Convicted of the serial
killings and mutilations of a number of South
Beach gay residents, Randall Snell — a
former altar boy infamously dubbed the Killer
Castrator by the television media — fatalistically
awaits his end on death row.
When Snell’s
overstarched attorney, Conrad Rangefork Thistle
III, pontificates on CNN that his client has
the right to choose by which method he’s
put to death, eccentrically brilliant and perpetually
unemployed documentary filmmaker Dov Montana
sees an opportunity. He teams up with Lerz Feingold,
programming director at pay-per-view reality
TV outlet ’Tude Entertainment, and together
they plan to bring reality TV to its logical
apotheosis.
The equation
seems simple enough: Conrad Rangefork Thistle
III ostensibly believes that the climate of
debate that would ensue from a return to public
executions will secure his client a stay of
execution. Lerz Feingold, despite his tenuous
relationship with Montana, sees an opportunity
to catapult ’Tude Entertainment to the
top of the ratings. But for Dov Montana, payoff
lies not at the top but rather at the bottom,
where he’s determined to expose the grazing
herds of mediocrity that sit stuffed in front
of their TV trays, infected by the insipid notion
of reality TV and “news as entertainment.”
The Nielsens, as he refers to them, are Montana’s
target; the Killer Castrator, along with Conrad
Rangefork Thistle III and Lerz Feingold, just
means to an end.
