I cased out the first episode of The Briefcase, a new CBS reality show that debuted last week.
"What would you do with $101,000?" a narrator opens the unscripted series (7 p.m. Wednesdays. "All across America, hard-working middle-class families are feeling the impact of rising debt and shrinking paychecks.
"But sometimes hope shows up when you least expect it."
Or at least producers and a camera crew do.
In each hour-long episode, two down-on-their-luck families receive a briefcase with $101,000 inside. And, after getting to spend $1,000 however they wish, they must make a decision within 72 hours:
Deal? Or no deal? Sorry, that was another greed-versus-need show involving briefcases. Back to The Briefcase.
Families can keep all of the money.
Families can keep some of the money.
Or families can give all the money to another deserving family of strangers -- not knowing that they, too, have been given a similarly stocked briefcase and will make the same decision regarding them.
We're positive that everyone is going to give it to charity -- and by charity, we mean the kind that begins at home. This is America. Everyone will keep the money, right? Easy.
But then the producers make it hard. They show the families -- via informational texts and secret home visits -- just how hard the other family has it. And that's when The Briefcase turns basket case.
The first episode features the Bronsons in New Hampshire who are floundering financially. Not only did Purple Heart recipient Dave -- father of a 3-year-old -- lose his leg in combat, he must hike up three floors to get to his apartment. ("He served time in war for our country, for our freedom, for me, my husband, for my children and what an unselfish act for him to do," Kim Bergin tortures herself through tears looking around the Bronson's residence.) Wife and breadwinner Cara is a nurse. A pregnant one. They're expecting a baby any minute. And their debt exceeds their annual income.
The Bergins of North Carolina are hurting too. Not only was Joe, father of three teenagers, laid off from his job, he now can't work the ice cream truck business he started due to injuries from an accident. The Bergins, who are in debt, have no insurance to help with mounting medical bills, and Kim's part-time job only helps so much. ("I feel for people who don't have medical insurance," nurse Cara says. "To be in the medical field and know how much things cost medically, it adds up. I don't know what they do.")
A $100,000 sum would be a life-changer to both families. But how can either feel good about this guilt-loaded so-called "gift?" If they keep it for their loved ones, they'll look stingy on national TV (though they're told this is all for a documentary about money). If they give it all away, they sentence their loved ones to more struggling.
In the end both families, who must meet face to face and explain their decision, give all the money away. This means each couple gets to keep $100,000 (well, minus the taxes) and their reputations. Tears. Hugs. Fuzzies. We all can feel good about the world.
Until we think how awful it would have been if both people kept their money, or if one family got all the money.
And until we think how horrible it is that a network is getting wealthier pitting poor people against one another in a manipulative money mind game.
In brief: The Briefcase is a big bummer. Case closed.
Build your case, email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
Style on 06/02/2015