Britney Blunder.

I don't know how it happened... okay, that's a lie.

This morning on the news there was a story on Britney Spears' performance on the MTV Music Awards. Apparently it didn't go well but the rest of the event was a smash.

Then on the way to work today Howard Stern was discussing it. Apparently Britney was bad, and the rest of the show was horrendous.

Then I logged on to my email this morning before class and there was an article on her performance along with a video. I watched it. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. The article talked about flubbed lip-synching, a bad wardrobe, and poor quality of her performance but was under the opinion that the Awards Ceremony was a huge success.

So, today in my TV Production class someone brings up Britney Spears. We were discussing celebrity news, and her name popped up so I used her career as an illustration of a story line. Cute little child star - Fresh-faced Pop Newcomer - Pop Superstar - Hollywood Celebrity - Mrs. Federline - Mother - Divorced - Wild Child - Bald - Cannon Fodder for Jay Leno, etc.

We skipped all of the beaver shots, and acts of hedonism that wouldn't be appropriate to discuss in a school environment. We ended the time line with Britney's MTV performance. One of my students asked with what appeared to be genuine concern, "What's going to happen to her?"

I confessed that I couldn't be sure and that that is what makes her story interesting. The news is how will she respond to the criticism and uber negative, vicious comments being posted on-line about her? What will be her next move? Will her star rise again or be trampled under the foot of that slack-jawed, oafish, tempermental beast known as Fame? I then told them that during the course of the semester if they spotted any Britney Spears News to bring it to class and we would update the story line.

They seemed to enjoy the class.