Comedy Central targets demographic with “Secret Girlfriend”

In a perfect world, you could turn on the television in every male-occupied frat house, dorm room or apartment and find a major news network on. In a perfect world, the average college-aged male would be foremost concerned with his personal future and the state of the world in general.

In actuality, when you turn on a college-age male’s television, you are more likely to turn on either ESPN or Comedy Central.

Comedy Central knows this.

It is no secret that Comedy Central not only controls the male 18-35 demographic, they dominate it. As a convenient cog in their demographic wheel, I can confirm this firsthand.

It started with “The Daily Show” and “South Park,” legitimate social controversy hidden with phallic and fart jokes.

When they realized they’d struck gold, they hit us with “The Colbert Report.” When they realized that the Internet needed a talking head to poke fun at it, they hired funnyman Daniel Tosh and gave him his vehicle, “Tosh.0.” This fall, Comedy Central made its boldest move yet with their new first-person sitcom, “Secret Girlfriend.”

“Secret Girlfriend” takes everything that “guys” love, from first person shooters and point-of-view pornography to people getting hit in the testicles and the comedy of moronic friends, and puts it all into 22 minutes of cable television.

“Secret Girlfriend” is based on an “Atomic Wedgie” Web series of the same name. It takes the typical20-something dating show formula, and turns it on its head by making the viewer the show’s protagonist.

Reviewers complain about how vulgar the show is, how it lacks any underlying plot, how it objectifies women, how it lacks any serious comedic value and how the concept of a universal protagonist takes away the possibility of any depth of character.

All of these criticisms are well founded and legitimate, but every week after “South Park,” I know that millions of viewers will remain in their seats, looking for their next cheap thrill.

“Secret Girlfriend,” as I see it, is a wonderful example of what television has become as a whole. People are not always turning on the TV looking for thought-provoking, evocative programming that not only entertains, but inspires.

Sometimes, people want to laugh at a guy getting hit in the balls, and then watch as he leverages his pain into getting the phone number of a girl whose number he could never get in real life.

While most programming wants to be taken seriously, “Secret Girlfriend” embraces the idea of our society’s obsession with thoughtless entertainment.