Monday, October 25, 2004, 1:53:04 AM, JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx wrote: JE><<That reminds me. German TV is setting up a Truman Show town; JE>they hope people will live there for years. A psychologist JE>disapproved, she thought they might have problems when they JE>encountered the "real world".>>> Jac> 'Scuse me??? More details? Explain please?! If you are saying Jac> what I think you are.... I began to wonder if I'd dreamed it! Or if I'd slept through the winter and it was April... I can't get you the url now as my browser's address bar's gone awol (and The Guardian doesn't know me if I use my other browser -- nor does the NYT), here's the piece: >Big Brother's next step: show that lasts forever >Mike Leidig Saturday October 23, 2004 The Guardian >Germany's version of the Big Brother reality TV show will take a >giant leap next spring with the opening of a small town mimicking The >Truman Show concept. >In the Jim Carrey movie, a man called Truman is >unwittingly the subject of a 24-hour TV programme that monitors his >every moment for the gratification of a worldwide audience. >In the city being built outside Hamburg, the only difference will be >that contestants will be willing participants. >There will be a forest, a town square with shops and a church, >schools and businesses. Contestants will, it is hoped, live there for >years, falling in love, going to school, even getting married. The >producers hope to lure in businesses to employ them, as well as >teachers and doctors. >Producer Rainert Laux said: "We hope couples will get pregnant and >family groups will interact with all the usual family frictions." >He said they would handpick the "very best group, all unemployed" to >live in what will be a cross between the Truman Show and Disneyworld. >"They can do exams there if they want to go to school, learn >languages or any other type of professional examination for a career >and eventual employment." >The city will be as realistic as possible so that contestants have no >problems reintegrating into society. But broadcaster RTL2 was unable >to provide details on financing. >Celebrities will occasionally appear, but the main group of >contestants will remain "for decades," according to Mr Laux. >Producers of the show say the present format has had its day. The >plan now is for an entire community to be scrutinised around the >clock. As long as such a show draws viewers it will remain on air. >The idea follows on from an experiment in America by Fox TV which >introduced Forever Eden, in which contestants were plonked on a >Caribbean island. The show was intended to be indefinite but was >cancelled in April after three episodes were aired. >By contrast, the reality TV world depicted in the Carrey film is a >dark fantasy in which unassuming salesman Truman Burbank grows up in >a city that is actually a vast studio without knowing that his every >action is broadcast to the outside world. >RTL2's idea, provisionally titled Big Brother Forever, according to >makers Endemol, is not quite so ambitious. Its city will afford fans >of the show visits to the community to see the residents. >The show is planned to start next March. It will begin on a >relatively small site, but if it proves successful, the plot will >expand and contestants will be steadily added. >Insiders say the show will initially be broadcast 24 hours a day on >the internet, with highlights on television seven days a week. If >viewer interest is strong, the broadcasts will go live around the >clock. >The project will seek dozens if not hundreds of contestants but will >follow the central tenets of the Big Brother: sex, difficult >situations and the eternal fascination of human nature. >Media psychologist Jo Graibel voiced concerns that people who stayed >for any length of time would find it hard to adjust to the "real >world". -- Judy Evans, Cardiff, UK mailto:judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html