One of the most piquant moments in a summer dominated by what is being called, without apparent irony, “reality TV,” came when it was announced that on the Wednesday night of the Republican convention, the exiguous network coverage of the event had been soundly trounced in the ratings by “Survivor” on CBS. This is the show in which sixteen people were deposited on an island in the Pacific and invited to vote each other off the island until there is only one left. The “survivor” wins a million dollars. The episode that induced so many potential convention-watchers to switch the channel was the one in which the black basketball coach from outside Philadelphia, Gervase, was voted off the island, thus giving the lie to the rumor that had been going the rounds that he was the ultimate winner who had already been chosen but whose identity CBS had managed to keep secret.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, the allegedly real ...

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