Topic: Oprah's Big Give

[marigold]

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?).

  I only saw that there hasn't been a recent update and forgot you already posted that as I now clearly remember reading that.

Thanks for the reminder apskip.

[apskip]

Tonight was the fourth episode of Oprah's Big Give. Oprah's presence is felt through thte voiceovers that occur following every commercial. I guess she feels that the show's ratings depend on some tangible presence from her even though that task would normally be handled by the show's host.

The task was preceded by the arrival at a Miami dock of a magnificent boat carrying the Maloof brothers, owners of the Sacramento Kings baketball team and a Las Vegas resort/casino. They brought a suitcase containing $700,000 in cash, $100,000 for each of the 7 contestants. Nate Berkus announced the rules that go with the give-away:
1. No teams could be formed. It was individuals only.
2. No single place could be the site of spending more than $10,000.
3. No single person could get more than $500 worth of gifts.
4. No cash could be given directly.
5. The giveaway would last 24 hours.
6. 2 contestants would be eliminated. This allows them to get on track for turning the time slot back to Desperate Housewives on April 13. I had assumed they were going to have 2 one-hour shows back-to-back, but obviously this was the chosen solution to the problem. We may have a double elimination again next Sunday in Georgia. If so, then I expect the last show on April 6 to be in the Chicago area with the 3 remaining contestants.

The contestants proceeded to just give away gifts in grocery stores, auto repair shops, or Target stores(that being I believe a sponsor of the show as well as a good-value place to shop for a wide variety of things). Some made connections with institutions or foundations or schools and bought them things they needed. The most creative approach was by Stephen who had the massive advantage of his father living in the area and helping him with ideas and manpower. A low-income housing area was targeted and $30,000 of high-value electronics was purchased at 4 stores and given away to larger families(to meet the $500/person restriction). Kim, who has demonstrated no sense of direction in the past, got lost again several times and was unable to get much given away as a result. Eric gave a lot of money away($65K) but he did most of it in gift cards. Also, he had promised a dead police officer's family he would help pay for the funeral, but then he did not make it a priority and did not even show up, which negated his ability to make a donation larger than $500. Steven gave away all $100K, Sheg did $80K, Eric $65K, Rachael about $55K, Brandi about $60K, Cameron $65K, and Kim $16K. You just knew that Kim was a goner. The judges were unimpressed with Rachael's total, but Eric's higher total did not overcome the problems with his approach. Kim and Eric were eliminated.

[apskip]

It's time for a review of who the top performers from the first 4 episodes were:

Ep. 1 - Eric, Stephen
Ep. 2 - Eric, Stephen, Cameron
Ep. 3 - Eric, Stephen, Cameron, Brandi
Ep. 4 - Stephen (Cameron and Brandi were about 2nd and 3rd)

So, what should one conclude about who is going to win this? If Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri were totally in charge, then the answer is nothing because anyone making it to the final episode could win. However, I believe Oprah has more of a sense of what is right and wrong. That means Stephen is the clear favorite at this point and it is his to lose.

I personally like Cameron and would like to see him win it. Brandi is Ok and I would be happy is she wins it.

I am not impressed by either Sheg or Rachael. I expect to see them being eliminated in the next episode.

[Texan]

Okay I finnaly watched this show but the DVR cut off the last 5 minutes... so I saw the girl that did the bus passes and flowers (sorry do not know names) get a ticket and the gentleman that paid for food get a ticket.  I assuems the blonde that did not spend money was going and the guy that promised the funeral and then did not would be going.  Was anything said, did they go back and pay for that man's funeral since he promised.  He could have found a way to go by the family's house afterwards or something, that was bad.  And the lady that did not spend any money... okay you have the manager of a local pet store finding you a place to donate.., use her ask her where else would be good to help.

The one guy was smart with his dad, but why did none of the people ask the first couple of people they helped to suggest where to go or what a good area to help was?  A local church or school has their finger on the community and could point you in the right direction.  Why did the one guy not help the firestation or have him help with more then just the one man's funeral.  THe fire fighter should have been able to tell him local shelters, food banks and more.  Maybe I am beign too critical but use the local representatives.

Skip the girl you do not like which one is she?

[apskip]

I want to respond to several points raised by Texan:

"I assume the blonde that did not spend money was going and the guy that promised the funeral and then did not would be going." - that would be Kim and Eric and Texan was correct.

"did they go back and pay for that man's funeral since he promised.  He could have found a way to go by the family's house afterwards or something, that was bad." - Eric could only give $500 per person later; the reason he had to be at the funeral was so that could count $500 times a large number of people toward the funeral costs, up to a max. of $10,000. Eric did that evening go back to the firehouse and make a donation to honor the memory of the killed policeman so that athletic equipment could be purchased for the leagues for kids. However, that in no way made up for his huge error. I do not know this, but I am going to speculate that with all the publicity surrounding it one of the Big Give producers went back and paid $10,000 towards the man's funeral costs. It is the way Oprah would do things.

Which one is the girl I(apskip) do not like? if you mean still remaining in the competition that would be Rachael. She is the African American woman. If you mean starting this past episode it would be clueless Kim.

[Texan]

Thanks... since I did not know all the names since it was the first time I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.  thanks for keep us up to date on this show.

[apskip]

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick is the special guest for the next Big Give episode. She has the remaining contestants do a Road Race challenge that should go through Newnan Georgia somehow.

[marigold]

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick is the special guest for the next Big Give episode. She has the remaining contestants do a Road Race challenge that should go through Newnan Georgia somehow.

I missed last Sunday's episode because of the holiday but I'm looking forward to this weeks episode.

Thanks apskip for writing great recaps it kept me up to date and I don't feel like I missed a thing.

[georgiapeach]

The Atlanta Motor Speedway is not all that far from Newnan: (click out 6 notches)

http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/handler.cfm/template,article/cat_id,42465

And they did come through Hartsfield Airport and had airport filming permits...

[georgiapeach]

Apskip asked me to leave a note in this thread that he will be back with the latest recap hopefully by tomorrow, as he expects to be released from the hospital this evening.

We'll be looking forward to it!

[apskip]

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!

[apskip]

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!

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!

[apskip]

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.

[marigold]

Excellent ideas apskip that could have saved Oprah's Big Give.

Your absolutely right the concept is great and it’s poorly executed.

My problem with these contestants is that they have no experience at all at raising money for each week's task.

They have miserably failed at raising money and completing the task.

I mean here they get someone’s or a families hopes up and then to a huge disappointment for them I'll use as an example, for the Murphy's a party?

That's just not good enough for me and I can't believe Oprah has her name on that.

And to top it all off one of these contestants win a million dollars for what and how could they when Oprah is promoting helping out people in need in our communities.

Seriously my opinion I wouldn't want to be a part of Oprah's show these people are in need and then to not even get the help they needed and yet the contestant who is suppose to be helping them could win that amount of money.

In the end it sounds terrible it defeated the purpose of the show. It should have been more of a challenge for American's to just help and Oprah covers that then to award the contestant financially. 

I just believe that would be a better show idea and a more rewarding outcome.

[apskip]

ca bb fan,
I think it's important to recognize that none of the contestants signed on to receive a reward other than participating in a great social experiment and getting to rub elbows with Oprah. Nobody knew that someone was going to win $1,000,000 as a super reward. That did not motviate anyone. They had to be motivated by the sheer joy of giving big and doing good. The fact is that different contestants have varying skills and varying energy levels and ability to sustain them over multiple days. Cream rises to the top and it will in this contest. The chances of Rachael winning are small. Stephen, Cameron, or Brandi is going to win and I think that is approrpriate. I will venture a guess that any of those 3 will give a majority of their prize to worthy causes immediately.

[marigold]

I know apskip that the contestants don’t know about the million dollars that Oprah will give the winner all I’m saying is how is that amount of money justified for doing a good deed, when many of the needy families were not helped.

And finally how can Oprah justify that a doctor paying bills deserves $50,000.00 dollars from Jamie Foxx and the Murphy’s with 28 adoptive children who need food, clothing,  medical and school costs only deserve a party.

I would also include if you really think they will donate their winnings I would start with the families they personally failed at and contribute more than a party.

That just leaves me speechless and with that I have nothing else to say as you must know by now I could argue that forever

[apskip]

Well, I thought tonight was going to be the Finale because ABC has Desperate Housewives scheduled to reoccupy the 9pm Sunday time slot, but somehow The Big Give has a place next Sunday night. The task tonight was to get to Central Park, New York City and then help one of two dying people. Teams of Cameron/Brandi and Stephen/Rachael were somehow developed. The criteria are normally creatiovity, presentation, leadership and achievment, but teamwork was added as an extra one. You know what that means. Bye, bye, Rachael before the task even starts! She has no chance in a cooperative teamwork environment.

Cameron and Brandi are assigned Mike, a lymphoma victim with a wife and 3 small children. He has a $208,000 mortgage balance and he has a dream of financing for his kids to go to college. One additional goal that the team has for them is a fun day in New York City for them.

Stephen and Rachael get Emily, who is on constant oxygen supply and has a large exteneded family. She is a musician and wants to play the piano on the stage at Carnegie Hall before she dies. The teams wans to make that happen for her and get the family a nice trip to New York City. Things get combative between Rachael and Stephen when Rachael volunteers to sing a solo for Emily at Carnegie Hall. Rachael also has the idea of bringing in Nat King Cole (long dead) to sing, but is actually able with some help to get Natalie Cole to make a surprise appearance. Stephen states that Rachael singing is pursuing Rachael's dream, but not Emily's and their relationship is never right from that point on. Rachael sends nice food Stephen obtained for the extended family to the wrong Hilton Hotel, but somehow her crappy food manages to get to the right one and she personally delivers it. Do I hear the word "brownnosing?"

Oprah sends in some helpers to make these dreams attainable. Gayle King, editor of O Magazine, comes and is the one who lined up Natalie Cole. Rachael wants to do a shopping spree for the outfits for Carnegie Hall, but Gayle says that O will provde them temporarily instead. A helicopter ride is desired for Mike and family. Gayle calls Donald Trump and he donates one in his helicopter. She calls in actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who heads the Smith Family Foundation and has lots of contacts. She promises a big donation toward the mortgage and lots of "star power" to pay off the rest of it. Jada calls James Lassiter of Overbrook Entertainment who comes through with $10K immediately.

With 3 days left, Jada ays that she has pledged arranged $75K of the $100K remaining. Then McDonald's kicks in $25K and they have the mortage paid off. On to the Scholarship Fund. Cameron also gets a new F150 truck donated to Mike. When Mike's family arrives in NYC, Cameron and Brandi are busy so they hand them off to Rachel and Stephen who do a good job of getting them to/from and on/off the helicopter ride, which was a complete panorama of all around Manhattan.

My impression at this point is that Rachael is indeed dead meat but that she is dragging Stephen down with her(as is the case indicated by the judges' discussion).

The Carnegie Hall event goes off without a hitch. The first 3 rows are filled with relatives and friends. Emily is alone onstage  to play the piano and the attendees join her by singing. Then Rachael sings her solo, OK for an amateur. Then Natalie Cole comes onstage and sings "Unforgettable".

The event for Mike's family started with more distant family members arriving along Central Park West in limos or horse drawn carriages. Camerson reads the status of the paid-up mortagage and the undefined amount for the kids' scholarships. The mortgage company had donated $75K and the Smith foundation got whatever was left. The a new F150 truck arrives to take Mike the short distance to Tavern on the Green, a beautiful and quite expensive restaurant in Central Park.

Now it is time for the judging. Anyone who was in any doubt about who would place lowest didn't pay any attention to the criteria. Cameron and Brandi were clearly the winners, and Stephen and Rachael were in trouble. I thought it would end tonight but apparently it goes to Chicago to finish up next week with 3 conestants. They had to eliminate one and that would be Rachael. She knew she had played the Lone Ranger and ignored the teamwork rule. I think she managed to take Stephen out of the winner's circle for thte Finale next week.

[apskip]

The answer has been revealed. Oprah's Big give will be from 8pm to 9pm EDT next Sunday. Also, John Traveolta will be reprising one of his movie roles, as an angel, in the Finale.

Stephen, Cameron and Brandi are first sent home for a family reunion, then reassembled with 4 days and $10,000. The TWIST happens with Travelota's arrival. It appears that Oprah herself gets involved in this episode.

[Texan]

thanks for the recap, I missed the show.

[apskip]

I wrote this late last night and it did not take for some reason, so this is version two. This episode started in Big Give HQ where the contestants were all given $10,000 and sent to their hometowns to find a needy person or group and make their lives better.

Brandi went to Sierra Vista AZ, which had twice named her Miss Sierra Vista on her way in the Miss USA Pageant. She met her mother and father and got ideas about who to help. She decided ultimately on 3 families. First was Lynnette Wilson with 5 kids and a husband in our military in Iraq. The kids are disabled and neeed a special camp. Brandi gives her $3000. The main event for Brandi's Big Reveal was Alli, an 11 year old who has brain tumors. Brandi thought it would be neat to get her named Honorary Miss Sierra Vista for one day with a ceremony at the local elementary school, followed by a 2 block parade in her honor. I find this pretty cheesy, shades of what Rachael would do in imposing her values on someone else rather than asking the parents what she needed. Brandi then had time and $1000 left to the Thomas family, who has a son that nearly drowned in a swimming pool and has brain damage. Brandi gave the $1000 for unpaid therapy bills.

Stephen went to Bedford NY(home of Martha Stewart's estate) and surprised his 2 or 3 kids and wife. His mother suggested that the Northern Westchester Women's Shelter which helps victims of domestic violence would be a good recipient. He organized a fund-raising event at his home with friends and family present; it resulted in an astounding $43,000 in donations for an improved security system and renovations to that Shelter.

Cameron went to Roanoke VA and met his large family and girlfriend Jenna. The suggested he help Skylar Corvin, a gutsy young girl who had been receiving chemotherapy that was no longer working. He got a local decorator to design a room switch and makeover with new furniture for her newly designated bedoom and another room. Skylar's parents had financial problems, so he got their 2007 debt paid off with a $5000 donation. They needed reliable transportation, so he got them a new 2007 Ford car. He also donated his original $10,000.

Oprah had announced at the top of the show that one contestant would be eliminated. Who should that be? In my book, clearly Brandi. Running an "honorable miss" ceremony is not even close to brining in tens of thousands of new dollars to help these families. Let's see what actually happened.

Contestants are asked to fly to a private Orlando airport. Why? It turns out to meet with Nate, who introduces them to John Travolta, who stepped out of his 707 jet with a captain's uniform on. He is a legitimate pilot and he loves to fly. I think he lives in a community where you taxi right up to the side of your house. Anyway, they are going to Chicago ,which is where Big Give HQ really are (logical, but who knew?). Now, Stephen flew about 2200 miles when he could have flown 800 direct to Chicago. Cameron flew about 1900 miles when he could have flown 700 direct to Chicago. Brandi flew about 3500 miles when she could have flown 1800 miles. Get these poor contestants a regular plane ticket and stop showing off! Oprah has been flinging celebrities at us lately. Has she got her shows mixed up? This is not the Celebrity Apprentice. Wrong network and time slot. I think that using celebrities is a total gimmick to boost ratings and I deplore it. If The Big Give makes sense, it has to grab viewers for what it is at its core.

Anyway, the judges assess some strengths and weaknesses of the 3 Big Reveals (each attended one) for about 30 seconds total and then deliberated. The answer came from John Travlota in his angel character reprise from the movie Michael - nobody would be going home and all are in the final finals next week. Jennifer Aniston will be the token celebrity.

[marigold]

   I found this recap and thought I would share, it's so funny.

Oprah Winfrey’s ABC reality show may be named after her, but Oprah apparently has no idea what’s going on Oprah’s Big Give. Luckily, she has John Travolta and a teleprompter to help her out.

Later, Travolta reappeared during the elimination to tell the contestants that none of them would be eliminated, and Oprah was delighted and, before praising her own show, thanked him as if he’d just made that decision. “Yes! Yes! Thank you!” Oprah cheered. “I love this show! Ooooohhhh! Wow. Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow.” (Yes, I counted the wows. Twice. I’m committed.)

The whole scene was very weird, because Oprah seemed like a guest on her own show (although even the episode description played up her surprise: “John Travolta makes an appearances with an announcement that stuns Oprah as well as the contestants”). I’d say that she was just faking it, because she’s the show’s executive producer, but after bumping the show’s actual host, Nate Berkus, out of the way to preside over the non-elimination elimination ceremony, she read all of her super-simple lines off the teleprompter in such a super-obvious way that the editors had to keep cutting away from close-ups. It was as awkward as watching Oprah fake-text the contestants.

The preview for next week told us that Jennifer Aniston will show up during the show’s finale. I wonder what news she’ll bring. “Oprah, you have a vagina!” “Yes! Yes! Thank you! Wow wow wow!”

http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/

[apskip]

We finally made it to the end of this turkey. At least the judges had the good sense to pick the correct winner.

We start off at Chicago's Union Station, where Stephen, Cameron and Brandi are sent off to Give Big starting with the shirt on the backs(and presumably the rest of their clothes plus a car), working primarily as a team, in 48 plus hours(Oprah said 2 days but since the remainder of the first  day expires and there are still 2 days left she was exaggerating). Speaking of that Oprah is totally over the top in sending off the finalists with a loud screech(where is Phil Keoghan when you need him?). The bickering starts immediately. Stephen has a prior contact with Ed Muzikowski, head of the Chicago Hope Academy, a prep school for disadvantaged children. The principal of Hope Academy is Tina Muzikowski, who appears to be related to Ed in some way(wife?). He sets up a meeting that Cameron and Brandi are reluctant to attend because from a gamesanship perspective it will appear that they are working for Stephen. Other concepts are floated, including doing a Beauty Queen show at the Shriners' Hopital for Children(guess who thought this dead duck up?) and a wedding planning event(guess who?). When Jamie the Judge comes to visit, there are no agreements on concepts. They keep working on the concept of a show and Cameron decides to call the Blue Man Group to see if they will do a show the next afternoon. They will, so that becomes the Big Reveal for this episode. Cameron also asks John Stanton what part of $100,000 in funds needed for athletic fields blue Man Group might be able to underwrite. The stunning answer is all of it. What an impressive organization Blue Man Group is!

Stephen adopts a logistics focus and starts planning the details of the show. He also raises $60,000 and gets donations of 15
fender guitars and a Baldwin grand piano. Cameron is thinking "What else can I do?' and Brandi is stumped. The next day dawns and Brandi has jumped ship and gone to Shriners Hospital fo Children. She decides that a simple thing she can do to connect with patients there is a cooking show, so she tries hard to get a chef to do one that evening.  Cameron has joined her and tells her that it can't be done on that notice. Brandi doesn't listen and goes ahead to sign up Anthony Reyes of Rosebud Restaurant. Stephen is left holding the bag at Chicago Hope Academy as neither Cameron or Brandi are there to help. He pulls is together, arranging a catering company to bring box lunches for the kids and somehow these school buses materizlize to transport them to Briar Street Theater. There is still no sign of Cameron and Brandi 15 mintues before show time. They are "stuck in heavy traffic"(right) 30 minutes away. So the greeting of the Blue Man Group arrangd by Cameron is left to Stephen. Fortunately, the judges are in the audience and observe what is happening. Cameron and Brandi arrive in the middle of the show and take the stage at the end for the presentation of two checks for $100,000(half dedicated to establishing an arts program at Hope Academy).

Stephen has been boiling over the whole day but simmers down enough to tell Brandi that he will be pleased to join her to make her Shriners Hospital event a succcess(he could do that because she had been so useless and this event was so small that it was not a threat). He had raised $60,000 and given Chicago Hope Academy $50,000 leaving $10,000 which he used to buy some very nice presents for the kids. Reyes did a nice job and then volunteered to continue doing this on a monthly basis.

Time is up and the competition is over except for the judging. All go to Chicago Big Give HQ where Oprah introduces the 7 contestants who did not make the finals. She brings onstage Jennifer Aniston, her firend and everybody's Friend. Jennifer and Oprah engage is a mock skirmish to award those contestants $30,000 each for their participation. Oprah asks for a summary statement from each finalist and the judges ask a few questions. Jamie Oliver states that Cameron has raised $100,000 and Stephen $60,000 then they convene. The envelopes are handed out by Nat Berkus(what a cushy job; it's like being the messenger on the original Millionaire TV show). They either contain $100,000 or two $500,000 checks, one for the individual and one to continue the Give Big concept. The world waits and Stephen has the fat envelope. He wins, which was certainly appropriate, not just for this last episode but for his consistent performance over the course of the season. I'm sure Cameron was a close second and Brandi a distant third. Justice has prevailed in spite of the notice spouted about Brandi always relating well to people(that's not what I saw in her team efforts; she is no Rachael but I would not select her as my teammate and I would select Stephen or Cameron in a heartbeat.

The show is over, probably never to reprise. That would be a proper outcome. Oprah had a grand design, but the real reason for it not being what it could have been was the over-competitive format that is the hallmark of Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri. This works super on my favorite show the Amazing Race but it stinks up the place on the Big Give. Alternate ways of handling things could have made a better show and certainly attained higher ratings.

EDITOR'S NOTE - I look back over the entire season and realize that I may have been a bit tough on Brandi. She is young(just 23) and does not have a lot of life experience other than beauty pageants and certainly not any business experience that would have helped her develop contacts. Her major drawbacks in this show were that she could not raise the same money as Cameron and Stephen did and her preoccupation with projecting that her beauty pageant experience would be directly useful in this show. Cameron is younger (22) but has been a dot.com millionaire for 4 years, so he clearly has business experience and contacts. Stephen is older(42), a real estate developer and as such has a wealth of business experience and contacts. Brandi could not compete in the same league as Cameron and Stephen due to the limitations of her life experience. Even though I have occasionally zapped her in my commentary she is a refreshing, can-do individual who will be very successful.

[marigold]

We finally made it to the end of this turkey.

  Thanks for all your effort, it's very much appreciated