Final Word from Thursday, October 24, 2013
As CEO of TV Barrandov, Vladimír Železný will apparently become the most talked-about convicted criminal in the CR since Václav Havel and Petr Pithart. They spent time for being dissidents; Železný's suspended sentence was for being an art smuggler. There's also Ivo Rittig, a light-fingered grocery-store manager who spent 4.5 years in lockup, but his criminal record was expunged under an amnesty. At Barrandov, Železný will need some hot new shows to reach his goal of a quick 10% market share, and his golden opportunity could be staring him in the face. What about a reality show modeled on Ice-T's "Life after Prison"? Železný himself could be the pilot. And if it's as big as his "Call the Director" show was, he could start lining up future ex-cons now. Think of the ratings for episodes about how Antonín Koláček, Roman Janoušek, Jana Nagyová or Bohuslav Sobotka are being integrated back into society. [Czech Republic TV Nova hit ČSSD]
Glossary of difficult words
to spend time - to serve a prison sentence;
light-fingered - prone to steal;
lockup - a jail or prison;
to expunge - to erase or remove completely;
something that is staring someone in the face - a solution to a problem that is readily available or obvious;
ex-con - an ex-convict; a former inmate of a prison.