Vick is getting a reality tv show??

This is just ridiculous - BET (Black Entertainment TV) is giving Michael Vick his own reality show. :wall::frustrated:

I do like this writer's premise though - he's the first journalist that I've seen really question what kind of message we are sending to kids by continuing to idolize convicted felons just because they are celebrities.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/33232820/ns/sports-nfl/

OPINION
By Mike Celizic
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 6:33 p.m. MT, Thurs., Oct . 8, 2009


Mike Celizic


Hey, kids! Tired of listening to your parents lecture you about the virtues of civilized behavior? Had it with necktie-wearing adults telling you that you’ll never amount to anything if you keep dressing the way you do and acting stupid?

I’ve got good news for you. Tell them to eat your shorts, because good behavior won’t get you anywhere. And if they ask you what makes you so sure, point to No. 7 on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Yeah, Michael Vick. Just a few months removed from a halfway house and more than a year in prison, he’s been rewarded with his own reality show.

It’s going to be on BET, and its working title is “The Michael Vick Project.” The network is calling it a “docu-series” and says it will chronicle the paroled felon’s return to the NFL. It also will also delve into his childhood.

That last bit makes sense for Vick. It will give him a chance to blame his disgusting adult behavior on his lousy upbringing. Kids, take notes on how awful your own lives are. You’ll need them when you get your own reality show.

I’m sure you kids have noticed what makes money in the world we grownups have created for you. Despite what your parents tell you about being polite, it’s loud and obnoxious behavior that pays the bills.

First, Terrell Owens got a reality show. Nobody watched it, but it got renewed anyway, and it’s not because T.O. is a nice guy. It’s because he’s a narcissistic jerk. Now Vick, who killed dogs in horrible and disgusting ways — he hanged them from clotheslines and electrocuted them — not only has a job in the NFL, he’s got a reality show, too. Oh, and his jerseys are selling like hotcakes.

Where would Vick be if he’d been a nice guy from the get-go? Probably nowhere. Or at least not with his own reality show.

Don’t let your parents try to point out how the people making the most money are athletes like the Manning brothers and Tiger Woods. It’s true that they rake in tons of endorsement loot at least partly because they are so colossally boring, but you have to look at the degree of difficulty involved. It’s easier to be a scuzz-bucket than it is to be Mr. Perfect. If being perfect were so darned easy — and profitable — every celebrity would be that way.

But very few celebrities are that way, and with good reason. To be a celebrity, you have to be noticed, and it’s hard to get noticed when you never do anything that would bring attention to yourself.

Even the decent people in the celebrity business act like jerks. Look at Simon Cowell. Word is he’s a decent human being, but he gets the big bucks for being a snide and sarcastic lout given to making grown women — and men, too — cry in shame on national TV.

Take a good look at ESPN. Is there anybody on air who acts calm and rational? Anyone whose primary goal before going on the air is to maintain his or her dignity?

Heck, it even works in publishing. Glenn Beck, who is to rational behavior what the Duggars are to family planning, writes incoherent screeds in crayon that end up on top the best-seller list. Right now, one of the most rational and intelligent men on the planet, Richard Dawkins, is seeing his latest book on Darwinian evolution being blown away by Sarah Palin’s ode to random nonsense. Palin can’t even construct a simple declarative sentence, but her book — which isn’t even published yet — is on top the best-seller list, and all because she shoots moose while staring intently at Russia.

Palin certainly didn’t let anybody, including her campaign staff, to tell her how to behave and what to say. A bunch of pouty old McCain staffers are blaming her for losing the election, but do any of them have $7-million book deals? Well, do they?

So don’t listen to any of them, kids. You do it your way. Be a jackass. Dress any way you please. And if you get in trouble, say you’re sorry, then sign up for that reality show.

It works for everybody else. Why not you?

That is reprhensible the guy is scum and is being rewarded for it

Exactly. Not many convicted felons get to walk right back into a multi-million dollar career right after getting released from prison - and no matter what he says during his duties as a spokesperson for the HSUS (which is disgusting IMO) the kids are going to see that his crime hasn't cost him anything but a little bit of time - and it could be argued that if not for his crime, he wouldn't have this reality show either. Yeah, I can see where that would make kids not want to follow his path, sure.

I saw this yesterday on another site. It's disgusting. What kind of a society have we become when we reward people like this with fame and riches?

Are they even going to mention the dogs and what happened to those that did not have the opportunity to be given a second chance, thanks in large to Best Friends and the ASPCA?

I doubt it. But instead, this :censored: serves a minimal sentence, is given the opportunity to make millions in the NFL, AND is offered a television show so he can pretend he's sorry.:frustrated:

Well I emailed BET and told them how disgusting I thought it was that they were going to give a convicted criminal a show and pay him. I also asked if they thought this was the type of African American they wanted as a role model for there children

Kudos to the journalist, unbelievable :frustrated:

Well I emailed BET and told them how disgusting I thought it was that they were going to give a convicted criminal a show and pay him. I also asked if they thought this was the type of African American they wanted as a role model for there children

I'd love to see the form letter, because unfortunately, I think that's the most they will send.

controversy=curiosity=$money$ that's why the show will go on, the more people oppose it the better for them. The most controversial celebs are always in the news because it generates revenue whether its from flashing your crotch at a event or killing dogs.
You would think that there would be some type of morality division on what is harmless controversy vs. harmful controversy but at the end of the day money is money. Wars are waged and continued past their intended length because it generates huge amounts of money for the people funding it. Complaining to the network will do nothing, if the show generates money they will just hire a extra person or 2 to deal with the influx of complaints with a cut paste response.
Anyone with digi cable or satellite that gets BET in their collective packages and opposes the show if it hits air should just call their provider and cancel the network. Removing subscriptions, removes viewers which removes money. Generate awareness, that's the only way to deal with corporations.

I basically said that I would no longer subscribe to a station that endorses a dog killer and what it says about their station having someone like him as a role model for young children. Maybe they should spend their programming money on some programs that would make them look more respectable and not like they are just in it for the cash grab.

Anyone with digi cable or satellite that gets BET in their collective packages and opposes the show if it hits air should just call their provider and cancel the network. Removing subscriptions, removes viewers which removes money. Generate awareness, that's the only way to deal with corporations.

That's not going to work. You can't remove a channel from your subscription unless it's a premium channel, like HBO. Just don't watch, that's all we can do. That and send in emails of disapproval.

Well I emailed BET and told them how disgusting I thought it was that they were going to give a convicted criminal a show and pay him. I also asked if they thought this was the type of African American they wanted as a role model for there children:thumbs up I too emailed BET with my thoughts! Don't care much to get a response. Surely they won't say anytime soon "Oh we sell our souls for profit" :shrug:

I'm going to email around that article! This obnoxious trend will only die if we stop watching.... all of us. Not nearly as bad as Vick, but I feel the same way about shows like Jon & Kate, they're all obnoxious.

It's the perfect ending.

The ONLY thing that might be better is if he gets into politics and runs for public office.

I get BET but never watch it,I saw this in the paper about a week ago,it's enough to make you vomit.
I too will write them..
Hubby and I were thinking of what we used to watch on TV and in Movies when we grew up,there was romance(no sex)and our hero was Tarzan and Robin Hood:laughing:
Now it's all blood and guts and explicit sex:sad:
There are a lot of people who don't care how many dogs Vick horribly tortured,people who don't see the illiterat,vicious man the way we see him:evil:
Thank you Kandy for letting us read the excellent article by Mike Zelizic,maybe there is still hope,if more people feel like him:pray: