compensation claims line
Leave it up to Ashton Kutcher to be part of the production team behind a game show that intrudes on people's well-being while still, admittedly, being quite creative. The game show format probably needed a shot in the arm after decades of studio bells and whistles (or reality game shows that borrow from one another), and now it'll get one when this new nomad game show called "Opportunity Knocks" debuts in prime-time next fall on ABC. The main selling point is that this show will hit the road, go into neighborhoods across America and pick a random house to, supposedly in a benign way, quiz them so they can win, yes, cash and prizes!
Well, now you'll need to make sure to check the wheat from the chaff when you hear the doorbell ring and make sure it isn't a political pitch, a member of a church or an Amway/aluminum siding salesman. When you do manage to get cornered by the team of "Opportunity Knocks", they're apparently going to ask you personal trivia questions that will be confirmed true by your spouse or whoever you're living with in your house just invaded by Ashton Kutcher, Inc. One gets the feeling the questions asked will get a little saucier than the reported questions of "Who loaded the dishwasher today?" and other simple questions that the rest of America could care less about.
I think the point will eventually be to get into the minds of America and see how the average household is operating nowadays. You know darn good and well that topics on sex will get in there eventually, though the more family-friendly questions are being pitched right now to not turn off an increasingly conservative TV viewing audience. Using the keywords "Home Makeover" without the makeover is also being used to get people to watch and see how random Americans just won't be let alone any longer.
Yes, there is one problem that "Opportunity Knocks" will have to deal with: People who may start being afraid of who in the heck is going to be outside their door to bother them on national television. I also sense that because a lot of people are starting to huddle into their entertainment-rich domains to get away from the dangers of society, the crew will have to stand outside a lot of doors ringing doorbells with no response. I know a lot of people who, once they go inside their home, never answer their door when the doorbell rings.
It's enough to put a...nomadic game show out of business.
What "Opportunity Knocks" might reveal about the state of the American household...
"Home Makeover" (and ubiquitous hawker of Excedrin, Ty Pennington) has obviously helped a lot of people in America who are down on their luck. And that's more widespread than the producers of "Makeover" probably even imagined, particularly in the last year. With "Opportunity Knocks", however, we have a situation where ridicule is more the name of the game in order to win money. We'll probably discover a lot of families who aren't really in the mood to be cornered and have to answer ridiculous questions on national TV. Nevertheless, the ones who are game enough to play will likely reveal a lot more of the realities of what's going in "Middle America" as the press release described the locales.
While "Home Makeover" shows us the troubling burdens of American families and how the show makes it better, it's probably good to show American homes without describing explicitly any financial burdens or other hidden problems going on behind closed doors. Those trivia questions, though, should provide some interesting clues into the American psyche, particularly because it shows how much people know their own families. It'll all depend on how astute you are, but you can read a lot into how a family is doing psychologically when quizzed on mundane subjects. During the rare times you get to see this elsewhere, it's quite revealing and fascinating.
I hope the show goes into every possible neighborhood in America--even the middle class and poor so we can get a good cross-section of how the American family is really doing during a time of economic struggle. The only concern is if they do what some of those other home makeover shows do and go to slightly better neighborhoods just to make it look better for TV. If "Opportunity Knocks" doesn't diversify, then it's just a biased show toward a particular type of neighborhood--only to make TV pretty.
If they do it right, we could get one of the best opportunities to see a broad reality of America rather than continuously relying on polls our government feeds us saying everything is hunky-dory across the board.
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And then there's the thought that personal privacy has gone to such profound levels in our homes that someone will be caught on camera running away from the crew when approached by them as the person or family gets out of their car in the driveway.
If this thing turns into a smash hit, then households not wanting to be bothered in their domain may have to put up a sign by their front doors saying "No solicitors...or crew from "Opportunity Knocks"...
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