27 January 2009

Conversation at Philosophy Club

As best I remember it (sentiments are accurate; quotes may not be exact) :

Student: I'd like to see a reality tv show where participants had to draft a utilitarian calculus every week to convince other participants to spare them. The winner would be the one whose calculus was adopted. What do you think? Think I could get someone to air it?
Will: I cringe at anything containing the word "calculus."
Me: I cringe at anything containing the words "reality tv show."
Student: And here I thought "utilitarian" would be what sank it.

2 comments:

John said...

An interesting idea. It would never work, because it's too experimental. TV producers are notoriously conservative when it comes to programming. If your idea doesn't have "goldmine of advertising revenue" stamped on it, the only hope is to have a recognizable name to lure advertisers. So if the student can convince Ron Howard to pitch it for him, it might have a chance. I doubt it would last long, though. I think it would appeal to a very small niche of society, and the ratings wouldn't be high enough to justify keeping it.

Qalmlea said...

Or it might make it on a very small indie channel. But, yeah, overall there's not much chance.