Unan1mous

The 2005-2006 season has been an uncommonly good one for FOX overall. Which is a refreshing change after many seasons of canceling wonderful shows (including Firefly, John Doe, Futurama and many others) and abysmal reality shows. For some time it appeared FOX had given up on virtually all quality programming.

However this season we had "House". "Bones". "Prison Break". "24". Let's not forget cornerstones like "American Idol". Overall a quality season.

And... then came "Unan1mous". Eww. Amidst a lineup of shows, a number of which were real winners, FOX reverts to type for a moment and brings on garbage like this. A banal reality show in keeping with such "gems" as Joe Millionaire and Mr Personality. What can I saw about this show except - STOP MAKING THINGS LIKE THIS! If you ever get a chance to see this, for heaven's sake, DON'T! Oh, well. FOX has redeemed themselves, for the most part, in my eyes. Prison Break, 24 and House are excellent shows. I can forgive them for Unan1mous.

I forgive them less for canceling "Arrested Development", one of the best comedies in years, but that is another story... ;)

I can't believe people are reviewing this for it's "entertainment value". It simply hasn't any, but the really striking thing about "Unan1mous" is the sheer, unvarnished cruelty it so proudly parades. Here's the premise: You put a group of contestants together, flaunting the fact that these people are in real dire straits, mind you; they've all been through monumental personal loss and they look like life has simply smacked the snot out of them. Then, you make these poor souls dance like papier mache marionettes, while dangling a gradually diminishing $1,500,000 prize, forcing them to negotiate with each other and the producers, until they can choose which one of the whole group of 9, will take home the entire amount (whatever's left of it, that is). You have them do this in a bleak concrete underground bunker while a smug, pernicious host watches and comments about the 'action' over television monitors set high in the ceiling, to reflect, I would imagine, the godlike power of the money. I saw Sidney Lumet's classic satire "Network" again last week, and believe me, Paddy Cheyefsky couldn't have made anything like this up. They simply wouldn't have believed it. So the question would be, what kind of values are the executives at FOX using to put garbage like this on, anyway? What moral center are they working with? This filth is a disgrace to everything good Americans have stood for over the course of 230 years. I'm sickened by it and host J.D. Roth at least, should be ashamed of himself for being involved in this travesty. He certainly looks like he's sold his soul to the devil. FOX has put some real trash on over the years, but "Unan1mous" is a certifiable new low.

Possibly worse than the Jerry Springer show. Of course everyone would want to win the money, so you can see where all the problems are going to come in. They wouldn't want anyone else to win the money, losing their chance to win it themselves. I don't think it could have been any more predictable. If it ever reruns, don't waste your time. Worthless, absolutely worthless. What a waste of 8 half hours of television. This is particularly disappointing since they were wasting the perfect opportunity to cash in on following American Idol, why would you not put a really good new show on to follow it, seeing as so many people are watching? This was not meant to be a full season show, so why waste the time slot? Fox has hit an all time low with this show.

Although I didn't like it for many reasons, I actually like the ending of the show. 9 people are in a room and 1.5 million dollar is in the line and the people have to vote for ONE person for them to win. The votes have to be UNANIMOUS (8/9, 7/8, 6/7, 5/6...etc.). Some of them are greedy but some are not. The people can also leave whenever they want but the money gets cut in half. The concept of the show shows what people are really like in real life. These people can't actually have a Unanimous decision, can't they? But it will end sooner or later. When the show ends, it shows that people are not greedy but generous in a way and made one person life's changed. It gives you a awe feeling, at the end of the season for the people and the winner. This TV show can be harsh in some ways because it really shows that people are greedy, but it's worth the watch.

I have given this some thought and I am now prepared to say that, of all the television shows that I have ever watched which successfully completed a full season of programming, "Unan1mous" is the worst I have ever seen. They locked 9 contestants in a basement and then had them do nothing for a period of many days (it may have been 30 days, but I'm not sure of that. Who cares?). Well, actually, they did do something -- intermittently they would vote to determine who won money. It was like the reality show "Big Brother" but with no competitions (and no sunlight). The contestants on "Unan1mous" appeared to be made physically ill from life in the "underground bunker" ("moldy basement" would have been a more apt term to use than "underground bunker"). I watched most of the episodes out of a perverse curiosity -- to see if they could possibly have an entire season of programming in which NOTHING interesting took place. They did it!