By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Aug 14, 2012 at 1:04 PM

I remember not too long ago when satellite and cable television were going to be the most wonderful things in the world. We would have access to more quality programming, educational television that could broaden our horizons and make us more culturally aware.

We'd have programs about our planet, the cosmos and everything in between. And as a whole, we have access – through our pocketbooks – to more programming than we have ever had in history.

One cable channel is The Learning Channel (TLC), educating us on things we may have never experienced before. Now I have never experienced this latest part of our collective American experience, and I pray I never have to.

Welcome to "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," which has reached a TV milestone as the dumbest show ever produced.

For those aspiring producers working on pilots right now, just stop. There is nothing lower than this. Please don't try. I think I'd rather go to the zoo and watch monkeys throw poo.

Alana Thompson, also world-renowned as toddler pageant champion Honey Boo Boo, leads the bunch of this family living their life in front of the cameras. There's Sugar Bear, the proud dad, and June the mom, who tells us this week that couponing is "better than sex." Throw in a couple of sisters and trips to the store and events like the Redneck Games and well, there you go ... hours of your life wasted.

All that I can figure out about the people who do watch this show at 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights is that they are grateful their lives are not like this.

What do you think? Are there worse shows out there?

FAILURE?: Following the closing ceremonies, the very vocal dozens of TV critics were all over NBC and their coverage of the Olympics. Despite all of their belly-aching and cutting out some of the performances for a run of the new show "Animal Practice," the peacock network still posted very healthy ratings for the event. According to NBC, these latest games from London were the most watched event in television history, surpassing the number of households that tuned in to the 2008 games from Beijing. I'd call that a pretty far result from the #NBCfail hashtag that these critics hyped on Twitter. Never mind the complaints, people still watched.

ELECTION NIGHT: You can expect the local TV news outlets to cover today's primary election, mostly focusing on the Republican contest for U.S. Senate. The winner between Tommy Thompson, Eric Hovde, Mark Neumann and Jeff Fitzgerald will face Democrat Tammy Baldwin in November.

PAC-12: Time Warner Digital Cable subscribers will now have access to the PAC-12 Networks to follow the athletic conference's teams compete this school year. The Pac-12 Networks are scheduled to carry 850 live sporting events this year, including 35 football and more than 130 men's basketball games, according to the release.

NO OCHOCINCO: Chad Johnson, the former professional wide receiver known as Ochocinco, was kicked off the Miami Dolphins on Monday. Following a domestic disturbance, alleged assault and misdemeanor arrest, VH1 also took the player and his wife off the air. The series "Ev and Ocho" with Johnson and his wife Evelyn Lozada is no longer on the schedule.

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.