"Downfall" of Civilization?

Right now they are having the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Maybe the world’s oldest game show, although I’m uncertain of what one would win. As I understand it, the bulls that die during those nine days of machismo chest pounding and anal goring are slaughtered and their meat is served in Pamplona restaurants. Okay, if the bulls were going to die anyway, at least their meat is not wasted. So I guess to the runners, it’s either get run over and face possible impalement, or finish the “race” and have a nice steak.


At the same time a new game show has started up here in the New World. It’s called Downfall. The way this show works, as I understand it with my limited exposure, is that a contestant answers trivia questions while the prizes he is trying to win move by on a conveyor belt. If he answers the questions correctly then the conveyor slows down, but if he doesn’t then the conveyor speeds up and those prizes fall off the end of the belt.


The hook is that this show is filmed on the roof of what looks like a ten-story building and those items that fall off the end of the belt, fall 100 feet or so, where they smash to splinters in the alley below. Don’t know the capital of Idaho? Kerpow! There goes your new dining room set. Forgot which vampire in Twilight is the cutest? Sploosh! Say goodbye to that above ground pool.


I understand that a TV show, especially a game show, needs a certain amount of sensationalism to cut through the clutter and thousands of fine programs our hard working producers, actors, and key grips create and display for us, but is it necessary to destroy perfectly good items in the process? Couldn’t the items just be removed from the contestant’s field of vision? Maybe saved for the next episode? Donated to a charity? Is this how it’s done on other game shows? If I look in the dumpster behind the Wheel of Fortune set, will I see a brand new Nissan Ultima? If I check the curb side in front of the studio where they film The Price is Right, will I have my choice between Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Pampers, or Spam?


Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is the country where we had a program called Cash for Clunkers that taught us to throw away perfectly usable cars.


By the way, Downfall was also the title of a movie about the last days of Adolf Hitler. Coincidence? And I believe there was an officer in that bunker named Anal Goring, who was Hermann’s excessively neat brother.