ABC and auction site eBay are teaming up for what is ostensibly a reality show
about helping people, but upon further inspection sounds like a long form commercial for eBay. The new show, which has
the working title of Make it Happen, will focus on families who have big dreams but a lack of finances to make
them come true. In swoops eBay, where the family will be able to auction off items they own in order to garner enough
money to make whatever "fun and attainable" dreams they have come true. ABC apparently wants to keep the show
light and fun, so people aren't allowed to have dreams of any serious nature. Essentially, this sounds like
the television equivalent of being down on your luck and lugging your stereo to the pawn shop for cash. Of course, the
payoff on this show will be much more, but I'm not sure I understand the allure of being asked to get rid of what you
own in order to have your wish fulfilled.
[via TeevBlogger]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-25-2006 @ 9:16AM
Adam Bowie said...
This sounds like a big-league version of such daytime UK TV fare as "Cash In The Attic" and "Flog It". In the former people 'need to raise' a certain amount to go on holiday/buy new car/build conservatory/whatever and the show's team root around your home looking for stuff to sell off. Usually they manage to find silver tea services or valuable collectables that the owners seem to have 'forgotten' they owned. But as you surmise, sometimes, they're just getting help flogging off stuff they already own to raise some cash.
The difference in the British versions is that the auctions where the stuff is sold are of the bricks and mortar variety rather than Ebay. That makes for entertaining TV as you get to see people bidding against one another on screen rather than hunched around a computer screen clicking refresh. So it could be a challenge to make the conclusion of this new show visually interesting.
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