Back in April, ABC raised hackles with a stunningly ill-conceived promo for a 20/20 episode about open adoption. “Barbara [Walters] will bring you what might be called the ultimate reality show,” co-anchor John Stossel proclaimed as he plugged the upcoming show. “As you watch, a pregnant teenager will decide which of five couples gets her baby." Disgusted by the prospect of adoption's very personal and emotional nature being perverted into some loathsome sort of grand prize, viewers showered the network with complaints and ABC quickly backed down.
Just to prove that no good deed goes unpunished, the usual suspect has picked up where ABC left off. And then some. For on January 3, 2005, Fox, the network behind such highlights of cultural programming as The Swan and The Littlest Groom, pollutes the airwaves with the first episode of a new reality series about adoption.
The premise is, to put it mildly, repulsive. A young woman who was adopted at birth faces eight men, one of whom is her actual biological father while each of the other seven tries to deceive her into thinking he's the real deal. She has to decide which one is genuine. If she picks correctly she gets $100,000; if not, the misidentified fake gets the cash.
This exercise in degradation is called, of course, Who's Your Daddy?
Even for a network unafraid to get down into the slime of shameless human exploitation, this is a new and very offensive low. The decision by an adoptee to find one's biological parents is fraught with questions about identity and who one really is. Taking that most personal of quests and turning it into a game show laced with deception and greed is truly repugnant. The fact that Fox actually found people stupid and desperate enough to prostitute themselves in this manner says volumes about the sorry state of American television and the lengths to which people will go to get their fifteen minutes of fame.
"I can understand the reservations," executive producer Kevin Healey said in an interview, "but the people came to it with great excitement and a willingness to play the game. It's a fun and healthy way to get to know this person that they've never met."
Fun and healthy? Where's the fun in seeing someone's hope to learn who she is and where she came from dashed to the merry laughter of millions? Perhaps someone out there will see the show, think back on their own adoption, and see it not as an expression of love and family but rather as a way to make a quick buck. Doesn't sound healthy to me.
"The daughters feel bad when they pick wrong," co-executive producer Scott Hallock added, "because they're like, 'I let my dad down.'"
Yeah, we're all crying with you. If you're dumb enough to think the path to self-discovery involves humiliation on a national (international, really, once you count global syndication) scale and comes with a cash prize, you deserve what you get. This hearkens back to the sort of entertainment seen in the Roman Coliseum, where condemned criminals and slaves were forced to hack each other to death for the amusement of the emperor. What fun!
Fox has once again hit bottom with this despicable excuse for entertainment. Until the next time, that is.
An editable form letter with contact list is online at http://simpleasthat.com/actionletter/index.php.
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