This just goes to prove that you can lower people into underwater
cubicles and make them try to squirm out. You can swing them around
on elastic lines from rooftops. But nothing is quite so real as
real life.
That, then, became the premise for my show. Here is how an episode
might go:
SCENE: A guy walks into the dining room. The table is piled with
envelopes. Each envelope contains an unpaid bill. Task: The guy
must pay all of them, fully and on time. Even the credit-card bill.
SCENE: Teenager wakes up. It is early afternoon. Or maybe teenager
arrives home from somewhere, God-only-knows-where. It doesn't
matter, the point is, the teenager arrives in the vicinity of the
parent. Task: Parent must say something that doesn't: A. anger the
teenager; B. end up in a huge misunderstanding; C. sound really
stupid.
SCENE: Wife comes home from the hairdresser. Task: Husband must
refrain from asking, "Did you mean to do that?" That, despite wife
saying, "I think she cut it a little funny in the front." Husband
must not, under any circumstances, agree, even if he thinks the
sides look funny, too. Instead, husband must say, "Really? I think
you look great."
SCENE: Husband, after finishing bills, comes in from the garage and
proudly shows off something he made with some saws, drills, and
screwdrivers. It might be a table. It might be a spaceship. Task:
Wife must find an opportunity to throw it out without the husband
knowing.
SCENE: Phone rings. It's a mother-in-law. Doesn't matter whose. The
son- or daughter-in-law picks up the phone. Task: Make it through
the conversation without gritting teeth or making circles with an
index finger around the side of one's
head.
In other words, this would be a reality show based on the
challenges of everyday life. The problem, I'm realizing, is that
everyday life is a little too real.