“Oprah’s Big Give™” is a big hit for ABC. The premise is simple. Oprah gives the contestants on the show a bunch of money, but there is a catch; they have to give all of the money away. They can’t keep any of it for themselves. The purpose behind this exercise is that Oprah is a big believer in the “it’s better to give than receive” thing, and she wants these contestants to experience the joy and “high” of giving to help out someone else. What the contestants don’t know, though, is that the contestant who gives away the most money using the most creativity and whatever other factors Oprah and her D-List “celebrity” judges deem worthy will receive one million dollars from Oprah.
Now, does this premise sound familar to anybody else? Somebody is given a fortune, but they have to give it away; but if they give it away, they get a bunch of money?
Why yes, that is familiar. That is pretty much the exact plot of the 1985 Richard Pryor / John Candy comedy “Brewster’s Millions”. Only, they don’t take it as far as they do in the movie. What they need are some underhanded scheming trustees who will get the one million dollar prize if the contestants fail to give away the money. This would add some much needed drama to the show, as it is currently far too sweet and uplifting to make it on today’s television market. At any rate, I don’t think I’ll be watching this, but I just had to comment on the obvious parallels between this show and one of Richard Pryor’s most average comedies.
