Death by being frozen solid and the body then shattering has made it's appearance in a few movies, and then twice in one week(?) on NBC -- on Heroes and Life. Are some of the criticisms applied to CSI and other crime shows relevant here? Could we even go back to St. Augustine and what he said about spectacles? Normal violent deaths are no longer shocking to us--and so we need bizarre ones to keep our attention? The rather tame British whodunits (frequently aired on PBS's Mystery) would not hold the attention of a typical American TV viewer.

Do such shows do anything to increase our charity? (Of course not, charity is a supernatural virtue.) How about natural benevolence of sympathy? It seems not...