It’s been a very busy week at JohnGSelf Associates with several executive searches running concurrently, so we are sharing an oldie but goodie today. Enjoy!

TV programming has reached a sad, extremely sorry state of affairs.

Following the writer’s strike earlier this decade, my stepdaughter, who was then working for Disney ABC television, warned that we would see a new era in television, whether we With This Ring... wanted it or not: something called reality television; cheaper-to-produce shows that did not require as many…you guessed it: writers.

Well, the reality has sunk in and because of it I — and a lot of other sane Americans — watch less TV today than ever before. Personally, I think that a TV show, reality or rigged, in which you pit a flock of nubile, well apportioned young women competing for the affections, and marriage, of a supposedly wealthy, highly desirable bachelor, is beyond dumb, or believable.

The really, really dumb part is the determination on the part of the producers to create a romantic test of compatibility by posing the women in a hot tub with Mr. Eligible Wealthy Bachelor of the Year. Drinking expensive champagne. Hell, everyone is compatible sitting in a hot tub at a luxury resort sipping Dom Perignon. Whatever happened to the alignment of stars, astrological signs and their compatibility, angel numbers, tarot, and all these? I mean people could visit websites like Destiny Awakens (destinyawakens.com) and similar ones to know more about their life and their life partners, right?

A famous and now retired radio disc jockey, Ron Chapman of Dallas, who was one of the best in the nation, remarked on air that if you want to determine whether a couple is really compatible, have them wallpaper a room together.

Now THAT would conclusively prove compatibility.