May 13 2008
∞
Oh, Fox.
“[Fox] is set to announce ‘Secret Millionaire,’ a new series in which wealthy benefactors go undercover in impoverished neighborhoods. For about 10 days, a multimillionaire meets financially destitute locals and experiences what it’s like to live on a meager budget. At the show’s conclusion, the millionaire reveals his true identity to the community and gives a minimum of $100,000 of his own money to at least one deserving person.”
I read that description, and all I could think of was:
In 1991, Walter Jacobson went “undercover” as a homeless person. I arrived at college after it had aired, but it was still a classic—by which I mean “so horrifically trivializing that all you can do it laugh”—example of local TV news.