If you had the chance to take home thousands of dollars and all you had to do was inflict teeth wrenching pain on a fellow human being, would you do it?

In France, a documentary posing as a fake TV game show posed just that question and the results may surprise you. They won't if you're a cynical bastard with no hope for humanity.

The concept for the experiment is based in part from the work of Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist who sought to understand the psychological actions of the Third Reich and the Nazi regime and how authority influenced their actions.



[via Neatorama]

Here's a scary thought. One day, you might have to actually pay for all that free quality programming beaming through the magic picture box in your living room.

A scary new article by the Associated Press shows that advertising revenue has not provided enough income for the free networks to support all of their programming efforts. And thanks to the rise of cable and the web, some companies are considering new business models that are cutting the "free" out of "free TV."

Given the way things are going, do you think there could come a time when free TV is a thing of the past like top 40 AM radio, Olestra chips and an ozone layer?

The television writing staff at The Associated Press has listed their Top 10 TV shows of the decade. The exact criteria of the list remains uncertain, but I believe it's based on the impact of the shows on popular culture.

It's a good list. The only show on it I would question would be The Shield. In its place I would likely put Firefly or Family Guy, either of which proved that poor initial ratings do not translate into the failure of a franchise.

The Internet changed television when it came to popularity in the 1990's. The concept of a continuing storyline in a series became a necessity. Shows like Babylon 5 would not have survived the first season without it. In the 2000's, it was more of the same allowing for shows like the aforementioned to be given life after death and even restart certain franchises (Futurama).

What do you think the next decade will bring?

Thank you Associated Press, not just for making the most sound choice for Entertainer of the Year since Stephen Colbert, but for giving me another excuse to do a Google image search of Tina Fey cheesecake photos. And I didn't even get them anything for Christmas.

Broadcast producers and newspaper editors -- who weren't busy safeguarding their pensions and 401Ks by burying what's left of them in the desert -- cast their votes in the AP's annual Entertainer of the Year Poll. The honors went to 30 Rock star and SNL lifeguard Tina Fey.

It's really the no-brainer choice. Sharon Eberson, entertainment editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, told the wire service, "She gave us funny when we really needed it and, in a year when women in politics were making huge strides, Fey stood out in the world of entertainment."

I bet you won't guess this.

In a year that saw news about everyone from Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan to Don Imus and Paris Hilton controlling the airwaves, newspaper editors and broadcast producers have chosen someone quite different for their annual "Celebrity of the Year" award (and it's a TV celebrity). The Pensacola News calls this person "a force of nature." This person beat out J.K. Rowling, Kanye West, and Kenny Chesney.

Read on for the answer...

Creators of 24 met late last year with human rights advocates, the dean of West Point's military academy and experienced interrogators to discuss torture and how the torture scenes on 24 affect how people are questioned by authorities in real life, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The panel of torture experts wanted to persuade 24 writers to "show torture subjects taking weeks or months to break, spitting out false or unreliable intelligence, and even dying. As they do in the real world," the article said.

The Associated Press is protesting a ban put in place by FOX that would keep photographers from snapping pictures at the Television Critics Association press tour. The network wants the AP to use photos that FOX hands out, rather than have actual photgraphers come in and take the pictures themselves. The AP says it will not assign any journalists to the event at all unless FOX allows their photographers into the event. David Ake, deputy director of photography for the AP, says, "The problem for the AP is that, just as we wouldn't let Fox write our stories, we can't have them shooting our pictures." This seems to me like a pretty clear cut example of a violation of journalistic rights. What do the rest of you think?

Since CBS no longer needs his services, Dan Rather is reportedly mulling over an offer to host a weekly news program for HDNet. The network is owned by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The deal would establish Rather as the host and producer of a one-hour news program. Rather told The New York Times that he also has offers from two other networks but he's leaning toward the HD thing.

I don't have HDTV so I've never seen the network but, I have to wonder, does 74-year-old old-fashioned newsman Dan Rather match with the network?

I tuned in to watch Stephen Colbert provide the entertainment at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner (Fun Fact: Teenage fangirls will watch C-SPAN for hot fake-pundits). Colbert looked just as handsome as ever, and his wife looked beautiful (there go my chances of stealing the man away). When President Bush and Laura Bush walked in, Colbert was already situated at the head table (just five seats away from Bush and right next to Helen Thomas!) but stood up to shake hands. I couldn't help but wonder if Bush had ever seen The Colbert Report before, but I guess he knows about the jokes, because Bush gave Colbert a knowing look while greeting him.

Since the first black-and-white image appeared on the first television, the local network affiliate has been a pretty important part of our daily lives. Not only did it provide the news and programming that the network delivered, but it also provided us with local information and personalities that we brought into our family as one of our own. In addition, many of the network talent we watch today came from those same local stations.

Now, as the networks place more and more of their content on the Internet for pay-per-view or free download, local broadcasters fear that they are being left in the dust to fend for themselves. That is why, this week, local broadcasters will be meeting at the annual National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas to determine how to hang on to their audience and their money.