20/20 is now officially trash tv

I just watched the stupidest episode of 20/20 ever. I've watched over the last couple of years, how reality tv has eroded the standards of television. How Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood went from interesting celebrity news, to tabloidism or pandering. Then TMZ came about and just upped the level of trashiness to the point where I can't stomach any of them.

But at least traditional news magazines were safe. Until now. They've been getting more and more sensationalistic, but the episode I watched tonight had these childbirth-related themes:

• women who experience orgasms during childbirth
• people who buy $1400 fake babies (Reborns) and carry them around in public like they are children
• women who breastfeed until their children are 6 to 8 years old and
  
• surrogates who've given birth to 8+ children.

Is this news? Women experiencing orgasms during birth? I'm pretty sure there is euphoric pleasure experienced by people dying, like if you're sky-diving and you're parachute fails, but are we advocating that, or saying that it's an common experience worth talking about? Why is this newsworthy?

And the freak ladies who were breastfeeding 6 year old who call their mom's boobs 'nummies'? Do we need to see this? It's watching somebody screw up their kid with pride. Why not just watch an episode with someone beating their child with a belt. It's as equally educational and appropriate. I'll pass. Am I gettting old and stodgy, or have people lost their minds?

Mark ended up fast-forwarding through about half of the episode. Particularly enjoyable was the surrogate who used her own eggs with clients' sperm and screwed up once and gave the couple a kid that was biologically hers and her boyfriend's! She offered to take the baby back, but otherwise didn't or wouldn't give a refund.