2008 Election: The Best Primetime Drama in History
by Reg Seeton

When someone coined the term "reality television", who knew the ripple effect it would have? After shows like Survivor, Big Brother and a slew of knock-offs turned the personal lives of average people into dramatic mainstream entertainment, primetime television has never been the same. Add the many celebrity reality series to the list like Gene Simmons Family Jewels and The Surreal Life and we can never go back.

Given how the race for the White House has played out both in real time and in the media since 2006 - the two-year Clinton/Obama feud, Obamamania, the scandals, the debates, corporate power plays, the media spin, the Vice Presidential mysteries, the party conventions, and the celebrity of Sarah Palin - the 2008 Election looks like the best primetime drama we've ever seen. It's Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Lipstick Jungle, Mad Men, The West Wing, M*A*S*H, Law & Order, Melrose Place, The Apprentice, Gossip Girl, Dallas, The Amazing Race, and the old Gong Show all wrapped into one weekly primetime package. And to think we thought the long running O.J. Trial mini-series was the biggest television event in history. Boy, were we wrong.

Since the 2008 Election debuted in 2006, we've all tuned in to watch the drama. Each day is a new episode filled with intrigue, mystery, betrayal and dramatic ridiculousness we've come to love on TV. Some days there's even a bit of comedy, as with Tina Fey's pitch perfect impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. After all, it's the stuff that makes for "good TV", right? The election is, and has been, playing out like a TV series with characters we love, hate, and love to hate.

Who needs the Carrington and Colby families from Dynasty when you have the Clinton and Obama families? Who shot J.R. in Dallas? The more dramatic cliffhanger was: Who will John McCain pick as his running mate? Who was Amanda sleeping with on Melrose Place? Well, who was John Edwards sleeping with during his campaign? Who is Donald Draper on Mad Men? Many are still asking, "Who is Sarah Palin from Alaska?" Who will be the last million dollar contestant standing on the next season of Survivor? It's up for grabs; You get to vote either Barack Obama or John McCain off the island. And the best thing of all? When the 2008 Election TV show goes on hiatus from November until January, we can all take a much needed break before season two begins in a completely different setting with a few new cast members much like the second season of Prison Break.

In the early years of the decade when reality television first exploded, many Hollywood insiders, network heads, and media analysts debated whether reality TV would eventually kill off scripted shows like C.S.I. and Law & Order. It's amazing; To a large degree, given the way news coverage is evolving, many of the reality naysayers were right. We've now reached the point where we don't need scripted TV.

In 2004, when the popularity of reality television was transforming network programming, NBC President Jeffrey Zucker commented on the transformation of scripted shows as related to public demand, "It turns out that the next 'Friends' was not a half-hour scripted comedy. It was 'The Apprentice.'" Four years later, the next Apprentice wasn't a weekly one-hour reality contest; It was the 2008 Election. From a voyeuristic entertainment standpoint, is there any difference between the characters we see on our favorite shows and the characters we see on the campaign stumps?

In an age when being a celebrity is seemingly more important than solving the country's problems, we now have a new interactive, open source, primetime TV show in which the viewers themselves will be writing the final act of the 2008 Election season finale. Given the latest technology and the many advances in delivering information from a variety of sources and mediums, we can now interact with the drama like never before. Throughout the series since 2006, some of us have also been able to write in our own cameo appearances under the character named iReporter. It's brilliant. You too can become a celebrity along with the cast.

Does it matter who wins the White House since a new administration will simply give us a fresh season of new entertainment? Of course, it does. Casting the role of President is the most important decision for the longevity of the show over the next four years. Aside from LOST, when's the last time you saw a TV series get renewed for four years? The biggest downside to this new primetime soap: If you lose interest halfway through, it won't be cancelled for another two years. Either way, it still makes for great TV.