I confess to watching most of “Who’s Your Daddy?”, Fox’s maudlin melodrama in which a blonde babe tries to pick her biological father out of a line-up of seven men and pocket $100,000. She guessed correctly, of course.
Adoptive parents and others, including the National Council for Adoption, pleaded with Fox’s 182 affiliates not to air it. Only one station in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina didn’t. Except for a brief mention at thebeginning of the show, the woman’s adoptive parents weren’t discussed. That’s one reason for the loud protest among adoption advocates and others who worried that it would trivialize a deeply emotional experience.
Fox has filmed six separate “Who’s Your Daddy?” shows. Even though none has been scheduled yet, I’m betting the controversy will simmer for awhile. So start thinking of all the ways you can piggyback story ideas onto the show.S ome examples:
–Should local TV stations bow to protesters, like the one Fox station in North Carolina did? Or should viewers decide for themselves what they want to watch? Take either side of the censorship issue in an op-ed article or letter to the editor.
–Authors, speakers and relationship experts can comment on any aspect of father/daughter relationships. Call local TV stations and newspapers in the next day or two and offer opinions for the local angle to this story.
–Therapists, psychologists and others whose patients include people who were adopted, birth parents who gave up their children for adoption, and adoptive parents, should comment about the other side of last night’s tear-soaked reunion. Will the show open old wounds for adopted children who searched for their biological parents, only to learn the parents didn’t want to meet them?
–The “Who’s Your…?” phrase is hot right now but eventually will become worn. Consider using a variation of this phrase in your pitch.
Now start pitching, but do it in 30 seconds or less. If you can trim yourpitch to 15 seconds, all the better. Raleigh Pinskey shows you how on a recordingof the teleseminar titled “How to Create the Perfect 30-Second Pitch.”