Wedlock or Deadlock

No, not something I am contemplating- more the title of the show that Fox will be testing nation wide- read here.

FAIL. At least that's my verdict.

The show is based on a Divorce Court segment in which couples would get in-show counseling. In Wedlock or Deadlock a psychologist and life coach, will determine whether struggling couples should marry or move on. In some cases, couples will tie the knot or break up right on the spot, however the couples will also undergo lie detector tests, compatibility tests and financial counseling, depending on their issues.

So lots of cheesy cliff-hanger-before-commercials and tie-in-advertisements to make this "seem like the ultimate reality TV show of this decade".

Fox thought that with at least five court shows going off the air this fall, and the genre down 24% year to year, the once-popular genre is in need of some reinvention- their answer "Wedlock or Deadlock". The only twist i see here is pathetic and I hope to never see it air nationally.

Folks don't get to excited if you can't watch the show, it will premier for testing in stations in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, Orlando and Memphis on Fox.

The concept just turns my stomach and makes me nauseous. I guess there is a good segment of the US population who are miserable enough with their lives that they look for either that "hope or misery" in others. So they turn to day time C-listing programming about "baby mama's" and "my father is a has-been porn star". I don't know, but a sad and fairly large portion of the population in the US is keen on this stuff. The fact that its even being "tested" speaks to the low expectations these Hollywood types are feeding into in order to catch viewership.

But can't we move away from this sort of stuff? And, how exactly do we do that? No answers here, just questions.