Whenever a new, terrible idea for a reality show is announced—be it Married By America, Big Brother, Temptation Island, More To Love, etc.—someone somewhere invokes the tried-and-true editorial refrain: "What's next? Televised executions?" Well, according to Fox, pretty much, yeah.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
"You're fired" — but for real.
Fox has ordered a one-hour unscripted series that turns real-life company layoffs into a reality contest.
The show's working title is "Someone's Gotta Go." Employees are called to a meeting and informed there will be layoffs, but with a reality show twist: The staff will be allowed to determine who is fired.
The employees will have access to the company's internal information — budgets, HR files, salaries, etc. — to help make their decision.
It's the anti-"Apprentice": Instead of contestants vying for a dream job, they're fighting to keep the lousy one they already have.
Okay, so no one physically dies on the air. But the poor fired individuals on Someone's Gotta Go do suffer very public fiscal, emotional, and career deaths before a television audience. That's definitely an execution of sorts. And not only are they fired—they're fired by a committee of their peers, so basically it's a televised stoning.
Kudos, Fox. In addition to making lay-offs that much more humiliating, you've now forced people to come up with a new low to hyperbolically say that reality television is close to sinking to. "What's next? Televised executions?" doesn't quite cut it in the wake of Someone's Gotta Go.
How about: "What's next? Televised slaughter of bald eagles, kittens, and the merciless de-winging of the last pegasus?" Or "What's next? Who Wants To Be Hobbled?. Or "What's next? Someone's Gotta Bomb This Orphanage?"