Other Great Reality Shows > Other Reality TV Shows & News
Oprah's Big Give
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I watched this show from a hospital bed, so my notes were not of the usual quality. Let's see if I can come up with a coherent end product in spite of that. Danica Patrick meets the contestants soon after their touchdown in Atlanta and she is talking about leading them on a race around "Georgia." Well, I know a few things about Georgia geography and she gets a grade of MH for massive hyperbole. Decatur is a city adjacent to Atlanta(my kids used to live there and I've visited there), Marietta is just off the NW ring, Conyers is to the SE, Smyrna is off the NW ring, and Newnan is 40 miles to the SW. That sounds pretty Atlanta metro to me(GeorgiaPeach can verify this; she lives somewhere in that part of the world).
On to the actual action! This week the contestants are supposed to Give Big with "random acts of kindness" to as many different people that they can reach in these small towns.
Cameron - goes to Decatur and finds a man who was moving his entire househoold to North carolina without help. Cameron helps pack and load the moving van.
Brandi - gets involved with homeless shelter under construction; she had a scene wheere she went to a construction site in spike heels and started digging, shaming a local attorney to join her and then match her $1000 contribution to the shelter. It is clear that she knew exactly what she was doing in less-than functionally appropriate clothing; the real target wasn't the dirt.
Sheg went to Smyrna. He met a Down's syndrone adult in a hospital and wanted to help her mother. The Down's syndorone person died, so he attempted to help with funeral costs by laving $2500 with the mother.
Rachael was in Marietta. She did not seem to accomplish much in the first half.
Stephen went to Newnan. He bought balls and bats for local little league teams.
There was supposed to be a twist, but I couldn't locate one. I think someone in Oprah's publicity office is fooling themselves, including maybe Oprah herself.
Brandi's contribution to the second hald was at Henry's Grocery Store Ministry. She is unable to raise donations, so she gives them $1000 in food she bought to keep it going and another $1000 cash for the intermediate term.
Cameron - meets tollbooth worker BigMama, who is a needy person (he gives her $1000) and has 3 daughters(he gives each $300). However, his neatest gift is the remiaining $69 to another tollboth worker asking him to pay the tolls of people driving through, briefly explaing Big Give principles and asking them to "pay it forward."
Rachael - she goes to a senior center, leads a dance class, participates in quilting and bean-bag toss and buys a small quilt to $1000(clearly a donation for a $50 value quilt).
Stephen - scooped elephant poop at the Zoo. Then he went to Atlanta Union Mission to make a $1000 donation and washed dishes. He listened carefully to the stories of a feloow dishwasher and learned that lsitening can have great value.
Sheg connects(sort of) with the parents of 28 adopted children), the Murphys. He decides without input from them that he is going to throw a really nice party for them in the garage he cleaned out for them, with food and soda and hula hoops. All is well with the kids, but the parents wish that they had been consulted on how to better spend $500.
The judges have observed some of the good deeds in action and they had definite opinions on which are more valuable. By not meeting the needs of the Murphys, Sheg is in jeopardy. Rachael is probably in the next most jeopardy for not having made any connections the entire season. Brandi, Stephen, and Cameron are the classy contestants and likely to move forward. When the envelopes go out, Sheg has nothing; the others have tickets to the Big Apple. Welcome to New York metro (even though this was filmed months ago)!
georgiapeach:
OMGosh! I KNOW the Murphy's and a few of their children! They are an absolutely amazing couple! $500 probably would barely cover their food budget for a few days.
And Decatur is down the street...
Guess I need to go watch this one! :lol3:
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Peach:
It's too late now. The one and only Georgia episode was last week. This coming Sunday is the Finale in the New York metro area. After that, we get a blessed and long-overdue return to Desperrate Housewives Sunday 9pm on ABC.
georgiapeach:
Never too late! :lol:
This show lost me on the second episode because I wasn't entirely comfortable with the direction the "giving" was taking. Having just watched the show on line, I am still conflicted. Some of the contestants clearly did make a personal connection and that really is what giving is all about. But how very, very sad that that they missed the boat with the Murphy's so very badly. Many of their children are medically fragile and their needs are great. Almost anything would have been more useful to them than one meal--they need so much. Food, clothing, gas $$, or even a break for Mr. and Mrs. Murphy!
But at the same time the remaining contestants did "grab" me--and I will probably tune in to see the finale now. All of the remaining contestants seem fully invested in this amazing opportunity--what a great gift to have this chance! Just wish it could have played out differently for the Murphy's. :(
But fun to see some familiar places!
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WHAT OPRAH, BERTRAM, and ELISE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN?
I think Oprah had a good basic concept in creating "The Big Give". Where it went off track was in the design details and implementation, which were primarily the responsibility of Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri unless the hug thumbprint of The Amazing Race was somehow there from someone else(highly unlikely). The biggest problem was the juxtaposition of the atmosphere that the elimination of contestants created in the backdrop of the positiveness of giving big.
Now, how should it have beem done, you ask me? It is actually fairly simple if these were the design principles:
1. No contestant gets dropped. Everyone gets to continue through to the end (6 weeks screen time total).
2. There is a point system with each judge able to award 5 points(or 3 points or 4 points; it doesn't matter the exact number) each week. They may split them among multiple contstants or award them all to one noteworthy one each week.
3. By the middle of the competition, some contestants would be effectively out of the competitive race, but they can still do good deeds. In this competition, I think Eric would still be in it along with Stephen and Careron and Brandi. I thknk Rachael would be out of it.
That's it, very simple and much more motivating to the contestants, who can continue to contribute(if they it appears that they have stopped contributing they can be dropped by majority vote of the judges).
I believe that those principles if implemented would have led to a much more interesting show and higher viewing and ratings.
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