I’m still on some databases from back when I used to semi-regularly apply to be on reality tv and game shows. Every once in awhile, if a show is proving particularly difficult to find people for, and if I might match an attribute a show is looking for, I occasionally get an impersonal casting email directly from a casting producer about the show.
I typically don’t fit at all with what the show is looking for or I’m not at all interested and I just delete the email and move on.
Today however? TODAY – perhaps due to the overabundance of love/Valentine’s/marriage/relationships/50 Shades of Gray stuff all around the internet world at the moment – but today I was feeling a bit introspective…and a bit bold…and maybe a teeny tiny bit convicted to stand up for my thoughts in regards to it all.
Today I got an email about a reality show that is looking for and trying to cast (and presumably having trouble finding people willing to participate) “married couples that are at a crossroads in their relationship and are interested in having couples counseling while trying an open relationship to help fix things between them. If selected you would receive free couples counseling as well as a substantial amount of money as an appearance fee for participating in this social experiment.”
My first thought, like usual, was to delete and move on. But because it was TODAY and I was feeling like it today, I decided that, hey, the least I can do is kindly email him back and let him know why I’m not interested. I mean, why not? Life is short. Sometimes you gotta just do things.
Who knows?
Maybe he’ll agree with me. Maybe he doesn’t really like his job and is just doing what he has to.
Maybe just hearing someone have hope for marriage in an environment of a show that assumes that the idea of monogamous marriage is hopeless will somehow encourage him or someone he works with.
Maybe it’ll make me feel as though I somehow had a tiny small voice in the grand going-ons of the world.
Or maybe none of that will happen.
But hey, it was today of all days and today I was feeling daring.
So I emailed him back and kindly explained that my husband and I were not interested in the show, adding that “If any good comes out of this open relationship experiment – it will most likely be due to the encouragement of raw, open communication in talking about intimacy and desires within a marriage, and not have anything to do with experimentation outside of marriage.”
Surprisingly, I got a response.
“I completely understand. This show isn’t for everyone.
If you happen to know of any other couple that might be going through tough times… would you mind forwarding the casting info below to them for me? Perhaps they might be interested in applying.”
Because that wouldn’t be awkward at all to suggest to my friends…
Although, if anything, and as a weird silver lining, perhaps the very fact that this guy is having such trouble finding L.A. couples to participate in this ‘social experiment’ is testament that the state of marriage in this city is not as hopeless as one could think.
But, hey, if anyone reading this is actually interested in auditioning for this open relationship couples counseling show, then send me an email, I guess, and I’ll get you hooked up…