War, What Is It Good For? TV Ratings.

Printer-friendly versionSend by email"The start of the war caused business at movie theaters to drop by 25 percent on Wednesday as people stayed home to watch the war, and snack-food sales and restaurant deliveries thrived. The opening salvos of the war had taken the place of prime-time entertainment, and television stations did their best to serve up gaudily produced coverage: the war in Iraq as the ultimate in reality television, as the apotheosis of every favorite Hollywood genre, from the combat thriller to the coming-of-age tale to the blow-'em-up, special-effects extravaganza. ... Happy-talk anchors ... giddily tossed around terms like "MOAB" (Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or the "mother of all bombs") and "B.D.A." (bomb damage assessment), while fashionistas debated who was this war's hottest Scud Stud and Studette. ABC featured ... video-game-like tours of Iraq from the air. Fox ran exclamatory headlines like 'The Ultimate Sacrifice' and 'Weapons Scandal.' "