Solicitation for Wife Swap

[tfabris]

No, it's not what the subject line makes it sound like. Someone from ABC-TV has been going around looking for people in the Filk community to participate in one of their reality television shows. I'm curious how far they're getting, and curious what the general opinion of this is from the Filk community.

[Poll #905586]

Comments

[djonn]

I think it's very, very likely that they glommed onto filk in the wake of the episode they aired this past fall featuring one of the "Talk Like A Pirate Day" founding families -- there's a blog post about that one here. I think the TLAPD folk, who are from SW Washington, have or have developed some contacts with Northwest fandom, and it's possible that something arising from the pirate episode put filk on the producers' radar.

I have only seen about a quarter of one episode (not that one, unfortunately, which I do want a look at), and while I certainly agree that the promos for Wife Swap are often worrisome, I am reluctant to pass judgment on the show without having actually watched it -- in significant part because of the pirate episode, which suggests to me that what they're after is not so much dysfunction (which they're going to find anyway, whether they look for it or not) as contrast (which can manifest in any of several ways, in humor as much as in stridency). My own guess is that the #2 answer -- a family gathered round the living room singing makes good TV -- is at least as likely to be true as the other, and there's at least as much of an audience market for feel-good reality TV (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) as there is for the sort that puts nastiness in the limelight.

Now as a one-person household of long standing, I am spectacularly ineligible to participate in the Wife Swap sandbox. But I'd put a couple of thoughts into the mix for anyone thinking about contacting the show, as follows:

One, an opportunity of this kind is very much what you make of it. We talk a lot in filkdom and fandom about building bridges, nurturing people's sense of community, and reaching out to people who Aren't Like Us -- and what's being offered looks to me, in a way, like a chance to practice what we preach. And even reality TV is about telling good stories (and overcoming challenges and conflicts); give the show's producers a story that's strong enough, and the one that you want to see told about your experience, and they just may surprise you by telling it.

Two, in a purely mercenary context, there's a lot of potential "up"-side for any sufficiently talented musician, filk or otherwise, who's given a shot at an hour of primetime network television -- and it's likely to be a heck of a lot easier to talk your way onto Wife Swap than to wade through any of the straight talent-competition shows, from American Idol on down. There's also a good deal of potential for positive spin relative to folk/filk music in general, and that strikes me as a Good Thing.

It would certainly be a wild ride. But I think it's worth contemplating for anyone who might be even remotely interested in following up, and that it's not an offer that should be dismissed out of hand.

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

A lot of interesting points, but they all only count IF the show's producers have their hearts in the right place.

I feel OK with putting me and my filk friends in the limelight as long as I'm in the hands of someone I trust, e.g., the Filk Film Project people.

I'm not convinced of this with regard to ABC-TV.

[djonn]

I'm not sure you absolutely need producers with suitably placed hearts as much as you need producers with the sense not to screw up a good show when you hand one to them on a platter -- and anyone who's already an experienced performer is going to be three steps ahead in that game.

That said, what might make sense would be to shoot some email off to the TLAPD folks, since they've worked with said producers already and will have a better idea than any of us what the tradeoffs might involve.