'American Candidate' Reality-TV Show is Too Much Like the Real Thing 6/10/2004
From: Patrick Carkin of birddogger.org, 603-682-4871 CONCORD, N.H., June 10 -- Showtime's political reality TV show "American Candidate" is making media waves this week as it begins production in Keene, N.H. The show's producers promoted the program as "a ground- breaking television series in which the American people will identify a People's Candidate that they would like to see run for President." Promotional ads, repeatedly aired on Showtime, pleaded with audience members: "Fresh ideas wanted ... must prove to be better than the current crop." More than 1,000 individuals from across the country submitted applications in response. There is now mounting evidence that the show's producers never intended to accept individuals without already established political credentials. According to Variety magazine, the show's producers "hired experts in grassroots political recruitment to research potential contestants before they were contacted and informed about the show." One of several such candidates was Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of Rep. Dick Gephardt. Ms. Gephardt never applied to be on the show but was instead asked by producers to participate. The show's producers requested that applicants create their own web sites in order to promote their candidacy and improve their chances for selection. More than 400 heeded this advice and created web content which was used to increase publicity for the show. However, the show's producer, R. J. Cutler, recently admitted to Matt Smith from the SF Weekly that "getting clicks plays no role in the selection processes ... The decisions as to who gets on the show are made by (the) producers..." Smith's conclusion was that candidates "were tricked into pointlessly promoting the show, which will be cast like any other TV program -- with a casting call." One local New Hampshire based candidate was Patrick Carkin, owner of birddogger.org, whose name is now being used by the producers to promote the show to local media. Carkin responded to these recent news articles, "They said this was about empowering fresh ideas and new faces, that it was going to be revolutionary. But the entire process was a sham that used the idealism of the applicants to create more publicity. It's obvious that the people who took the time to complete the applications were never going to be part of the final product." For more information visit: http://www.birddogger.org http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2004-06-02/smith.html http://www.realitytvcalendar.com/commentary/lemon/ac-rl-pols-6-4-04.html http://www.americancandidate.com http://amcansham.blogspot.com/ |