a game show host with a microphone Bad idea theater: In Fox's next reality offering, real people will apparently lose their real jobs. iStockphoto.com
 

by Linda Holmes

There's word today that Fox has picked up Someone's Gotta Go, a reality show in which real employees at a real business choose a real co-worker to lay off, who will really lose his or her real job and be really, truly out of work.

...You've got to be kidding me.

Whether Fox reality chief Mike Darnell -- who, yes, is behind American Idol, but who was also the king of the garbage-reality wave that is now entirely out of style for the networks, which brought you Joe Millionaire and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé -- realizes it or not, people don't watch reality shows to see actually terrible things happen.

The precise appeal of shows like Survivor is that you don't have to feel bad for a guy who's a big jerk just because he doesn't win a million dollars. That's what makes the comeuppance fun. If he were losing his life savings, that would be...sad. See how it works?

I cannot conceive of people wanting to sit down and watch, week after week, as employees struggle with the grim task of selecting an office pariah to put out of work. In fact, it's difficult to imagine anything more unpleasant.

That's not to even mention the question of whether this is even remotely legal. If it's clear that your co-workers disliked you because of your religion, that's going to be a problem. Can your employer turn hiring and firing decisions over to Fox? Who will be liable if the firing turns out to be illegal?

"The tribe has spoken" is supposed to be a faux-serious jibe at self-serious contestants, not a sentence meaning that you will now lose your house.

categories: Television

12:52 - April 8, 2009

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