h a l f b a k e r yThere goes my teleportation concept.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
This idea is for a reality TV show that follows previously successful people as they try to escape homelessness. The trick is to simulate an appropriate level of homelessness before beginning the game.
Remove the contestants from their normal surroundings and place them in an unfamiliar city. Confiscate
their possessions, and give them clothes from real homeless people. Keep them busy for a few weeks while their physical appearance deteriorates. Then drop them off around the city and track them with hidden cameras.
The winner is the person who has best escaped homelessness, whatever that means (accumulating money or assets, landing a job, finding a place to stay, gaining the trust of regular people).
Some rules will be needed to maximise the reality levels:
No contact with family, friends, or prior acquaintances.
No access to bank accounts, gyms, clubs, or any other institutions where the contestant is a member.
No telling anyone you're a contestant (although many people would dismiss such a claim).
Prior art - [sirrobin's comment]
Urban_20Survivor
This is the closest idea I could find to mine while searching for prior art. [FishFinger, Oct 16 2008]
Tips for new paupers
http://exiledonline...ps-for-new-paupers/
What I was reading when I thought of this idea. [FishFinger, Oct 16 2008]
//'ve had this reality TV rant before//
Paris_20hilton_20reality_20show
Yes. Yes you have. [theleopard, Oct 17 2008]
//a shameful testament to the worthlessness of our culture//
Automatic_20Celebrity_20Recogniser
[theleopard, Oct 17 2008]
Cleaning the Homeless
Cleaning_20the_20homeless
Maybe the reality TV show would pay for this? [James Newton, Oct 17 2008]
[link]
|
| |
How about a reality T.V. show about a small guerrilla unit that infiltrates other reality T.V. shows, engaging every cast, crew member and other person responsible for propagating such crap with well aimed lethal fire sending each to the inner most circles of the eternal lake of burning sulfur, where they belong. |
|
| |
... Of course, that's just my idea. |
|
| |
// that's just my idea // |
|
| |
It has a great deal more merit than many ...... |
|
| |
[MikeD], my understanding is that if your guerilla unit targeted only producers, the whole business would grind to a halt. |
|
| |
Then again, perhaps nobody would notice. |
|
| |
Agreed, [zen], although it would, in principle, be possible to make a non-distorted 'reality' programme about an individual's experience of participting in a 'reality' programme such as Big Brother, because all the camera crews and interference is there anyway and an integral part of the scenario. That wouldn't stop it being crap and unwatchable though. |
|
| |
I think it is very telling that this idea is being voted against. No one wants the truth about painful reality. |
|
| |
Take a moment to read that article "Tips for new paupers"... it's good insurance for what could easily be your future. |
|
| |
I especially liked the part about how showers and the smell were a problem. I've linked to my "Cleaning the Homeless idea". Maybe the reality TV people would give the homeless people showers after so many months on the show? |
|
| |
//People who live on the streets aren't successful people who've chosen to enter a jolly competition// |
|
| |
You hit the nail on the head [zen]. Setting aside for a moment the fact that everybody involved in reality television should be made to sit in the naughty corner, there's no 'reality' in the idea. To make a truly accurate program about the homeless you'd have to prep your prospective contestants with crippling drug addictions, severe untreated mental disorders and years of physical and mental abuse, otherwise you've just got a bunch of sane folk who smell a bit. |
|
| |
//TV suffers from the same problem as quantum mechanics - to observe is to participate//
Another squarely-hit nail. |
|
| |
//to observe is to participate. That's why it always tends to be shit.// |
|
| |
Well, [Zen_Tom], what do you say? With [8th of 7] we're only one short of a fire team. |
|
| |
Aren't there enough security cameras in London that you wouldn't need a camera crew? |
|
| |
Thank you, [zen_tom], for your impassioned and convoluted response. Don't worry, I know your rant isn't personal - I myself keep my old TV only to prevent the other person in my house from demanding a new one. |
|
| |
First, some clarification. Footage for the show would be obtained from hidden cameras, to ensure genuine responses to the homeless contestants. |
|
| |
I agree that reality TV can be irksome, and that a documentary would be a better way to portray the plight of homeless/poor people. But you can't deny that reality TV has been outrageously successful. It seems to be a format that appeals to many people. So hopefully a reality show about homelessness would reach more viewers than a documentary. (Also, making a documentary about homeless people wouldn't really qualify as a halfbakery idea). |
|
| |
So, on to the idea itself. [zen_tom], you said "Would I care to watch hour upon hour of footage of people being cold on the streets, when I can walk outside, and see cold people on the streets for real?" - and that's exactly the point. You might walk outside and see cold people, but most people would prefer not to see them. Most people would prefer to assume that they don't exist, or that they are homeless by choice, or that they aren't trying and therefore deserve to be homeless. |
|
| |
The reasons you give - addiction, mental illness, abuse - are certainly terrible things, and they will surely cause and perpetuate homelessness. But I think that once someone is down, society itself will tend to keep them down, and its this effect that I was hoping to tease out with this idea. If it could be shown that even normal, successful people might struggle to escape homelessness or poverty, then people would have one less excuse for seeing homeless people as less than themselves. |
|
| |
But who knows, perhaps it's actually really easy to stop being homeless or poor, and all the cold people on the streets are just being silly. |
|
| |