Who survives? Viewers decide
Roger Boyes in Berlin
No reality television programme has played for such high stakes: three nervous candidates will be competing in front of a prime-time audience this week for a life-saving kidney operation, as the Big Brother format gives way to The Big Donor Show.
The macabre contest will be broadcast in the Netherlands on Friday. It is produced by Endemol, the maker of Big Brother, which is about to begin an eighth series in Britain. But while the worst that can happen in Big Brother is public humiliation, the Big Donor rivals are battling for their lives.
Lisa, 37, a terminally ill cancer patient, has agreed to donate a healthy kidney. She was unhappy about anonymous donation and wanted to establish a connection to a deserving person with kidney disease: that way her family could feel that her death had helped to keep someone else alive. But how, said Lisa, could she choose one life over another? How could she make the process less random?
The choice has been left to the television audience. A short film will be shown about each candidate depicting his or her life, family and friends. The candidates will be interviewed and spell out their dreams for a fulfilled and successful life. In the manner of Big Brother or the Eurovision Song Contest, viewers will register their choice by text message.
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The identity of the contestants has been kept secret to prevent any lobbying; all that is known is that they are Dutch and aged between 18 and 40.
Politicians across the party spectrum are enraged and flabbergasted. The issue is to be discussed this week in parliamentary question time, with pressure mounting on BNN, the private broadcaster, to drop the show. Joop Atsma, spokesman on media affairs for the conservative CDA party, said that he wanted the whole thing dropped. “BNN won’t solve the question of organ donations with this show.”
The broadcaster, whose target audience is young people, has a reputation for being provocative. Its track record includes showing an anchorman taking the drug LSD, a supposedly educational programme on sex, entitled This is How You Screw and a weight-loss competition Help! My Dog’s as Fat as Me. There is more than a sliver of suspicion that it is exploiting illness for ratings.
The network, however, says that it merely wants to highlight the long waiting lists for donor organs. One of its leading entertainers died five years ago after failing to get a new kidney.
“The contestants in the show have a 33 per cent chance,” said Laurens Drillich, BNN chairman. “That’s a much larger chance than if they were on the organ waiting list.” Although some politicians are calling the show unethical, the main argument is that it violates good taste and is pushing the boundaries of acceptability.
Endemol, which also produces less provocative shows such as Show Me the Money, has often been the butt of criticism for its gladiatorial television formats. Much will depend on the production values, say the local TV critics: will the cameras, for example, linger on the faces of the candidates who lose?
“We are happy that the problems we have in finding donors is receiving publicity thanks to Endemol,” says Paul Beerkens, director of the Dutch Organ Donor Association. “But the way it is being accomplished is certainly not the way we would have liked.”
That's terrible. I can only assume this kind of shit is made, but also actually watched by people, because people who can't afford real television have no alternative.
I mean, what other reason is there not to watch something else?
__________________ "If I were you"
"If you were me, you'd know the safest place to hide...is in sanity!
Nobody here is limited to public television, not since a few months at least. And it is causing a huge controversy I'd imagine that alone would enough reason to watch for a lot of people.
Gender: Unspecified Location: With Cinderella and the 9 Dwarves
Though I can see why you guys find in sick, it should also be noted that one of the candidates will have their life saved, which they might not have had before. Now, there's little information as to how they acquired the organ, and of course someone else could have gotten it if they hadn't, but I suppose it is a chance for less rich people to acquire a transplant without having to pay huge amounts or having little chance on the organ transplant list.
Organ transplants are free here, organ donations aren't compulsory however. The woman in question didn't want to donate a kidney anonymously, she wanted to know who's life she would save. She however didn't want to be forced to make a choice as to who would live and who would die. A TV maker heard about the story in some way or another and decided to make this program about her choice, and give the audience a voice....
So this TV juts gave 3 people a 33% chance of winning a kidney when before they had a chance of one in a thousand or so. That's the entire idea behind the show as well, create as much controversy as possible and make people think about becoming donors again.
Well, I'm not really addressing "public" television. I'm just talking about better channels, like HBO or the History channel.
Here in the US, all those basic cable channels...like NBC, FOX, CBS, etc. are all reality TV crap with commercials every 5 minutes.
seriously, what the hell is up with TV shows that have 5 minutes of program and then 3 minutes of commercials, and repeat, and repeat? Comedy Central is the worst for this.
__________________ "If I were you"
"If you were me, you'd know the safest place to hide...is in sanity!
Well they are crappy, but they aren't allowed to have more then 3 commercial breaks an hour and no more then 12 minutes an hour... So we can't have that.
That didn't work. We have a huge donor shortage here.
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
Actually... I once heard of something similar. I think it was about a 12 year old boy who wants to lose his virginity. So they set up 3 gorgeous porn stars to compete for who gets to sleep with the boy.
The show was never launch since it clearly would involve legal troubles and triggers child laws. But I betcha that if it had gotten a green light...the show would have jump on ratings.
Update for all those that wanted to know, turns out that the show was just a big hoax... The woman giving away her kidney was an actress, the kidney people were real but they knew they couldn't get it. It was just a show put on to try and convince more people to actually go out and donate their organs after their demise.
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May 29th, 2007 05:44 PM
