If it wasn’t for Ed Norton, I might never have heard of “Strike It Rich.”
This was a tasteless TV show from the early ’50s in which contestants with a variety of troubles basically came on TV to beg for pity.
They would tell their sob stories and then the contestant whose story was judged to be the most pathetic would win a cash prize. “Queen For a Day” was another show of the same period with a similar format.
On a “Honeymooners” episode I’ve seen a hundred times, Norton (Art Carney) describes his mother-in-law as “so mean, she watches ‘Strike It Rich’ for laughs!”
Audiences of the mid-’50s knew exactly what Norton meant – who but a sadist would watch such a thing?
Fifty years later, the descendants of “Strike It Rich” are alive and well, and they’re not just for sadists anymore.
Millions are watching the sob sisters of prime-time TV -“Extreme Makeover” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on ABC, and “The Swan” on Fox.
All three shows traffic in pity – the more pitiful the better. In much the same way that contestants were awarded money based on the depth of their despair on “Strike It Rich,” the producers of the “Extreme Makeover” shows and “The Swan” are choosing participants based on the sadness of their stories.
The participants and their problems are then presented on TV for the entertainment of millions.
The application for “Extreme Makeover” provides ample space for applicants to “tell us why we should choose you, over anyone else, to receive the ‘extreme makeover.'”
Then, even more space is provided to answer the question: “Besides altering your appearance, what is your biggest dream?” This is the part where the applicants reveal why a bump on the nose has prevented them from finding love or earning a promotion.
The “Extreme Makeover” spinoff – “Home Edition” – in which entire houses are redone, takes the sob story even farther.
For this week’s season finale, for example (Sunday, 8 p.m. on ABC), eight orphaned siblings whose parents died of unrelated illnesses just 16 days apart will have their house torn down and rebuilt.
I know – it sounds like a lot of people are getting together to do something nice for a group of orphans.
But can’t this kind of well-meaning project be handled without making a public spectacle of this family’s devastating loss?
As for the participants and their self-esteem problems, I wonder how many of their lives were truly changed after their teeth were whitened and their breasts enhanced.