"Baby the prize in TV show

30apr04
FIVE couples desperate for a child will be seen competing to adopt a baby on American television.
The program, promoted as "the ultimate reality show", follows a 16-year-old mother's search for parents for her daughter.

It shows her interviewing the prospective parents and then the arrival of her baby.

It also shows the child settling in to her new home, being baptised and finally meeting her mother again in the TV studio.

Be My Baby is to be broadcast as part of the respected ABC news program 20/20.




Host Barbara Walters, who is an adoptive mother, presents the search tonight.

The mother, known only as Jessica, will be seen interviewing five sets of prospective parents.

Each try to convince her they are the most suitable to take care of her child.

John Stossel, who co-hosts 20/20, said: "Barbara will bring you what might be called the ultimate reality show.

"As you watch, a pregnant teenager will decide which of five couples gets her baby.

"As the competing parents try to persuade Jessica they are Mr and Mrs Right, the teenager talks about 'playing God'. She refers to her initial interviews with the couples as the 'elimination round'."

Complaints poured into the network after commercials promoting the reality show theme were broadcast earlier this week.

As a result, they will be toned down.

American radio journalist Jane Braverman, who is adopting a child, said: "While I haven't seen the show, it sounds like the marketing department at ABC was attempting to add a reality-TV spin, which is definitely an all-time low, especially when children are at stake.

"My friend's teenage son, who was passing the living room when the promotion was airing, even found it offensive. He said: 'How could a child be a prize in a reality show?' "

ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said the show simply documented Jessica's experience as she went through the open adoption process.

"It is a thoughtful report on the process of open adoption that we think will be of interest to the American people. Clearly, there is no competition," he said.

Quelle: [heraldsun.news.com.au] "

Demnächst in ihrem TV Todesspiele wie im alten Rom.