Whatever you think of Prince William and Kate Middleton – good luck to ’em says I – and the coverage of their wedding, console yourself witht the thought that it’s unlikely the British coverage, extensive and often absurd as it may be, can be anything like as ghastly or over-the-top as that provided by American television.
The cousins appear to be losing their minds. CNN, for instance, is sending 400 people to London to “cover” the nuptials. This Wall Street Journal story lays out the detail of the nonsense in all its splendid gruesomeness. It is, naturally, all unintentionally amusing:
[…] TV wedding specialists—there are a surprising number—are over the moon. “On a scale of one to 10 in big TV events, this is a 10 plus, plus,” says Kim Martin, president and general manager of WE tv and Wedding Central, cable channels reaching 76 million and 3.5 million homes, respectively. In the five days before the big event alone they’ll air 109 hours of wedding-related shows including “How to Marry a Prince,” a user’s guide to nabbing a royal fiancé. (Hint: Do not sleep with the prince on the first date.)
“William and Kate are celebrities to Americans. Prince Charles was perceived as a more stodgy kind of guy. But William is hip and cool. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, and she’s a commoner. It’s that princess story we’re always seeing in movies,” she adds.
[…] Ms. Middleton is “this classless underdog who Americans can relate to,” says CNN host Piers Morgan, who covered the royal family for years as the editor of Britain’s Daily Mirror and will anchor his nightly talk show from London all that week.
She didn’t exactly grow up in poverty, but last week, NBC’s “Today” aired a segment called “From Pit to Palace: Kate’s Coal Mining Ancestry,” about Ms. Middleton’s ancestors who worked in England’s coal country. “We love her humble background,” says Executive Producer Jim Bell.
[…] Syndicated CBS celebrity shows “The Insider” and “Entertainment Tonight” will broadcast across the street from Buckingham Palace. “I’ve done the Oscars for 16 years and it’s always fun, but it doesn’t even compare to this,” says Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of both shows.
And how can anyone not love this?
I’m sure it did.
All this confirms the fact that Americans are suckers for Royalty. Not a surprise, of course, since they treat their own Head of State as a Priest-King and then wonder why the man proves a disappointment. A Royal wedding allows the same fawning and embarrassing, ridiculous gushing but, happily, without the dismal intrusion of politics.
[Via Doug Mataconis.]
Comments