Oprah Winfrey expands her media empire into reality TV

Charity, we're told, should come from the heart. But in Oprah Winfrey's latest attempt to expand her television empire, it comes instead from the desire to compete -- in reality TV.

"Oprah's Big Give" debuts at 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC's WLS Channel 7. "I love this game," Oprah gushes toward the end of the first episode, and it's easy to see why, although to be honest a viewer might not draw the altruistic conclusions she intends.

The premise behind "Oprah's Big Give" is simple, and it would seem to be admirable.

"What would you do if someone handed you a bundle of money," Oprah says, "but you had to give that money away?"

In "Oprah's Big Give," 10 contestants have to find ways to give money away to needy individuals. Sunday's premiere finds them paired off in teams of two and assigned five charity cases. The team that does the worst job of improving that person's life stands to get eliminated from the competition, which will rage over eight hourlong episodes in towns ranging from Los Angeles, where things begin, to Denver, Atlanta, New York City and our own -- and, of course, Oprah's -- hometown of Chicago.

"This is a show designed after my own heart," Oprah says. "The biggest giver becomes the biggest winner."

That may be, but allow me to suggest it's also the biggest crock.

Like Oprah's daily talk show, "Oprah's Big Give" exists in its own world. It's a world where television is so pervasive no one notices it, and the same goes without saying for Oprah's immense influence.

It should come as no surprise that the five charitable causes in Sunday's premiere have clearly been chosen for emotional impact. There's the widow of a hardware-store manager killed in a robbery. ("It's hard losing your best friend and soul mate," she says.) There's a homeless woman, a victim of domestic violence. (They've both got kids, of course.) There's a woman who wants to open a home for Down syndrome kids (having one of her own, natch), a UCLA med student with $200,000 in college loans and a retired military officer.

Cue the poignant piano music as all their back stories are told in video profiles.

Again, no surprise there. As thesmokinggun.com Web site has revealed, a weepy back story is the key to giveaway shows like "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and they go out of their way to find the most heart-tugging recipients. After all, who doesn't like to see some deserving family presented a new home? (The utter lack of drama in such a scenario is another issue entirely.) And Oprah's producers are well-trained at sniffing out such treacle, the same way French pigs snuffle out truffles.

Yet not only are the charity subjects picked with an eye for their heart-rending qualities, but so are many of the 10 contestants, such as paraplegic author Carlana (paralyzed in a drunken-driver accident), Iraq War veteran Angelo and model-turned-disaster-relief-worker Eric.

Now, ask yourself this, Aware One: When Oprah calls (at first disguising her voice) to let these people know they've been selected for her "Big Give," how is it there just happens to be a TV camera in the room to monitor their responses?

Put that under Arsenio Hall's old heading of "Things That Make You Go Hmmm."

All right, they're gathered together and given the ground rules: "You either give big or go home," in Oprah's eloquent phrase. (No possibility of compelled compassion there.) They'll be judged by four criteria -- creativity, leadership, presentation and, ahem, accomplishments (read: cash intake) -- by three judges: "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver, NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez and Malaak Compton-Rock, who just happens to be the philanthropist wife of Chris Rock.

Then Oprah assigns "your very first CHAL-LENGE!" -- the aforementioned charity cases -- and they're off.

Once again, however, cameras are in tow. Now, how hard do you think it is to raise money with one of Oprah's cameras trailing along behind? Or maybe it's just magic that moves Jamie Foxx to donate $50,000 to alleviate that med student's loans.

"Oprah's Big Give" never acknowledges the presence of such an observer effect, mainly because the whole issue is off-limits to Oprah's entire way of TV life. People aren't affected by being on TV; they're simply more themselves than at any other time. It's the same way John Travolta stops by for Oprah's birthday because, well, what else is he going to do on her birthday? Simply because she has an all-powerful daily talk show has nothing to do with it.

Just wait until the judges at "the big reveal" (a verb-nouning usage pioneered by Janet Jackson in explaining her infamous "wardrobe malfunction") start tearing away at the fine details of the fundraisers and asking the contestants whom they think should be eliminated, like any Simon Cowell or Donald Trump or Heidi Klum.

Finally, Oprah lets the viewer know that the last charity giver left standing in her "Big Give" will get $1 million, but -- sshhhh! -- the contestants don't know that.

Banana oil. The contestants know there's a pot of something at the end of this show's rainbow, the same way they know there's something good about to happen when Oprah first calls because there's a camera in the room. They're contestants, after all, in a competition brought to you in part by the producers of CBS' "The Amazing Race" (first prize: $1 million), and Oprah is the woman who gives away cars to studio audiences. What, you think she's going to reward her "Big Give" champion with a pat on the back and tickets to her show?

But fine. If a viewer can suspend his or her disbelief enough to approach "Oprah's Big Give" thinking that Oprah and host Nate Berkus and the 10 contestants are doing all this out of the kindness of their hearts, who am I to quibble? Just leave me out of it. It's great that entertainment conglomerates like Disney-ABC and billionaires like Oprah can give away a little money to make a certain few people's lives better (as long as their stories are poignant enough), but if they expect me to reward them by watching and applauding and shedding a few tears, sorry, but I couldn't be more put off by the whole self-congratulatory spectacle.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/oprahsbiggive/index?pn=index