[the rules] 7 unacceptable types of person (plus 3)

[dot_fennel]

The premise behind ABC's cancelled reality TV series Welcome to the Neighborhood was that three straight-laced families would pick from seven families which were in some way undesirable; the winning 'bad' family's prize was a fancy home with the three gatekeeper families as neighbors. The three families already living on the cul-de-sac apparently consisted of an insular one, a Republican one, and a Christian one. But I was more interested to read about the contestants; given the standard reality-TV "one of each" casting strategy, what did ABC's producers decide were the seven best types of "outsider" family to put on television? (I'm relying on about.com for descriptions, since ABC isn't promoting the show anymore.)

1. The Crenshaws: a religious African American family.
2. The Eckhardts: a family who blend their Native American and Caucasian
   heritages with Pagan spirituality.
3. The Gonzalezes: a loud, boisterous Hispanic family.
4. The Lees: an Asian family that runs a sushi restaurant.
5. The Morgans: a Caucasian family that looks picture-perfect, except 
   Mrs. Morgan has a little secret.
6. The Sheets: defying all stereotypes, this Caucasian family are
   covered in tattoos and are staunch Republicans.
7. The Wrights: a Caucasian homosexual couple who've adopted an African
   American boy.

It took a tremendous amount of willpower not to put scare quotes around half of the words there, but okay. Elsewhere on the web I read that Mrs. Morgan's "little secret" (see?) is that she's a stripper. So, three non-white families that are presented as being racially stereotypical in some salient way, three families with some kind of counter-cultural stigma, and the gay couple, whose objectionability, I think, is sort of in its own cultural category these days.

My morbid fascination with this premise extends to how, exactly, the competition was going to work. Were they just going to put everyone in situations where they had to mingle and see what happens? Or were the contestant families going to have to prove their worth with cartoonish feats of mainstream acceptability-- you know, a barbecue competition, a Tom Clancy trivia contest, ordeal by water, things like that.

The kicker, though: I've been talking about this as a counterfactual, but it all actually happened before the protests started and ABC pulled the show. So the winners, whoever they were, got the house; they just didn't get on television. I somehow find that much MORE disturbing than the prospect of it airing, or of the competition never happening at all.

Comments

[narcissuskisses.livejournal.com]

... a Tom Clancy trivia contest ...

That made me laugh a lot.

As I read along, I never expected you to tell us that the competition actually took place. I figured the protesting would have happened while the show was being filmed, or even before, when it was first conceptualized. But I suppose most people had no idea it even existed until the time came to choose a prime time slot.

[narcissuskisses.livejournal.com]

Also: Now I really want to know who won.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

Me too. I bet there's no way to find out.

[dot_fennel]

I should have known the internet would know this:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508020052aug02,1,1659031.story

A long-time Chicago Tribune correspondent happens to live in the neighborhood where the show took place, and he wrote an article about what he learned from going to the full-series screening ABC held a while back for the locals.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

I was going to be that the Black family had won.

I am horrified, actually.

[narcissuskisses.livejournal.com]

Haha! I suspected that particular family would win. Though the judging families hated their bedroom practices, I'm sure, I really thought the gay men (and maybe this is also playing into a stereotype) would fit in best. I don't want that to sound... crass or anything. But it reminds me of a Will and Grace episode (just bear with me here) where Jack buys a home in a supposedly up and coming gay community. Instead, he just finds average white folks who beg him to stay because he will bring more gay men into town who will spend money and make the area more sophisticated.