"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.' "