Rob Ford—crack user, alleged domestic abuser, mayor of Canada’s largest city—is getting his own TV show. The Sun News Network will put Ford and his older brother, Doug, who serves on the city’s council, on air on Monday. The show, called "Ford Nation," will be a second act to the brothers’ radio show, "The City," which ended last week. Details about the show are yet to be announced, but it’s bound to be hilarious, and ratings will surely be high. If nothing else, it will allow Toronto’s weary press corps to put up their feet, take a break from pushing for the disgraced mayor to be ousted from office, and watch him continue to make a fool of himself on TV.
Of course, we've all been watching the Rob Ford Reality Show for months. After reports of the mayor’s crack use began circulating in May and a video surfaced in October, Ford admitted he had smoked crack in a “drunken stupor.” Another video showed Ford drunkenly threatening to kill someone. This week, he responded to a report about a relationship with a staffer by saying, “It says I wanted to eat her pussy and I have never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married and I’ve got more than enough to eat at home.” The city’s council has begun stripping Ford of executive powers. And late-night talk-show hosts have been having a field day.
Rob Ford's TV show won’t just be redundant; it probably will be less entertaining than his everyday circus act. When you give a man a reality TV show, he’s expected to be outrageous; almost everyone on reality TV is. The shock value is much higher when he’s an elected official who’s expected to behave appropriately, or at least to do a better job hiding his misbehavior. That’s why the foul-mouthed Ford inspires guffaws: His acts are so dissonant with the high office he holds. And now he'll be playing himself in the lowest rung of TV entertainment.