Dateline NBC: "Predator vs. Swamp Thing"

The appeal of Dateline NBC's investigative series, "To Catch a Predator," is aggressively base: First, lure the lowest of the low -- would-be sexual predators -- out to a house where they expect to find a willing, underage partner, then spring a lecturing TV anchorclone on them, then show them being manhandled by cops as they're hauled away. Hooray! More satisfying than a public stoning! Still, NBC's preposterous claim that the show is motivated purely out of a pious concern for the public good never seemed sillier than on Wednesday night, when they decided to dress a cop up as the Swamp Thing. There's no reason why a police officer needed to be in full Ent attire to catch these guys (whose faces, afterall, had just been recorded by network cameras). It's pure Hollywood. But next time, how about making these would-be predators square off against someone more inspiring -- like Batman!