Tuesday, January 22, 2008

All TV: NJ online

As you probably know by now, my TV tastes gravitate towards the scripted, but now and then I wind up sampling non-fiction, whether pure documentary or more contrived reality TV. Today's column features one doc, one reality show, both with Jersey roots: a "Frontline" episode about teens and the series of tubes we call the Internet, and Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker":
Early in tonight's episode of "Frontline," titled "Growing Up Online" (9 p.m., Ch. 13), we see a montage of news reports about online stalkers and pedophiles done in the usual sky-is-falling style that's become the currency of modern TV news. But the "Frontline" franchise has never been interested in promoting panic at the expense of good reporting, and "Growing Up Online" quickly establishes itself as an even-handed look at the generation gap between teenagers who have never known life without e-mail and their parents who are all-thumbs with text messaging.

Its message: Sure, there are scary things about the Internet, but there are scary things about life, you know?
To read the full thing, click here.

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