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First let's take the new CBS show, "Moonlight," which airs on Friday nights at 9:00p. The series is about Mick St. John, a vampire who is on the side of the good, living as a private investigator and watching over those who are mortal--unlike him--and one special person: Beth Turner, a "tabloid"-type journalist who when younger, her life saved by St. John.

Who cares, right? True. But in the series' pilot episode, we see Turner speaking with, we believe, the lead investigator at the scene of a fresh crime where, of course, the victim has been apparently bitten by a vampire because of the two "bite" marks on her neck.

Turner sneaks under the yellow police line, pulls out her phone to take some shots of the vic (as CSI--another CBS show--fans, like ourself, call victims for short), and if not for having downloaded this episode on iTunes, since we watched the second episode on TV, got hooked, and looked for the pilot episode in the iTunes store and found it free...

...we never would have been able to pause the screen, viewing it on our recently purchased iPod touch (for review), and rewind to the exact spot Turner pulled out her phone. It was definitely an? iPhone.

Turner goes on to use the iPhone later in the show to snap some more shots for evidence, leading her own investigation outside of the police investigation, in order to do her story.

Second is the show "Journeyman" on NBC--though produced by Fox, and why it's available on iTunes (where we've viewed all episodes so far via iPod touch)--which airs on Monday nights at 10:00p. This sci-fi/drama series is about a newspaper reporter based in San Francisco who finds himself one day, able to travel back in time, but can't explain why or how.

He almost loses his marriage, but doesn't lose his iPhone when traveling through time.

In present day, the iPhone helps him do research on his stories when he's not at the office PC, or at home using his PowerBook or MacBook Pro (you decide based on your favorite... there was no way we could zoom in on it) on the kitchen counter. The best use of the device is?

He's able to tell when he's not in his own time period because the handy tool in his pocket is not some fancy time machine, but rather... his iPhone. If it works, he knows he's in present day 2007 since it didn't exist before then. If he's in say, 1989 like in last week's episode, he can confirm he's traveled, not by looking at his surroundings and how it's different, but by?

Pulling out his iPhone and checking its screen (which says, "no network connection").

Lastly is the show "Back to You," Wednesday nights at 8:00p on Fox, our favorite of the three because it's journalism at its best (not really, sarcasm) due to its setting. A television station and newsroom. The best part of it is the humorous situations and the chemistry between two veteran actors, Kelsey Grammer and actress Patricia Heaton.

But the best part are the Apple machines on-set, "behind the scenes," used to edit video footage and create graphics--almost standard in today's state-of-the-art broadcast facilities--along with Apple Cinema Displays to boot. We haven't seen an iPhone yet, but our lead anchor (anchorwoman?), the character by Patricia Heaton uses what to work on her stories?

A PowerBook, or again, MacBook Pro (your choice again, until we can get a close up shot).

So what does this all mean? Surely not all journalists use Macs (and not every Mac user wants to be a journalist). Does this mean, according to Hollywood, that everyone uses Macs? Maybe, maybe not. (Of course not). But what it does mean, based on our analysis of "life imitates art" or "art imitates life" is that?

If Hollywood is attempting to reflect real life as we know it, then they're trying hard to paint a false sense of reality (which sometimes movies and television can do) by using Apple products as the "real" stars of the show.

If anyone needs proof that the Mac marketshare is growing ever so slowly, and that not everyone uses PCs these days and are making their move to the Mac (whether it be through the iPod, or the iPhone, leading to a purchase of the Mac itself, such as a Mac notebook computer), you need not look further than to your TVs or the big screen. (Or your iPod's tiny screen).

When life imitates art, that's not hard to guess where that process leads to. But when Hollywood imitates life and chooses a certain product to use on their show--in this case, our main characters (journalists) using them as tools of the trade--it can only mean one thing...

...Apple is indeed, the new star (the "real" star) of the show.

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