China Declares War on Reality TV

Two-thirds of China's 'entertainment' shows were cancelled for 2012.

If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that our fine species has probably created a thousand or two too many terrible television shows, both reality and non-, in the past decade. At least one government has decided to do something about that, as China has axed two-thirds of all "entertainment" television shows to rein in what it calls "excessive entertainment." That means that of the 126 "entertainment" programs (read: reality shows, game shows, talk shows, and talent shows, but also those with excessive violence) that aired last year, only 38 returned to the air in 2012. Ostensibly, this is something we could probably all get behind, but seeing as how this is the Chinese government we're talking about here, they've replaced that tripe, with, well, more tripe. According to China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (their version of our CRTC), the new programming will include longer "news" shows and "programs that promote traditional virtues and socialist core values." Or, in other words, p to the ropaganda, although is that really that much worse than China's Got Talent?