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

[jhitchin.livejournal.com]

What is so interesting or different about the filk community that makes ABC want to solicit us for "Wife Swap"? I just don't get television producers.

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

I was quite annoyed when they posted on my LJ, on the entry about Dave Always passing.

If they want to ask, that's fine, but have some sensitivity about where you post online

(And no, I wouldn't be interested, even if I *was* someeone's wife).

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

Ewwwww.

I've seen the show once, and it gave me the creeps; partially because they had obviously tried to find people that were extreme examples of "types", and partially because one of the families in the show I watched had a husband who was narrow-minded and patriarchal to the point of being abusive. Bleah!!!

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Given I'm not married, it seems unlikely that they'd ask me ;)

[mathochist.livejournal.com]

I like the show. When it works right, both families learn something and both are improved.

Of course there are also a lot of folk who come on the show who have no interest in actually learning anything. These are the ones I actively dislike. The ones who are open to learning, I might disagree with how they do things, but I respect them, and I like watching that.

I wouldn't mind being on it (hey, especially if it meant getting paid), if I had a spouse to swap with... er, from?... er, whatever.

[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.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it, only heard about it.

And by the way--I put "yes" to have you been solicited, but I only got the spam; they weren't targeting me specifically if that was what Tony meant. Sorry; I didn't think of that until later.

What I've heard about it makes it sound to me like they're presenting conservative families as being better than liberal families, but maybe it ain't so. But I'd sure hate to find out it was true the hard way.

And it seems to me that it says something about them that they're trying to recruit by spamming us,

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I have no interest in it, but for $20,000, I could probably be persuaded. (I don't firt their demographic, since they specifically want families with children, if I recall correctly).

[ohiblather.livejournal.com]

Hm, interesting. They sent out a similar mailing in September (see bottom of this Blathering.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I've never seen an entire episode, only bits of episodes before I got annoyed enough to change the channel. So it's possible that I've just seen the wrong episodes or the wrong bits of episodes or whatever.

That said, if someone else wants to do this, I have no problem with that. I don't think it will in any way damage the filk community, though I think anyone considering it should watch several episodes first. That said, I think the spam methods they've been using as I've been hearing about them from other people are kind of annoying, especially as they've managed to mostly find single people.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Wow, eight people on your F-list solicited to be on the smae show. That seems unusual to me.

I only know a little bit about the show. When I think about it, the first thing that comes to mind is imagining a commercial interruption where some conservative group urges you to vote against same sex marriage because the institution is too sacred and precious to pollute it by allowing two men or two women to make a mockery of the institution blah-blah-blah, thank you. Now, back to "Wife Swap"!

Of course, if actually asked, I'd be torn between instinctive revulsion, the desire to protect my privacy, and an urge to mug for the camera and see if I could get away with something outrageously countercultural/rebellious/satyrical. Er, after fully consulting with The Redhead, of course. And if I had anything close to Tony's talent, I'd probably do it in the hopes of being discovered.

Then again, would it be worth pairing me up with an illiterate Republican woman who smoked, whistled, watched Adam Sandler, and continually asked me, "Yo're from the west coast--whut's toe-foo?"

[pondside.livejournal.com]

Well, first I'm safe because we are not residents of the US, then...

We only have kids if you want to get into Poly on Wife Swap as well... :)
So then, we'd have to haggle over who it was that would get swapped and which husband would get them....

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I answered no before I checked my e-mail. Yes, I have been solicited now. I deleted it though, not only am I not interested in putting my personal life on national TV, but as akawil points out, it would be amusing if they wound up picking people who aren't married and aren't all that inclined to it, for various reasons.