the “genius” side. OK, maybe just "clever." Neal Gabler has written deeply and memorably about this sort of personality in his book, "Life: The Movie," about a desire among certain individuals to become famous that’s so intense that it pretty much overrides all other drives – with the exception of food and sleep, I suppose. TV, the movies, and stuff like Us Mag has taught us (he argues) that everything should be pleasurable and that our expectation is that everything should be pleasurable, too, and therefore "that power of expectation had led in turn to a power of conversion in which more and more of American life would come to resemble entertainment in order to survive.” And more and more people would seek to become objects of entertainment in order to survive,too. In other words, fame trumps everything. To be famous is the ultimate goal. We now have a name for it: The Speidi Syndrome. But these two, the Salahis, seem to me much further along the evolutionary scale that anything Gabler envisioned in his pre-"Survivor" book (published in '98, I believe.) They are way past the "let's-be-famous-because-fame-is-so-groovy." Oh no - let's be famous because fame means the cover of Us, and once you've made it that far, then really - the other trappings of fame aren't terribly far behind.Book deals. Clothing lines. TV series - albeit, such series will likely air on E!; ah well. You weren't expecting CBS primetime were you? Maybe even a stint on "The View" - when Elisabeth Hasselbeck is out on maternity leave again (Elisabeth, who was of course on "Survivor.")
Who knows? The next time a Republican is in the White House, they could even be guests of honor at the first State Dinner. Maybe Prez Obama will save them the trouble of jumping the fence next year, and just give them an invitation. But here's the thing to keep an eye on: If NBC gets this interview, then you can be absolutely certain that not a single dime was paid, or will be paid. The obvious reason: The Salahis will have been added to the cast of "Real Housewives,” with an option for their own series, or at least a primetime doc on Bravo, or maybe USA – I doubt the NBCU-owned Weather Channel, but who knows. Then, we’ll all sit through the painful interview – Matt or Meredith or Brian or Ann. So maybe the Salahis are actually just another pair of social-climbing desperate-to-be-famous foxes. Maybe they're playing the networks like expensive violins. Also maybe right now, Heidi and Spencer are thinking, “why didn’t we think of this?”
