Fox WINS the heart of America by exploiting economic recession with new reality show!

[Mike McC]

TV Guide article
Zap2it article

Originally Posted by Zap2it

FOX turns bad economy into reality TV
'Someone's Gotta Go' will let employees fire a fellow worker

FOX is hoping that the rough state of the economy will make people want to watch other people losing their jobs on television.

That seemingly counterintuitive proposition is the basis for "Someone's Gotta Go," an unscripted series the network has put on a fast track. The show will let employees of struggling small businesses determine which one of their fellow workers will get the ax in order to save costs.

The show has already begun production and could be on the air by the end of summer, the showbiz trade papers report. The show comes from Endemol USA, the company behind "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal."

"Someone's Gotta Go" will feature a yet-to-be-named business consultant as host who meets with small firms -- 15 to 20 employees -- who are facing recession-fueled cutbacks. Employees will have access to everyone's salary histories and human resources files and use the information to decide which of their fellow workers will lose his or her job.

Both FOX and Endemol say the show has been put through its legal paces to make sure it doesn't run afoul of labor laws. "A lot of things had to be signed off" is how FOX reality boss Mike Darnell puts it to Variety.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Fox. We love your stupid, horrible, exploitative ideas. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Surely this is an absolute legal nightmare. I mean letting everyone look through each others HR files alongside letting employees fire each other...
You would have to get everyone in the company to sign waivers but who would actually sign these?

[Magus]

I always thought that their other show, The Moment of Truth, was horribly exploitative and inappropriate as well, but America watched it and its currently going to start its third season.

Hey, maybe Fox can help prolong this recession so we can see at least three seasons of "Someone's Gotta Go"?! I just can't wait.

Yes, it's horribly disgusting. Hopefully someone can get together a big group of people who've been laid off to protest such an insensitive premise.

EDIT: I'm under the impression that everyone who would be on the show would be getting some sort of compensation from Fox even if they are chosen to be laid off Barrel which would probably make up completely for being laid off, plus the "struggling company" will probably be getting paid as well. It's kind of like when people are on Judge Judy--even if they lose and have to pay damages, they usually make a profit or break even because they are paid to be on the show. It all therefore becomes not really "real"--the company and the people in it will all be getting paid to appear on this show and thus will not be in the financial straits they are supposedly in. It's quite paradoxical.

Really, it's just the insensitivity of the topic, especially to the tens of thousands of people who've been laid off, that makes this so horrible.

Oh, and the exploitation of the small struggling company, because the only reason they'd agree to be on a show like that is it will help them out of their financial straits. Oh, Fox, you make us love you more with each passing minute.

[Bells]

What the fuck is wrong with Fox news?!!

There is like.... so much stuff that could go wrong with this... i...

Really, i don't know what to say! This is the Ground Zero for stupidity.

[Mike McC]

Fox News is a different part of Fox. It's pretty disconnected with the entertainment division. They are two entirely different types of terrible.

And that's terrible.

[Magus]

Well, it's the Fox Network (I think?), not specifically Fox News. But yeah, they're owned by the same company.

[Marc v4.0]

They both lack any semblence of tact or basic humanity it seems.

Disgusting.

[Jagos]

Originally Posted by Marc v1.0

They both lack any semblence of tact or basic humanity it seems.

Disgusting.

Remember the days you could watch Married with Children and not worry about Fox like this?

Yeah... Those were the days...

Sadly, they're nothing more than a farce willing to go to any low for a rise in ratings.

[Mirai Gen]

Holy shit and just when I thought reality shows, Fox, and the economy couldn't get any worse they combine forces like some sort of fucked up Decepticon and prove me that, no, we can get even lower.

At this point I have to wonder if Fox is seriously going to start working on the street corner; this is the only thing they could do to degrade for a quick profit.

[Mike McC]

Fox: Head still lodged up it's ass, after all these years.

Originally Posted by New York Times

Fox Draws Criticism Over Reality Show on Firings

By BRIAN STELTER
Published: April 10, 2009

The Fox network appeared this week to be caught off guard by anger over “Someone’s Gotta Go,” its forthcoming reality show about the employees of small offices who are told to choose a colleague to fire.

Production is said to be under way on the program, which was devised by Endemol, a production company known for “Big Brother,” “Deal or No Deal” and other reality shows. Negative reaction to the premise included op-ed columns in newspapers and a segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“There’s nothing entertaining about watching people lose their jobs — especially with the country mired in a recession and national employment at 8.5 percent, a 25-year high,” Jere Hester, the director of a news service at the City University of New York’s graduate journalism school, wrote in an essay for the WNBC Web site, nbcnewyork.com.

The trade publication Broadcasting & Cable reported that virtually none of the hundreds of Internet comments posted on half a dozen sites seemed to support the show.

Fox, the former home of “Temptation Island” and “Joe Millionaire,” has had a knack for shocking viewers, and gaining media attention, with its reality shows. “They’ve always pushed the envelope,” said Brad Adgate, the senior vice president for research at Horizon Media. In 2006 Fox canceled a planned TV special featuring O. J. Simpson based on the book “If I Did It,” a reference to the murders of his ex-wife and her friend, in response to public outcries.

Mike Darnell, the head of alternative programming for Fox, granted interviews about the premise of “Someone’s Gotta Go” earlier in the week, but he declined to comment on the reaction on Friday. The network would not say whether “Someone’s Gotta Go” had received a full series order, which suggests that it is being treated as a pilot that may never be broadcast. Mr. Adgate said it was possible the show would not go on the air “if there’s a real push-back.”

News of the series first leaked to the press on Tuesday. Mr. Darnell described its premise as a combination of “Survivor” (about castaways who vote people off the show) and “The Office” (about long-suffering employees at a small paper supply company). As Mr. Darnell told The Washington Post, “I’m sure you’ve been through a situation where someone at your company gets fired and you think, ‘Why did that guy get fired and that idiot is still here?’ ”

In “Someone’s Gotta Go,” the firing decisions will be made by the employees, who will have access to each person’s job reviews and salary figures. According to Variety, the series will be set in small offices of 15 to 20 people, and the laid-off workers may “receive a small severance.”

The recession and its effects on the work force have been dramatized in plotlines in some prime-time programs this season, including “The Simpsons” and “Desperate Housewives.” Mary Beth Haralovich, a television historian and a professor at the University of Arizona, said that an array of other reality programs showcase workplaces. “But that is far different from lining up small companies to watch someone be fired,” she said.

Source

Yep, they seemed surprised that people thought this was in bad taste. I note that the poor sap that gets fired gets a "small" severance. Oh, Fox, you truly are philanthropists. At least it may only be a pilot idea at this point. Fox Upfronts are May 15th, we may have to wait and see if the idea gets pulled before then.