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Ah, summertime. It used to be when we all could experience a bit of a slower pace and, at least on TV, watch reruns. Depending on your lifestyle, you had the chance to catch up on the shows you missed or be free of television until the fall season. But it’s not the case anymore. This summer there are few reruns to watch. Brand new programming abounds with the likes of “adult cartoons’ on TNN’s revamped Manly TV (exact name still under debate.) and Fox’s unusual BONZAI. However, the mainstay for our viewing “pleasure” will be more reality shows than, perhaps, even real life could ever provide. They run the gamut from true love to love vs. money ... let your parents pick to let your kids pick to let America pick ... living real to living a big lie ... sing your heart out for fame or have the last laughs. There even is a program that follows Donald Trump and a gaggle of wannnabes as well as something that may cure us of ever eating out again called The Restaurant. But even though it appears that there is some program for every possible taste, there is one, at least from where I sit, that’s missing. It’s the show many of us live each and every day: The Entrepreneur. Played at the pace of The Great Race, The Entrepreneur combines many of the features from those other shows, without the need for a staff of writers.
Our first episode follows the plot of Joe Millionaire. Remember, he’s the guy who was positioned, to 20 women at a Château in France, as having just inherited millions only to be revealed at the end of the show to be penniless. The star of our show works to land a deal with what was believed to be a well-healed prospect, only to discover later that the client had absolutely no money to spend at all.
Episode Two follows the story line of The Bachelor as our intrepid Entrepreneur submits to RFP after RFP, wining and dining the prospects and jumping through all the required hoops, only to be left, broken-hearted, at the end of the show when the business is rewarded to another organization, no where near as cute or capable.
Episode Three is a sheer disaster. It is discovered that one employee has been really serving as The Mole for the competition. While our star works on damage control at the start of Episode Four, she also prepares for her day of reckoning with her advisory board that will turn into a business version of Meet The Parents – lie detector included.
In Episode Five, the trials and tribulations of hiring a new employee to replace the mole turns into a combination of Fame and Star Search. The show ends with a cliff hanger as prospects are put through the corporate interpretation of Blind Date, handing out trial assignments to see who really has the stuff to survive in the Real World of this business.
Episode Six finds our heroine in a tizzy. She accidentally learns that her landlord is going belly up and she must move, secretly, over the weekend or be locked out of her offices. Talk about your Trading Spaces! And then there is The Fear Factor because Big Brother, in the form of an industry oversight committee, is calling for a compliance audit. What a nightmare! (Many of us would rather eat the awful things they serve on the real Fear Factor than face this scenario.
During Episode Seven, our heroine moves to new digs and solves her compliance problems but still must face the filling of the empty staff position. Worried that the current crop of candidates could be much like those on Mr. Personality once unmasked, she opts to let her other employees make the decision, a la American Idol.
In Episode Eight, good news comes (sort of) in a For Love Or Money type twist. Our entrepreneur earned an enormous piece of business but must increase her capacity by double to handle it. The risks bring on The Fear Factor once again. In the end, the decision is made to stay with the sure thing of current revenues and business and forgo the new, riskier deal.
By Episode Nine, it’s no surprise that our heroine is in need of a vacation. So she packs up her laptop, blackberry and PDA and flies off to her version of Temptation Island. Will she call the office on a daily basis or be tempted to toss her electronic umbilical cords into the ocean? Will her family feel like she is with them or pull a Survivor, voting her off the island for being a non-participant? Will her business survive her absence? The answers to these questions and more will be revealed – but you have to wait for next season!
Okay, while we all have days (or perhaps even weeks) where we might feel as our heroine did, The Entrepreneur is an absurd scenario for a television program. In reality, a TV show that followed the days and nights of a true entrepreneur would see a character full of an indomitable spirit, much ingenuity and unflagging energy. In a promo heralding the show called Dance Fever, they end with this phrase: "You either love it or you don’t.” Regardless of the economy or other circumstances, entrepreneurs “love it” more often than not. Unlike the mantra of stars in I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, each day entrepreneurs lead with their own war cry, “Show Me Some Business.” Following around these passionate, committed individuals would make for a good reality show. In my book, that would truly be must see TV.
Copyright Randi B Enterprises, Inc., September, 2003. All rights reserved.
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