Just one man’s opinion, but Entertainment Tonight Canada did not distinguish itself last week by offering viewers an “exclusive” with Cory Monteith’s father.
The tabloid entertainment program is not generally on my radar, but I caught a promo Thursday and stuck around for the top of the show. There was Rick Campanelli in New Brunswick at the home of Monteith Senior. It was quickly mentioned that Cory and his father had been estranged for several years. Then there were clips of the man sitting with an unidentified woman, presumably his wife, sorting through pictures of Monteith as a teenager.
I understand there is a great deal of fascination in this tragic story–the promo, after all, got me to watch. I was immediately sorry I did, however. Cory Monteith never mentioned his dad in interviews, only his mother and an older brother.
The ET Canada interviews shed no new light onto what kind of support Monteith got at home during his formative years. The actor dropped out of school in Grade Nine and started experimenting with drugs at 13.
Instead we heard how this father was upset at news his son’s body had been cremated.
Celebrity news is a competitive business and leads should be investigated, but sometimes an editor has to take a look at what was brought back and decide if the wrong message, or agenda, is being served. ET Canada may have thought they were advancing the story, but, to this viewer, it seemed like a big step backwards.
