Overheard

There's a punchline to a David Cross joke that goes, "But I think dogs are smarter than women." Cross was kidding (I think), and so am I (I think), but the things you can learn along these lines while watching tv never get stale.

Case in point, last night I tuned into "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss" (which might be the greatest reality show ever, incidentally). The "boss" was having a conversation with a modely-looking female contestant, in which he tuned out everything she was saying, and just responded with "that's fascinating" or "you are fascinating" or "I am fascinated by you." During his cutaway shots, he said explicitly that that's what he was doing. During hers, she kept going on about how good it made her feel everytime he called her "fascinating." And then the other shoe dropped. She said, with tears welling up, "nobody's ever called me 'fascinating' before." I couldn't have choreographed it better.