In recent installments of sitting in the same room as a television, I’ve noticed TV shows about people trying to buy a house and people trying to sell a house over the past few weeks. I don’t know how long these programs have been around, but the makers of these shows could be taking advantage of the housing crisis to show how people are buying and selling.
Then I started to think. What other mundane activities could turn into TV shows?
You’re Hired: Watch the job search of a group of unemployed people from various walks of life. Watch them write resumes and cover letters, struggle to get the word out that they’re looking for a job, let them go to any heights to find a job and impress potential employers, tape the excitement that they actually got a job interview, tape the interview itself, along with the thank you note and the nail-biting that goes along with waiting. Will she get hired? Won’t she? Stay tuned!
Survivor, Foreign Travels Edition: Throw a group of people in a foreign country where none of them know the official language(s) spoken. Give them a dictionary and basic challenges: Make a restaurant reservation, go to a major tourist spot, master the public transit, give directions when asked, go grocery shopping, go to the post office, see a doctor, watch a movie, go to a sporting event, etc.
The Real World (no, really) : Throw a bunch of freshly minted grads out into the real world and record their adventures with figuring out how to get a job, pay the bills, and still have money left for fun. Show their adventures in cooking, unclogging the toilet, dealing with cantankerous neighbors, fending off unwanted visitors, and other activities previously left to Mom and Dad.
Adventures in Frantic Novel-Writing: Show what’s going in the lives of a group of NaNoWriMo novelists, from signing up for the challenge on October first (or returning to the site for the veterans) to wasting time, stocking up on writing snacks, posting on the forums, rallying for free shrimp dinners, trying to convince people to do NaNo, and finally, writing (or putting off writing).
These don’t have any hope of becoming real TV shows, though, probably because they’re too real.