Some time ago, I posted that I had given up on Entertainment Tonight because of its sickening and ridiculous over-overage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. In the time in between I have found myself backsliding and had gotten back to watching it fairly frequently, albeit while doing something else. There is no way that show could keep my rapt attention. But, once again, I have given it up completely. Two nights ago, by mistake, I went to the channel it was on and stopped for a second, thinking, maybe this latest insanity had passed but no, the first thing I saw, in that brief moment of viewing was: “the octomom”.

Okay, I can see Entertainment Tonight going overboard with Anna Nicole Smith because at least she was in some way related to the entertainment industry. Not much, I know, but she had a reality TV show and had been in some D- movies so we’ll just agree that she at least had ties to entertainment, however weak those ties may be. But how is a woman who had octuplets entertainment? And how is the story of her existence with her now 14 children and their far less than adequate living arrangements, entertainment? How? Yet, at least 25% of each episode of late, has been about this woman. And then add to the mix when they get opinions from the people who try to benefit from other people’s pain (yes, I mean people like Dr. Phil and “Celebrity Detox”’s Dr. Drew–don’t even get me started on these guys) about it. I mean the only person in the world now getting more attention than octomom is Dr. Phil talking about octomom.

Entertainment Tonight has a long history of sticking a microphone in front of celebrities at some event, be it a premiere or a fundraiser for cancer, and asking the opinion of said celebrities about some subject. Like poor Melissa Etheridge could be going with her kids to the premiere of a nice Pixar movie and ET will stop her and ask what she thinks of the passing of some 90-year-old actor or the pregnancy of some young starlet. And Melissa, or whoever, looking like a deer in the headlights, will say “oh, I was sorry to hear about that” or “oh, really, I hadn’t heard about that. I wish her luck.” Wow, breaking news. Now, ET can ask celebrities at events searing questions about the octomom and we can finally know what Tyler Perry or Nick Jonas thinks about the state of the octomom’s living room. Please.

So, ET is back on my list of shows to avoid at all costs, right up there with the aforementioned “Celebrity Detox” and 99.99% of “reality television”. But what about the news? The news is keeping this whole inane octomom thing going too. I just googled “octomom” and there were 931 news results from the last couple of days about the fact that her father is giving her a new house. Helllooooo news. I’m waving at you here. The Sudan has ordered aid organizations out of Darfur and the people who need them will be left with nothing. Thousands and thousands of people are losing their jobs, their homes and, in the States, that means they’re losing their health insurance. The IRA has new splinter groups and they’re making their presence known in ugly ways. Tibet is remembering 50 years of what the Dalia Lama calls “hell on earth” under the thumb of China. And that’s just off the top of my head. The octomom and her latest adventures are not news. And they’re not entertainment. They’re just sad and so is our culture for stirring up this ridiculous frenzy about it all.