"Reality TV" has always been an outlet for boundary-pushing programming, and one new show on CBS promises to do just that. "The Briefcase" is a show about families who are suffering from serious financial hardship that receive a briefcase with $101,000 that they can keep with no strings attached.
But of course, it's not that simple. The "strings," it seems are not attached as much as glued on with emotion and tough decisions.
CBS explains:
CBS announces the new reality show The Briefcase, featuring hard-working American families experiencing financial setbacks who are presented with a briefcase containing a large sum of money and a potentially life-altering decision: they can keep all of the money for themselves, or give all or part of it to another family in need.
“THE BRIEFCASE is an eye-opening look into what matters most in people’s lives, taking the audience on an emotional roller coaster ride with a shocking ending each week,” said THE BRIEFCASE Creator and Executive Producer Dave Broome. “I've been incredibly impressed by just how generous Americans are, even with shrinking paychecks and rising debt, when there’s little left to give.”
While the show may seem like a life raft for families suffering financial hardships, critics are calling it cheap version of "The Hunger Games."
Kati Holloway from Alternet, see it this way:
The whole thing is, in a word, gross. We’re told via voiceover at the show’s outset that, “All across America, hard-working, middle-class families are feeling the impact of rising debt and shrinking paychecks.” That’s absolutely true, and CBS’s answer to that problem is apparently to exploit those families in ways that startle, even at this stage in the reality TV game. Make no mistake: The Briefcase is a good show to watch if you want to see a television network last valued at $30 billion ask families that are near to losing everything to battle over the very thing the network has in near endless supply: money. It is a stark acting out of how the wealthiest ask those with far less to battle over scraps, to be generous in ways they would never consider, to smile for the camera through tears for our own entertainment. And since there’s no such thing in this awful reality TV landscape as bad press—and this show has gotten plenty of it—it may likely become a hit.
What do you think? Is "The Briefcase" helping families in need or exploiting them?