![](\"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/images\/reality_tv.jpg\")
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This is from the July\/August issue of Dollars & Sense<\/em> (although the version in the magazine is in black and white – oh, well). This is the second time I’ve drawn these characters; the first time<\/a> was in March..<\/p>\n UPDATE<\/strong>: It may interest folks to know that there was a lot of wrangling with the editors over the punch line of this one. My initial idea was:<\/p>\n BROWNHAIR: The winner gets too sane to be on a reality tv show, so the show has to be cancelled before it even appears. That doesn’t work (“gets too sane” is a phrase that doesn’t work, and how is the show cancelled before it appears when the winning doesn’t happen until the end of the show’s season?), so the editors were right to reject it; and unfortunately, things were on too tight a schedule for me to have time to step back from the line, realize why it wasn’t working, and fix it. If I were to rewrite it today, I’d make it:<\/p>\n BROWNHAIR: The winner gets too much self-esteem to be on reality tv, so the show has to be cancelled. I was tempted to redraw the last panel, this time using the above dialog, before posting it on the blog. I decided not to because I’m lazy and anyhow I don’t have the spare time (I’ve got a ton of drawing on various paid projects – including the Sept\/Oct “Dollars and Sense” cartoon – I have to do this week). Additionally, I really like how the body language and expressions in the final panel came out. Besides, I’m not sure “my” ending is any better than the one that was used.<\/p>\n Anyhow, other suggested endings included:<\/p>\n BROWNHAIR: I dunno… self-respect? A measure of serenity?<\/p>\n PINKHAIR: You’d get better ratings if she got a million dollars and then had to wrestle in jello.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And this one, suggested by the editors:<\/p>\n BROWNHAIR: The winner will star in a spin-off called ‘The Simple Waif’, where she will match wits with Paris Hilton for the dizzy heiress’ fortune.<\/p>\n PINKHAIR: Now THAT’s hot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (I didn’t fully get this one until the editors explained that “that’s hot” is Paris Hilton’s catch phrase.)<\/p>\n In the end, we went with “You really don’t get the point of reality shows, do you?,” which was suggested by my friend Phil Howe. Thanks, Phil!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is from the July\/August issue of Dollars & Sense (although the version in the magazine is in black and white – oh, well). This is the second time I’ve drawn these characters; the first time was in March.. UPDATE: … Continue reading
\nPINKHAIR: The perfect reality show!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nPINKHAIR: At last, the perfect reality show!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n