Sarah

so for you to like this kind of TV there should be no paid presenters, no one getting paid to give a commentary, no paid cameramen and the camera should just be left in a room of poor people so we can all have a look? Great idea.

scrubbedexpat099

Sound like PBS.

scrubbedexpat097

Thats not actually what I said. I just think, and this is just my opinion, that portraying the needs of the poverty line in any country would be more beleivable and less demeaning if it was shown how an actual family survived.

Maybe I am just a cynical old lady and can only see the unnecessary hype that goes along with this type of programming. People remember the man more than the problem.

People who are poverty stricken, that are struggling and see no end to their dilema are often also very proud. How do you think you might feel watching someone "play acting" at what you have to suffer day in day out knowing that at the end of the month they are going back to their real world and their "paltry" million dollar pay checks?

As I said I may just be older and more cynical than you. There is probably no wrong or right here, but this is just the way I feel.

scrubbedexpat099

Is this not a self defeating argument?

Ok, lets say FOX want to commission a TV series on poor people. So the logic can only be that they provide their services for free, otherwise they will no longer be living on the minimum wage. Also if they have sufficient nous to line themselves up a TV contract you wonder how atypical they would be.

I only got to watch the whole programme last night, they actually were not doing that badly, except for the Medical bills. They missed mentioning a few benefits a Family would receive, Food Stamps, maybe Housing support, varies I believe by State.

It struck me as more of an indictment of the US Medical system than anything else.

And no, I do now want to try it.

Bob

Haven't read it yet, i've been trying to get someone to get it for me
Though someone said that it was really worth a read at the library..

Sarah

The thing is, no-one else is really concentrating on the fact that its Morgan Spurlock. In this thread, everyone was talking about the topics and the issues he was raising, not him. If he was mentioned it was to commend him for at least making an effort to highlight these issues, which I think isn't really that common on US television. I just thought you were being unecessarily negative. As for his paycheck, its not like the guy is some Paris Hilton type, playing at being normal, he's stepping out of his regular joe shoes and into someone elses. He is a white, somewhat educated guy who did well from an idea for an documentary and from that, instead of using that spotlight he can now command to push himself into a big movie, a chat show or pop career he is actually making some worthwhile and intelligent TV. Somethign I think should be encouraged before the whole of American TV is swallowed up with "become a cooking/acting/stripping/dieting/singing/dancing/kept man/survivor superstar in only two weeks when we put you into this house and humiliate you!" - style television. I think Morgan Spurlocks series is a much needed anti-dote to all that garbage we are being constatly fed.

AmerLisa

Too true!!!