Us vs. ... Us

[filkertom]

Sounds like a one-off PartiallyClips strip, but it's real:

Coming to Fox: a reality series in which actual companies that are struggling to stay afloat in this lousy economy agree -- presumably in exchange for money -- to let their staffs decide which among them is going to get pink-slipped to save money.

To populate its new "Lord of the Flies"-esque series, "Someone's Gotta Go," Fox has lined up actual companies -- smaller, Dunder Mifflin-esque-sized (15-20 employees) ones -- having financial difficulties.

In each case, the company's boss or owner will call all the employees together and tell them someone's going to get laid off. But rather than the boss/owner making the decision, he or she will instead give the employees all the available information about one another -- salaries, job evaluations, etc. -- and let the employees decide who will get pink-slipped.

Because, after all, we're all in this together, right?

Oh, and, I take it that the companies don't actually get enough remuneration from Fox to keep the employee on. So it's basically a national ad showing that you and your company suck.

The complete and total distillation of the modern "conservative" credo: Screw You, I Got Mine.

Comments

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

That's... that's disgusting.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

So are they going to open each episode with Alec Baldwin giving the "Coffee is for closers" lecture to the remaining victims? Enquiring minds want to know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AXTx4PcKI

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Oh for havens' sake...as someone who works at an office of 17 people, I can just imagine how this place would self-destruct if we were ever on that show. *rolls eyes* Because, oh yeah, in an economy like this, this is just the sort of vicarious pleasure we need...watching people tear each other apart in an every-man-for-himself, I-only-care-about-me, tough-shit 'reality' competition. What a crock.

The only possible way this is redeemable is if, at the end of the show, the employees all band together and say 'screw you, we're not pink-slipping anyone!'

But I ain't holding my breath.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

The only possible way this is redeemable is if, at the end of the show, the employees all band together and say 'screw you, we're not pink-slipping anyone!'

I'd settle for the employees leaving a sign which says "Take this job and shove it," or "Get your bread and circuses somewhere else."

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

As I am so fond of saying... Fox Network, No Relation.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

I think I may throw up.

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Oh, man ... admittedly these days I'm working for a company that has way more employees than 15-20, but I remember what it was like to work for a company that small. (And despite my company's large size, it manages to maintain a "smalltown" feeling to it.) I can't bear to imagine what it would be like to work for one of the featured companies.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

What's next? A show in which someone not only gets pink-slipped, but then s/he gets barbecued and we have to watch?

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

No, I think the next thing to do is find some minority religion to be thrown to hungry lions.

Okay, maybe not. But I'm feeling extra-cynical right now.

[sdelmonte]

I don't suppose they can fire the boss for being a complete jerk, can they?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Would that Fox's employees could do that. Then with any luck for us he could stay in his damned fiefdom of Australia and not be seen nor heard from here ever again. But that's the fantasy ending.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Can the employees vote to throw the boss out?

This is disgusting. Fox Network releases shows like this then Fox News complains about declining morals. I hope if this show is made it will bomb. Maybe then Fox will realize people are better than that.

[fionn320.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Fox makes money on stuff like this because they know that people aren't better than that. They cater to mob mentality precisely because it does make money. Individually, most people are fairly decent folk; but collectively, people suck.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I think I saw the casting breakdown for this a while back. (Yes, they're in with the actual acting ones.) It was one of the more nausea-inducing ones, and this backs up my theory that those are the most likely to get a pickup. :-PP

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Its things like this that make me wonder when the mantra of "hard work, perseverance, good attitude and more hard work" mutated into the diseased mentality that's become "screw you and everyone else, I want it all".

Real conservatism is, and should be, about people working hard for their success with minimal interference from the government; but working within the rules to get there. (i.e. working within safety regulations and the like). It's not, and real conservatism, never was about screw jobbing everyone you can on your way to success.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I tell ya. Play Hard, Play Fair, Nobody Hurt is not a political credo -- it's the right way to do things. I'd have thought.

[mythdude.livejournal.com]

So with the money that they'd make from Fox putting them on the air, you'd think they could keep the employee on...

[tommytoony.livejournal.com]

Ho. Ly. Shit. Unbe-freaking-lieveable.

Then again, I expect nothing less from the Fox Network, who have a long history of this kind of crap. Hell, their biggest show, "American Idol", revels in its biggest failures.

And the sad part is...people will watch this. Mark my words. This will be a huge hit, cos people enjoy nothing more than watching other people fall.

(*turns off the TV*)

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Is there anything Fox does anymore that's worth watching (except The Simpsons, which is still at least good, if no longer consistently great)?

I'll stick to Heroes for my masochistic TV fix, thanks.

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

I like House. . .

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

This would be today's reason I'm glad I don't have a TV.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

A little late for an AFJ, aren't you, Fox?

I heard about this on Marketplace Money this morning. Even the Tweeters at NPR are disgusted.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Disgusting. Extremely. Ugh.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Right now the Fox execs are looking at this controversy, rubbing their hands and cackling "Look at all of this disgust! Millions of people are offended! Our ratings are going to be astronomical!"

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

This is the right place for a protest to the advertisers, I think.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Ironically, most of the people who will watch this tripe are folks who were laid off themselves.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Besides the obvious reactions of everyone here, there are a couple of other things that hit me as I read this.

First, companies are based on workers relying on each other. How can people be expected to work together after this show destroys that minimal level of trust?

Second, since it's pretty obvious that the employees didn't vote on having their lives exposed this way, the show is a violation of privacy rights. "Reality shows" rely on people who sign waivers allowing them to basically be stripped naked and thrown into a pit of jackals, and there are people who do that. What about the small company employees who don't do that for this show? Are they going to have their faces blurred and be labeled as "Coward #1," "Coward #2" or something?

Third, this seems to be a parallel to the Republicans eating one another alive in the political arena. They're infighting right now like they were Democrats. This is the same thing; a big company (NewsCorp) preying on small companies (Ferd's Plastics Supply). Would any sane businessman trust his advertising dollars to a predatory...no, psychotic...operation like this?

This program concept is DOA.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

How can people be expected to work together after this show destroys that minimal level of trust?

Yes, that. No company of any kind would survive this sort of thing; for one that's already struggling, it's... well, the kindest interpretation is "putting it out of its misery". Unfortunately, I suspect that a more realistic decoding is "the boss is going to take the money and run, and nobody else matters".

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Just when I think Fox can't sink any lower than it already has...

Gods, I can't wait until the reality show madness has run its course.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?", a show where people are encouraged to act, NOBLE, COURAGEOUS and KIND, a show with a POSITIVE MESSAGE for children AND adults gets canceled!

I tell ya... Is the world even WORTH saving anymore?

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

As awful as this is, I must admit I want to see it...
Because as a worker whose company has laid off people every single quarter for six quarters in a row, I REALLY wish I had a say. In fact we were talking here about how we'd like to get together and discuss it -- that we'd prefer it if we were all called into a room and told, okay, this is how much money we need to cut, you guys figure it out.
Then we could vote on things like wage cuts (we could call them recession raises!) or turning off all the freakin' lights and computers they stay on ALL THE TIME, or trucking home all the paper so it can be recycled, and thus cut down on our trash costs...or maybe laying people off. And in one case, a guy was about to leave when the layoffs occurred, and he wasn't laid off. He felt really guilty about it, because if they'd only known, they could've laid off one less person.
So honestly, I think these conversations SHOULD be occurring with the employees. We should have the right to know how our company's doing -- bottom line, revenue, expenses, everything. I'd be willing to sign something first saying I wouldn't tell competitors or anybody else.
I think I would feel violated by having tv cameras in this conversation, but I'm hoping the employees involved get paid and thus the person who gets laid off has a nice nest egg to start out. And I'm hoping the people think of those sorts of inventive solutions rather than just doing the whole "vote 'em off" thing. That's why I'll watch -- to see if they do that.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Problem is, that wouldn't be the dialogue they'd have. You watch: it'll be a finger-pointing shouting match, doo-dah, doo-dah.

At my last office job, we had a middle manager who was brought in to "boost productivity", etc. One of those trained in management college, but with no actual experience, and certainly none dealing with actual people. She was a manipulator, playing basically everybody in the company off each other. At one point, there was a company meeting, and a lot of people had concerns: five employees had been laid off within about two weeks. Her entire addressing of the issue was to look at everybody and coolly say, "You do understand the term work-for-hire, right?"

Nobody said a damn thing. We were all enraged, and scared of losing our jobs.

Turned out, she forgot she was under a 90-day probation, just like everybody else, and the bosses got sick of her jacking everybody around, and buh-bye. I drove into work singing, "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead."

I'll never forget that day: Sept 10, 2001.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

The most interesting thing, to me, would be to follow up the aftermath of everyone in the company knowing each others' salaries and other information normally kept private.

If I had a company this size, I would be afraid that the company would implode, unless, of course, the employees already knew this information about each other. Even without the negative advertising aspect. Sheesh!

[phecda.livejournal.com]

As much of a tragedy as it would be should it actually happen, visualize with me some employee in this situation going postal and splattering the boss and the Fox camera crew. Think of the law suits...

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

If there were a way to ruin the show that badly and expose Fox to that kind of liability without actually harming anyone, I'd be wishing for it so hard.

[lariss.livejournal.com]

Do you think they'll make an episode of The Office lampooning this?




it's completely something Michael would do.