Secret Millionaire

Really good show. I wish it was still on. I really liked the concept, the positive aspect, and seeing the impoverished areas. True it may be a rip off of Oprah, but it was still positive. This doesn't happen in TV too often. The Houston Millionaires and Knoxville are two of my favorite episodes. It was really sad to see some of the areas and basic things that people have to go through to get things done. The production work was pretty good on this show too. Most of the people being helped probably figured something good was going to happen when the Millionaire finally revealed himself. I didn't know how this was going to continue on, but it's worth a watch!

I love this show.

As for the poor, as a former homeless person let me tell you that some of the best people I met were there. After all, you are sort of all in the same boat and have really nothing.

I have been helped by people such as the recipients in the show. Maybe it's just that you have to be in that situation to know. I have been taken in by strangers, gotten food from churches, etc.

That said, it looks as if the participants are actually giving out more than the minimum amount. The couple who went to Louisana actually gave out $300k. The lawyer gave out $150k.

The premise is distinctly American with a hearty dose of perverted Christian ethics and a hint of social Darwinism. Granted, the initial story arcs are a bit contrived and tend towards the pedantic... "Oh my gosh, what are we getting into??" becomes "I always thought poor people were people who couldn't get their acts together but now I know it is us rich people who are living lives of fantasy!!" and eventually into the aspect of "I've learned so much from these noble plebes!!" But we ought not forget the aspect of the master coming home in the night--the good will be rewarded with cold hard cash. Not uninterestingly, there appear to be no people of ill will in these impoverished neighborhoods. It is not immediately clear if this is because the bad people are out hustling for cold hard cash money BLING! or if the state of being destitute naturally imbues humans with the goodness that only poverty provides, but really, the point to be gleaned here is that Aaron is a huge douche and this show is going to take off big time.

This reality based series is a formula concept which actually is already doing a public service. It involves real Millionaires going into down trodden circumstances and meeting real people and deciding how they can take their good fortune & make a real difference in peoples lives. It goes beyond the Bill Gates form a foundation type of giving and looks at reality with information & emotion.

A great thing about the first 2 episodes is that it calls attention to the fact that there are plenty of areas in America which need help and the first 2 episodes did a great job of highlighting this. This first show involved the most polluted beach in America in Southern California near the Mexican Border. The second involved a town in Louisiana which was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. Both episodes are eye openers.

One thing the first episode did was highlight a lawyer and his son who has has gotten rich repossessing houses. This show gave both of them a chance to live as poor people in a run down beach area and find out how real people live. The great thing is how they become emotionally involved in others lives and then how they decide to help some of those folks that they met.

The second show involved a young millionaire couple in Baton Rouge Louisana who find out how bad things still are south of them from the hurricane. This couple made their money with a successful chicken finger chain of restaurants.

The concept involves each of these rich folks fibbing to people in order to meet them at their own level and learn about these folks they meet and how they want to help them. The stories are quite compelling.

This show actually goes beyond the first shows CBS News did on poverty in America many years ago. CBS showed poverty in America on television for the first time in those specials. This one shows a very real America, introduces the fortunate to the UN-fortunate, and then lets the fortunate try to make a real difference to the folks they meet. CBS News shows were only a sensational exposure of poverty & did nothing to help besides making folks aware.

Even though the formula might tend to be the same every week, the people, places, and stories will tend to keep this show fresh and educational. This is what good reality television should be all about and Fox seems to have it here so far, after the first 2 shows.

I don't get what the poster below is talking about. Whoever this "Aaron" is, clearly he knows his stuff. Clearly. "Secret Millionaire" is all well and good, but it comes off looking like a mishmash ripoff of a whole bunch of old cancelled reality shows thrown together in a blender. The intention is nice, but it's basically "The Simple Life" with cash giveaways at the end of every episode.

Am I jaded and heartless because I was bored out of my mind watching this show? Maybe, but I don't think so...it's just not a very good show. Not a very good show at all.

And so, in conclusion, ask not wherefore the Other is a douche: know rather that the douche is thee.