Mainstream Media for Dummies ...

With all the chaos reigning in the world today, I’ve decided to devote my time and energy to writing a post about … Tabloid Wars.

My new favorite TV show (it has certainly replaced Bridezillas and Project Runway in my life) is a reality show on Bravo about the life of reporters at the New York Daily News. It's on at 8 p.m. Monday.

They run through New York City trying to beat the New York Post. They chase criminals, celebrities who goose people and members of the Catholic Church involved in sex scandals.

And it’s all strangely realistic. The funny thing is, unlike most reality shows the characters are not all chosen for their good looks and vacuous personalities. They’re actually all real reporters and editors at the paper.

My favorite character is Hud Morgan, the slightly dreamy, slightly gay, assistant to a gossip columnist. He goes to parties every night and tries to get celebrities to spill gossip about other people. He got mad when somebody wrote a blog entry about him maybe being gay, and his grandpa got all upset.

He's also got the faux British accent. And when he prints a mistake in the gossip column, the paper's editors make him drive out to Queens and do a story on a clinic offering free prostate screening tests.

Apparently he works for Men’s Vogue right now. The show was filmed a year ago.

Here’s something I found on the Huffington Post:

Tabloid Wars: The Drinking Game (Or, Hud Morgan gets you wasted).

1) Hunky Deputy Metro Editor Greg Gittrich takes a phone call, looks harried: 1 drink.
2) Kerry Burke walks, talks on cellphone: 2 drinks (if he swears, add 1 drink)
3) Kerry Burke refers to a person as a "cat": 1 drink.
4) English subtitles for people who are speaking English: 1 drink.
5) References to "killing the Post": 1 drink.
6) Actual evidence of killing the Post: 10 drinks.
7) Hud Morgan says something demeaning about B-list celebrities ("It's like, no please, can I jump through hoops to listen to Phil Donahue speak?"): 1 drink.
8) Hud Morgan declines to consider doing charity work/something meaningful with his life: 1 drink.
9) Lenore Skenazy 's appearance onscreen is accompanied by that of her column: 3 drinks.
10) Hud Morgan says something that is oddly perceptive ("I think I should pitch this article about model / DJs, just because they seem neither good at modeling nor DJing"): 2 drinks.
11) Hud Morgan says something that is oddly introspective ("I'm too busy with the column to figure out all the bad things it's done to me"): 2 drinks.
12) Reference is made to the Daily News being a "hometown paper"; "for New Yorkers" and "blue collar": 1 drink.
13) Hud Morgan reveals himself to be blue-collar: 10 drinks
14) Hud Morgan wears a shirt with a blue collar (under a blazer, accompanied by shades): 2 drinks.

Here's a Hud Morgan video ...