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Oprah's Big Give

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marigold:

Premiere Ratings For Episode 1:
The Oprah Winfrey-produced reality competition series' premiere averaged 15.6 million total viewers and a 5.3/12 rating/share in the Adults 18-49 demographics

Ratings for Episode 2:
After having TV’s third-biggest debut this season, Oprah’s Big Give lost about 25 percent of its viewers in one week, although it was still the top-rated show in its timeslot.
The second episode, which aired last Sunday, was watched by 11.8 million viewers, compared to 15.6 million last week.

apskip:
This challenge began with 8 individuals having 5 seconds to choose up into 2 teams. Eric, Stephen, Cameron and Brandi, all of whom had worked together before, picked each other and the other 4 (Sheg, Carlana, Rachael, Kim) were forced to be a team. It was obvious from the start which one was a real team and which one wasn't.

The latter team got to choose a box and they choose "Field of Dreams", which was revealed as helping Simms Elementary School of primarily economically disavantaged kids in Houston that suffers frequent break-ins to get payground equipment, the dream of one of its experienced teachers. The celebrity associated with this was Andrea Agassi. The other box was "Forgotten Christmas" to celebrate Christmas with similarly disadvantaged kids at Velasco Elementary School in Houston. The celebrity associated with this was skateboard champion Tony Hawk. Tere are 640 students there and the goal was for each one to receive a Christmas present and meet Santa Claus.

The teams functioned quite differently. "Forgotten Christmas" was like a well-oiled machine with excellent communications and shared decision-making. "Field of Dreams " was disjointed, with some people seizing the decision-making and others complaining about it but failing to do anything else. Rachael got into disputes with all her teammates for being a lone ranger. Carlana pretty much withdrew and constantly made references to staying out of the way.

Big events were planned for the Westide Tennis Club and Andre Agassi also had the owner of that club raising extra gifts associated with the playground. George Bush Sr. and Carlos Rogers, ex-player for the Houston Rockets visited and made donations to "Field of Dreams". I got the sense that the "Forgotten Dreams" team were intimately invovled in the planning and execution of their event, with some input from Tony Hawk. With "Field of Dreams" the main planning and execution was taken over by Andre Agassi(he "called a few people" who either donated big or came to the event and bid multiple tens of thousands) and the team of 4 was mostly standing around watching it happen or doing trivial things. When the dust settled, Tony Hawk did well but his fund-rsaising potential was limited by the type of crowd that watches competitive skateboarding. The high rollers turned out to see Andre Agassi and his wife Steffi Graf. Andre auctioned off a Las Vegas vacation with a personal tennis lesson with him and Steffi thrown in. Two bidders each paid $70,000 for that privilege due to some slick maneuvering by Andre. The Field of Dreams teams indicating that they raised $210K at their event and a total of over $510K in gifts or cash. "Forgotten Dreams" raised only $180K.

The reveals to the kids were both well-managed, although there was plenty of tension among the "Field of Dreams" team again due to poor communications. The judges stayed way in the background of the events, but their main focus was on how well the childrens' hopes and dreams in both cases were met and whether there was good teamwork. Both reveals were successful in meeting the childrens' hopes and dreams and in going way beyond that and even meeting some extra hopes and dreams that teachers and school adminsitration had(copies, PCs, a 50 inch TV, etc.). Teamwork was rated very good for the "Forgotten Dreams" team, but poor for the "Field of Dreams" team.

When it came time to decide who was at risk it was clear that, despite their big dollars raised, "Field of Dreams" members were vulnerable. Neither Kim nor Sheg had been responsible for the major problems so it was going to be Carlana or Rachael. I personally think they made the wrong decision, but the judges gave Carlana the boot for not trying hard enough to make communications work with Rachael. I thought Rachael deserved it more for her operating outside the framework of the team and communicating poorly.

Next week the individuals will be challenged with giving away $100,000 each in 24 hours in Miami. the money apparently has been donated by two billionaires. I will be happy to provide them with my address if they want to turn me into a help-others-with-big-gifts machine(haven't you wanted to be the recipient of the largesse of the original Millionaire show, with teh Twist that you must give it all to needy causes?).

You just know that Oprah is waiting in the background, orchestrating a lot of the things that happen on the show. Doors open when her name is invoked. Tests of the teams or individuals are sometimes not set up to be roughly equivalent but are very uneven. This is not a REALITY show, as it has an air of total unreality to it. Oprah is getting some hard work out of the contestants to raise money for good causes. They should have stopped there. Sending somebody home each week(a van Munster/Doganieri trademark from the Amazing Race) saves a small amount of production costs, but the overhead on this show appears to be so huge that the increase in costs to keeping on all contestants would be a small extra burden. The "drama" at the end of the show is so fake in opening the envleopes until you get to the last two that it is a totally pointless exercise. I know it's too late to change BigGive I, Oprah, but if you are thinking about a BigGive 2 then please get it right next time.

marigold:

--- Quote from: apskip on March 16, 2008, 09:49:27 PM ---
You just know that Oprah is waiting in the background, orchestrating a lot of the things that happen on the show. Doors open when her name is invoked. Tests of the teams or individuals are sometimes not set up to be roughly equivalent but are very uneven. This is not a REALITY show, as it has an air of total unreality to it. Oprah is getting some hard work out of the contestants to raise money for good causes. They should have stopped there. Sending somebody home each week(a van Munster/Doganieri trademark from the Amazing Race) saves a small amount of production costs, but the overhead on this show appears to be so huge that the increase in costs to keeping on all contestants would be a small extra burden. The "drama" at the end of the show is so fake in opening the envleopes until you get to the last two that it is a totally pointless exercise. I know it's too late to change BigGive I, Oprah, but if you are thinking about a BigGive 2 then please get it right next time.


--- End quote ---

Your right apskip it's not a reality show I'm trying to get a feel of this show by comparing it to others.

To me it's missing something that makes you say wow I can't wait until next week.

But you have summed it all up. I guess it needs alot of things to make it a winner next time around.

Mind you I really like the fact they it helps families in need and children in the community that is always is a great thing.

I'll be the first to admit if I hear children and donate, I need not hear more. I'm already signing a cheque.

marigold:

I've been reading more articles scrutinizing Oprah's Big Give show 
There is some negative feedback regarding her show
One in particular mentioned that she has made a "game show" out of real life tragedy, that caught my attention
There is one other thing I dislike and haven't mentioned yet
but I'm not in favor with how Oprah narrates throughout the show
Anyways I only came here to see is a brief summary was posted for tomorrows show hmmm nothing yet :lol:

apskip:
ca bb fan, the following paragraph was sort of buried in my recap of last week's show. It minimally covers tomorrow night's show.

Next week the individuals will be challenged with giving away $100,000 each in 24 hours in Miami. The money apparently has been donated by two billionaires. I will be happy to provide them with my address if they want to turn me into a help-others-with-big-gifts machine(haven't you wanted to be the recipient of the largesse of the original Millionaire show, with the Twist that you must give it all to needy causes?).

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