I really dont think it is. I think thats just the producers trying to defend what is quite a sick programme. If they really cared there are so many different, more effective and appropriate angles they could take.

angles which wouldn't bring ratings nor attention. some boring pompous-ass "programme" that would be viewed by the 50 people who don't need to be educated on the matter?

i'm all in favor of subverting the media. you can't beat it, you have to join it, but in your own terms.

did you not read pokeherrie's posts about who is doing this??

yes but i'm not convinced. Big Brother started as programme with a few interesting psychological questions too, but soon turned into trash television. I think there are other ways to get ratings and raise awareness. The idea of texting into a television show giving advice as to who should live or die makes me uneasy.

well yeah being uneasy is the very fucking point. i think that more than a few people are going to sign donor cards during or after that show, tasteless as you might think it is.

frankly, i'd be more uneasy being one of the potential recipients than one of the pansy-ass uneasy viewers.

you've never seen a BNN program. They have a very special way of saying things, very direct, and they know how to touch difficult subjects. They've also for insstance made a series where they folllowed terminal ill children, I think that's won some international prizes.
It's certainly not going to be anything vulgar or dumb as Big Brother.
It's too late to write more, besides pokkeherrie descibed it well enough. I don't think I'm going to watch it, but perhaps I'll change my mind.

why doesn't the person who is donating the organ just do it anonymously like everyone else

Because the broadcasting organisation came up with this unreal Big Brother-like program and she agreed to participate in it. It's not about this particular woman, it's about 1000 people being on a waiting list for kidney transplantation. It's probably by far the easiest problem in healthcare to solve, yet every year hundreds of people die unnecessary because they don't get a donor organ. The newspaper today said that in all of Europe 40.000 people are on a waiting list for organ donation... 8 out of 10 Europeans support having a donor form, but only 12% has filled out a donor form.

But this program says implicitly : no waiting list, let the people vote for the one who inspire the most pity. The young child, or the old man ?
It's a terrible concept.
Will they show us the loser 's dead body in conclusion ?

No, we don't know what this program is going to be like until it's actually broadcast... if it's even broadcast at all.

It strucks me that every foreign newspaper and media outlet automatically interprets this as Endemol using people's misery for viewer ratings to make money. But they're not broadcasting it. BNN is a public broadcasting organisation who aren't depending on advertisement money and just commissioned Endemol (the same producer as Big Brother, which seems appropriate) to make it. I'd fear the worst if it was broadcast on commercial stations like John de Mol's Tien/Talpa or SBS6, but from BNN I expect them to make a serious program out of it. To be honest I don't even think they'll really turn it into a deathmatch ending one lucky winner and two losers... I'd be disappointed if they did and if they do then I'll be on your side. But noone knows anything until tomorrow. There are even rumours that there isn't even a program at all and it's just done for publicity. And what publicity do they already have... no less than 3 threads on the Sonic Youth board and even the European Commission are commenting on it. It's not just reached the Dutch parliament but also the European Parliament.

Fact is that people are already contacting BNN to donate one of their kidneys to the candidates that miss out on the kidney in the show. Another fact is that I myself have downloaded a donor form yesterday. Distasteful, unethical, terrible... call it what you want, but it's incredibly effective.

^^there you go

...there you go indeed. I saw the last 35-40 minutes of the programme.

There wasn't a kidney, it was a hoax. The "terminally ill" Lisa was an actress. The three participants in need of a kidney were very real, but in on the complot as well. Throughout the program they were telling about the problems and limitations they are experiencing daily and how much they need a donor kidney in order to live a normal life. The public voted by text messaging to advise "Lisa" whom to give the kidney to. At the same time they could text message free of costs to order a donor card. Then Lisa had to tell one of the candidates to leave. "Sorry, but I think the other two are more in need of a kidney". It sounded so cruel I just couldn't believe it was real. But just before the final decision was being announced the plot was revealed.

Utterly brilliant. High morality combined with the banality of reality TV. Provocative, groundbreaking, touching the limits of what is acceptable, but opening up the discussion on controversial issues. Typically BNN. They've done it again, but this time they didn't just shook Holland but much of the world as well. More than 100 foreign TV broadcasting organisations were present in the studio to report on this vile and sick show. I imagine they must've felt cheated when there wasn't anything juicy to report.

Now hopefully our politicians will put the same effort into helping reduce the donor shortage as they did in condemning this programme.

ha, sounds like they did a great job. i hope it has good results.