A Dose of True Reality

Let me start by saying I hate most reality shows. Give me actors and scripts and a plot any day. I don't want to watch people dividing into groups and plotting against each other to win a case of bananas, nor do I want to see twenty women dating one man at the same time, or people doing humiliating things to win the approval of a celebrity. Some shows may be entertaining but once the concept took off, you gotta admit they went too far. Now it is reality show after reality show on television.

I would like to see a follow up to the "Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition" show. You know the one where they take the rundown average home of the modest income family and bulldoze it to replace it with a mansion with a refrigerator the size of a walk in closet and a big screen TV in every room. After that first year when everything is paid for I want to see what the family does when faced with their first $800 electric bill. Does the family huddle in three rooms to save energy or do they start charging the neighborhood kids admission to use the go-cart track in the backyard?

There is another series of shows where they dress fat people in spandex and sports bras and yell at them. I watched one the other day. While oddly fascinating I could only handle about ten minutes of it. It's a very strange concept.

It was while pondering this show that I came up with an idea for a new show that may be helpful to us as a nation. They had a show where they picked people who may not have been able to afford cosmetic surgery and gave them nose jobs and new breasts and fixed their teeth. Let's get away from the vanity and just allow some people basic health care.

The show opens and you see a day in the life of a waitress, a taxi driver, a part-time bank teller, a temporary factory worker, and a cashier. You see the job they do and then catch a glimpse of their paycheck. They talk about their life at work and their aches and pains and what it is like to live their life, and then the interviewer surprises them with a trip to the hospital and complete health care. They get problems corrected, and learn what pains they have been ignoring out of necessity are symptoms of. Treatment is given to those on the show and America gets a glimpse of their neighbors lives and possibly gains a better understanding of how others get by.

We need a better understanding of the health care situation. We need more compassion, and perhaps a dose of reality.