Has TV Gone Too Far?

Marrying millionaires--and other stupid people tricks

YES

It should not be too surprising that the marriage of two strangers on Fox's Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? foundered before the honeymoon was over. After flying into the sunset, the bride and groom came home separately, the groom facing questions about a police restraining order against him nine years ago.

More distressing than the matrimonial flop is the news that the television industry seems to adore this kind of entertainment. Company lawyers may fear the potential for a multi-million-dollar lawsuit in every participant's disappointment. But network programmers see these shows as a ratings- and revenue-producing bonanza at a time when their less flamboyant shows are losing ground to cable and the Internet.

There's more. A Dutch program, Big Brother, featured the unscripted saga of 10 young people living in a house wired with cameras. A CBS version is due this summer. More troubling is another CBS show called Survivor, which will take contestants to Borneo for a survival course. The group will vote to exclude one person in each round until the survivor wins $1 million. A Swedish version of this show resulted in the suicide of one dismissed contestant.

If the appeal to good taste is fruitless, perhaps the only hope for discerning viewers is the zapper, the off button, or the liability lawyers, who may give the networks pause.

--EDITORIAL The New York Times

NO

You thought Multimillionaire was weird? Just wait. This summer, CBS will introduce a couple of creepy, voyeuristic series, Survivor and Big Brother, that promise to make MTV's The Real World seem like Masterpiece Theatre. The professor half of me is disgusted by this development; the other half, however, can't wait till summer.

Television today can be very, very good (The Sopranos, The Simpsons), but sometimes we like it best when it's horrid. Think of some childhood favorites. Saved by the Bell? 90210? TRASH! But oh, we loved it so. For a viewer beached on the sofa and half asleep, Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? was inspired in its absolute silliness. Like eating an entire box of chocolates, watching this stuff might make us sick and ashamed, but it can be so good going down.

American culture is filled with contradictions and hypocrisies. Since the Pilgrims came ashore, what we say we believe and what we actually do have been at great odds. Many people who publicly decry the state of American TV watch an awful lot of it when no one else is looking. This new programming serves an appetite most of us have always had, and for the audience it's pretty harmless.

Two groups do need to be concerned: those crazy enough to appear on these programs and those who will be sued if something goes awry. But if 10 people are willing to have their every move scrutinized by cameras (Big Brother) and CBS is willing to put it on the air, I'm probably going to watch it. And forgive me, I'm probably going to like it.

--ROBERT THOMPSON Center for the Study of Popular Television Syracuse University