Every time I turn on the television, I wonder if George Saunders is orchestrating the programming from afar. But then I realize that even his zany stories couldn’t approximate the insouciant depravity of today’s TV producers. The reality show Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test puts weakly famous celebrities, well past their prime, through rigorous military challenges—“drown proofing,” enduring tear gas, hand-to-hand combat, and more. (I thought I’d see Anthony Scaramucci expire, and don’t get me started on what they subjected Scary Spice to.) What really caught my eye, though, was that contestants are forced to wear black hoods to their on-camera confessionals, a jarring and bizarre reminder of the War on Terror.
