"HG" wrote in message
news:m3zlmiiai1.fsf@nothung.homelinux.net...

This was the premise of one of the most appalling game shows in the history
of American television. It was called "Queen For a Day" and women would
compete for a slew of vacuous prizes by telling the sad, sad stories of
their horribly screwed-up lives. The women, selected seemingly at random
from their studio audience, would weep piteously as they related their tales
of unbearable woe, invariably evoking sympathetic tears from the studio
audience. The most pathetic storyteller (determined by measuring the decibel
level of the audience applause for each candidate following the
performances) would be declared the winner. The weeping victim would then be
wrapped in a red velvet robe, given a bunch of long-stemmed roses, paraded
about to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstances", and awarded a set of prizes,
typically kitchen appliances and a dinner in a fancy New York restaurant.
The other three contestants, losers at a contest to pick the biggest loser
by the rest of the wannabe losers in the studio audience, could go fuck
themselves for all anybody cared. And rightly so.

It was amazingly popular in the late '40's and early '50's, when apparently
networks could air a live half-hour program watching paint dry.