Tasteful, Tacky or Trendy: A Proposed TV Show Involving Family Fights over Heirlooms?

It’s Memorial Day. Perhaps you are sharing a picnic with family and friends. You might need a topic to spice up the conversation amid potato salad and barbecued hot dogs, right? How about this…

Recently I’ve been hearing from lawyers who are commenting on recent telephone calls or emails they’ve received from a West Coast TV promoter, inquiring as to whether they have clients who might be interested in appearing on a new television reality show.  Or, maybe the lawyer would want to participate? Here’s a description of the proposed show from one of the lawyers who was contacted by a rep of the show:

“It will feature family members disputing who will inherit heirlooms, historical artifacts, or valuable collections. The show will provide a professional mediator free of charge to help the family members resolve the dispute.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  We’ve had some 20 seasons of  “Judge Judy“ and her brethren.  I have a vague memory, going back to childhood, of an early iteration of  “Divorce Court” — with lots of shouting.  While living in the U.K., I used to occasionally catch a show about searches for missing heirs and another about family confrontations with “hoarders.” (And oh how sad that last one was.) So, I guess it isn’t a huge jump to a show that arguably sensationalizes family fights over old family “stuff.” Perhaps it is even a logical next step from Antiques Roadshow, the hugely popular, and fairly dignified, PBS program.

By coincidence, just as I had finished typing the above paragraphs, I received my own communication from a developer of the proposed show.  Turns out that the show is pitched as a “bigger” concept than just estate disputes.  Mark Dalbis, from Atlas Media Corporation, and who seems like a nice guy in his email, writes:

“Our intention is to produce a very positive and informative series illustrating various ways out of conflict.  We have cast a mediator with over 20 years experience in helping families resolve disputes and has helped many families stay together.   It’s easy to lump us in with the Honey Boos Boos of the world, simply because the show isn’t written out ahead of time, but this will not be that type of series.  

 

 

We pitched this to a major cable network and they added the part about heirloom/estate disputes, which makes it a better fit for their network.  And this is something that does happen very frequently.”