No humiliation. No meanness. No losers. What kind of reality series is that? An Oprah-fied reality series, that's what. ABC is doing backflips because the daytime cash cow has deigned to enter the primetime reality game. The net is working with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions on two projects that could be expanded segments from her talk show two shows.
And that's the whole idea.
Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give will hand cash and resources to ten people, then challenge them to find "dramatic and emotional ways" to use the money help others. The contestant field will be narrowed down over eight episodes-- though no one will be embarrassed or made to look bad-- and the winner gets his or her "wildest wish" granted (How about a three-way with Oprah and Gayle?).
Then there's Your Money or Your Life. Each week, an "action team" moves in with a "family in crisis" and gives them a money and life makeover.
If you're thinking it smells like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, you're right. Oprah's motivations are not so saintly:
Her producers say she's only getting into the reality business because every reality show with "soul" rips off ideas from daytime TV. Meaning Oprah. Oprah also complains, through them, that for years, producers have used tapes of the Oprah show as the basis for reality show pitches. (Hmmm... The Biggest Loser... Oprah did lose all that weight that time... Survivor... Oprah and Gail did jet off to an exotic island...)
Her series prove the point. The idea for The Big Give comes from a recent Oprah show in which audience members were given $1000 gift cards and challenged to find dramatic ways to use the money to help others.
Oprah will appear on at leats one of the shows. No word if she'll host or play the good Trump.