Basic civility is what’s missing on some television shows today.
It’s rare to meet the host of a successful show on Indian TV who not only lambasts television content at large, but also admits to being “horrified” by what he sees. His co-host even goes a step further and remarks: “I have no TV in my house.”
Sitting in a coffee shop with Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma, hosts of Highway On My Plate, a food/travel show on NDTV Good Times, I’m amazed at their statements. “How can you not have a TV set while being a part of that world yourself?” I ask Mayur and immediately turn to Rocky: “TV ‘horrifies’ you?” Rocky points out: “Indian television limits us. It doesn’t deal with basic courtesy. I find that a problem.”
A few days later, while watching Hell’s Kitchen on Discovery Travel & Living, I’m reminded of this conversation. Celebrated chef Gordon Ramsay is screaming his lungs out at a young participant on his show. She, along with her team members, has clearly messed up on the entrees, which are to be served at Ramsay’s fancy restaurant. “Are you a blonde bitch?” growls Ramsay while the woman stares at him in horror. She doesn’t buckle under. On the contrary, she looks him in the eye and says firmly, “No chef” and continues chopping an onion. To be fair, one understands why he would be frustrated — after all, he wouldn’t want diners to complain, he wouldn’t want to compromise on quality. But, as Rocky had said, Ramsay forgets something very fundamental: courtesy.
Even on Indian TV, hosts/judges continue to use the choicest of abuses. Recently, on Music Ka Maha Muqqabla, a talent show on Star Plus, playback singers Shaan and Mika had a stiff faceoff following a heated argument on the show. While Mika’s abuses were bleeped out, the TV screen couldn’t hide the image of Shaan physically pushing Mika out of his way. The fracas was played out in slow motion, from different angles, and though, later, Shaan apologised for what he had done, the channel continued showing the footage.
While the likes of Ramsay, Simon Cowell (American Idol), Donald Trump (The Apprentice) — devil’s incarnations on television, really — are not particularly interested in speaking politely to participants, the real problem, however, isn’t that. After all, they have a TV image to project and if that’s a deliberate choice, well, how can one complain? The trouble is that most channels and production houses show just that; the ugly picture of someone more successful and experienced running participants down constantly. And while you get the drift of what you see on TV — it represents the real world where there is stiff competition; where people are waiting to claw you down and success is hard to get; where things can turn ugly and you have to fight your way through to survive all the skirmishes — one wonders if constant squabbling is the only way left to get to the top?
Claire Young, a former contestant on The Apprentice, believes so. In a recent interview to a newspaper, she admitted that she had “toughened up and developed a ‘vulture attitude’ to succeed”.
Young, of course, is stashing away big bucks in her bank account and is being labelled a “success story”. But at some point in the climb up the smart and successful ladder, civil behaviour seems to be the casualty.
