Reality TV Show about Layoffs: Going too Far?
By CareerBuilder blogger on Apr 9, 2009 in Featured, News and trends
This morning my trusty TweetDeck alterted me to a tweet that read: “Hmm. Fox is creating a reality show based on small-business layoffs.” *Cue record-screeching-to-a-halt noise.*
Sure enough, I followed the tiny URL to an article with the headline “Fox to make reality TV show about company layoffs.”
The article goes on to describe how the folks at Fox are “letting employees of some troubled small businesses decide which one of their colleagues will be laid off and turning the results into a reality show.”
Each episode of the show, “Someone’s Gotta Go,” (Tasteful, don’t you think?) will “feature a company with about 15 or 20 employees that needs to cut costs because of the economy. Instead of the boss deciding who is fired, the company will open its books to show everyone’s salaries and let the employees make the call,” according to the article.
Call me crazy, but doesn’t this show seem a little … inappropriate? In a time where so many people are unemployed, struggling and living in fear of layoffs, I don’t think many people will enjoy Fox making a quick buck off other people’s misfortune. Layoffs are no laughing matter.
Mike Darnell, chief of alternative programming at Fox had this to say about the show:
“I feel that it’s part of the times that we are living in. It’s certainly no worse than watching the news every night and hearing all the statistics and watching what is happening. To be frank, like all these shows, if you don’t want to watch, don’t watch it.”
For the full article, click here.
Would you watch this show?
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