My Thoughts on Secret Millionaire
Fox has a new show called Secret Millionaire and is mysteriously placed during the evening when I happen to be unwinding in front of the telly. I saw the trailer for it and thought, “meh another stupid show.” After I got through the 45 minute intro, I gave it a chance. So what about it? Is it any good? Is it popular or a fleeting pilot to drain away our time for no good reason. Check out our methods to become a millionaire, as well as the trailer at the bottom…
Apparantly it is popular with the general public (the premiere had 8.1 million viewers) and I held a mild interest in it for a little while but, as always, I am playing devils advocate and questioning everything. Before I go any further with my pros and cons, anyone that watches the show: Are the dates on the checks all really April 31st, 2008? If thats the case, strange things are afoot. That would mean that the show predicted the election, the spicier parts of the economic collapse and not to mention, there was no 31st in April. It ended on the 30th. Weird (?)
What I like:
– Great idea to help others, especially in the holiday of giving. Charities are the best bet for best use of the money given…
- Nice to see wealthy people getting some perspective. Often an emotional event for them although I am getting tired of all the tears from the grown men on TV.
- Shows audiences parts of America that they normally might not see.
- Seeing the reactions of the poverty stricken receive life altering gifts. Very touching. I shudder t othink it is scripted.
What I don’t like:
– I am sooo sick watching evening television and constantly seeing grown men crying. It happens all the time, especially in the past year or so. Reality or these docudramas are the biggest culprit. Didn’t used to be like that and I am confused.
- They have the millionaires hanging around a bad part of town for only a week. I say make it a month and have them actually implement a financial support system for themselves so they can see how hard it is for some.
- I know the dollar is weak nowadays, but lets get some billionaires in there. Millionaires are perhaps too common although they could probably be found easier. I might be an extremist on this but it would be more impactful.
- Be more convincing about the under cover millionaires. Have them grow their hair out, don’t shave, and give them more accurate clothes. Taking a guy out of a designer suit and plopping him into a hoody isn’t really a great sell.
- The reveal needs to have less focus on the fact that they “lied” or led them on. Did you lie by just happening not to mention your tax bracket? Build a relationship first then feel bad about lying.
- Let’s give some serious money. $10,000 is nice but I got to thinking, thats such an inbetween number. $1,000 would cover gas for a good long while or groceries. $100,000 would jump start a retirement account that might not have been started. But $10,000? Sure I would take it but the average person is going to blow it, gauranteed.
- What are these uber wealthy doing to teach these people how to further manage the money they do have? I would much rather watch a show where there was a mentor who guided them in managing their finances as opposed to just handing over a bucket of cash while crying and then never seeing them again.
I realize the show is new, and I truly do see potential. Fox, call me and we’ll chat about a Milk Your Money show. It would be gold. :)
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Comments
Finance Nerds indeed. I think I am going to explore the subject further of people who come into large sums of money and the results…
“But $10,000? Sure I would take it but the average person is going to blow it, gauranteed.”
No joke. I once heard the statistics on how many lottery winners end up broke again. It was staggering. It’s really sad, but the majority of people simply do not have a clue.
I like your idea about the mentor thing, but maybe that’s just because we are finance nerds.