Columnist Phil Reisman takes a stroll through the vast wasteland of TV fare

[LostInTime]

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On another day, I flipped to Tyra Banks. Her guest was a transgender male, who had taken all the drugs and had all the operations, except the Big One, in order to look, act, and sound like a woman. My skin crawled. Creepier still was that the show arranged a date between the ->-bleeped-<- and a curious heterosexual male "she" met on the Internet.

It takes all kinds, but this was prurient tripe. Once reserved for late-night television, if at all, this kind of subject matter is now served up as mainstream, part of the new order. To reject it, is to be intolerant. And gee, the best part is kids get to watch it.

Such crapola is hardly new. Jerry Springer, Maury Povich and other electronic carnival barkers have been feeding the freak-and-geek machine for years. Even the hypocrisy is old hat.