Reality TV

I admit it. I’ve been extra fascinated with this season’s, “The
Biggest Loser: Couples.” Not only is it good reality-based
entertainment, it’s the fact that an ex-Back40 staff member is a
contestant. Neill Harmer and his lovely wife, Amanda, competed against
nine other couples to lose the most weight and win $250,000. Neill and
his wife were voted off the show after its third episode but are still
in the running for a $100,000 prize. Good luck to Neill and Amanda!

We
all can’t be on reality shows, but with a little make-up and an
ever-present camera crew, I think parts of our lives could be
entertaining for American viewers, especially in light of the recent
writer’s strike. Who knows? Here’s what we came up with:

American Idle

(Or
we could call it Edmond Lane Swap or Survivor: Waterloo) This slow
moving action reality show would chronicle the Edmond rush-hour
traffic. I think this would attract a wide demographic and could prove
extremely entertaining. I would open the season premiere with the
highly emotional 15th and Coltrane 4-way stop. Contestants would try to
figure out how to cross the intersection without making contact with
each other’s vehicles. Contestants would lose points for gestures,
audible outbursts and less than gradual acceleration or deceleration. In
our premiere episode a Chimney Hill mother learns that the person with
the most expensive car does not necessarily have the right of way.

Design Intervention

The
network suits would argue that this reality show concept is too
“niche,” but since bad design affects so many lives in so many ways, I
think Design Intervention would play to a wider audience. We’d secretly
document an Oklahoma City business owner who has really bad marketing
materials. Twenty four hours later, we’d arrange a meeting at our
office and, with the help of professional designers, we’d explain in a
loving, caring way that its okay to say no to clip art and that it’s
okay to ask for help. We’d go around the room and explain how much
their business means to us and then we’d group hug. Season finale
would include increased public awareness of business owner’s brand and
the business owner’s personal awareness that he wasn’t bad; it was just
his marketing materials.

So You Think You Can Design a Website

There
are no skimpy outfits or fancy dance moves here. This show follows the
everyday perils of three contestants and their websites. The first
contestant is a small business owner who decides he can save money by
building his own website. He tells himself, “If I build it, they will
come.” But without a marketing plan they don’t. The next contestant is
a marketing director of a medium-sized company. She used her in-house
tech guy to produce the website, and while the website works – the text
blinks, logos spin and little annoying trails follow the mouse. It
obviously lacks the polish of a professional grade website. The last
contestant is an entrepreneur. He chooses to have his nephew build his
website. He saved money in the short run, but now his nephew is
obsessed with playing Halo and is “not really into the website thing”
anymore. The competition heats up when all three are asked to update
their websites with a new web page and an image. The contestants
completely freak and network bleeping ensues. After a commercial
break, I’d meet with all three contestants, and using my best British
accent for effect, I’d explain that if Back40 designed their websites
they could edit their own websites through our easy-to-use content
management system. Then I’d sign them all up for a design intervention.

We’ve
had a lot of people ask for an update on Teddy Burch, our managing
editor who underwent aggressive treatments to fight cancer. Teddy is
well, his hair is coming back and he is cancer free. Praise God!

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