FollowWho would lend out their infant as a reality show challenge?
Add in the fact that a teenage couple will be raising your kid on camera… and you can bet that NBC didn’t choose the brightest of teens for this challenge.
Yesterday on the plane I read a brilliant USA Today article about the new NBC reality show Baby Borrowers… and I wanted you to see it. Beautifully written. A great commentary about the direction our entertainment has gone.
Here’s a snippet:
On the heels of the now-disputed story about a New England teenage pregnancy pact, NBC is selling the show as if it were electronic birth control. Even if societal improvement were the goal, and it’s not, Baby wouldn’t do much to achieve it. Any teenager who has watched a reality show knows these kids were chosen to fail, and to be ill-behaved brats while doing so.
What manipulation can’t achieve, editing does. The show lovingly dwells on every snit-fit and flaw, particularly that adolescent know-it-all attitude that causes them to respond to criticism as if it were an assault on the deference they assume is their natural due. Still, try to keep in mind that they’ve been lent to the show as well — and by adults who should know better.
Click here for the entire article.
Posted in Entertainment Media, Family, Jonathan's Rant, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment
Oy. Vey. I didn’t even know that a show like this was in the works…although I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.
Keep in mind, I hate the fact that people say “Here babysit my kid. It’s a form a birth control.” What does that say about how we value kids?
Also, while I disagree with this show on many levels, it is no different than the people that leave their kids at a preschool/daycare/nanny for 12 hours a day. We have a horrible view of child rearing as is in this country. This show just puts an exclamation point on it.