That 'Big Give' Feeling: Warm, Fuzzy & Familiar

Washington Post - United States - Whatever their various disparities, the contestants on Oprah Winfrey's new reality game show have one thing in common: They believe in themselves. And how! "This might be a chance for me to make a difference," says one aspiring do-gooder, eyes misty. "We are making this miracle happen," gushes another as she helps secure housing for a homeless woman.

"Oprah's Big Give," premiering tomorrow night on ABC, has roots that go way, way back in TV history -- to such mawkish '50s bawl games as "Strike It Rich" and "Queen for a Day," where contestants were rewarded for sob stories with such fabulous prizes as washers and dryers and mink coats.

Winfrey's version has a new wrinkle, which she explains in opening remarks: "What would you do if someone handed you a bundle of money, but there's a twist: You have to give all that money away?" Ah, but there's still another twist: The contestants who show the greatest ingenuity and gusto in handing out the bundles of money are eligible for a grand prize of 1 million bucks.

If that sounds like a distorted notion of philanthropy, Winfrey assures us that the million-dollar prize is a secret unbeknownst to the competitors. And yet, the fact that they are called competitors, and that in "American Idol" fashion someone is kicked off the show each week, obviously lets the players know that some sort of big fat pot is waiting at the end of the rainbow.

Now Empress Oprah is, as everyone knows, a very busy woman -- ever on the prowl in search of good deeds that need doing (helping Cub Scouts cross the street, perhaps) -- and so she could devote only a limited amount of time to "Big Give," her appearances whizzing by in a blur. She literally phones it in, in fact, plopping herself down at a speakerphone early in the premiere so she can call those who've been chosen as players and trill the glad tiding. A couple of them nearly suffer strokes at the news that her majesty is on the phone.

"Oh my God! Are you serious?!" one woman exclaims. "Wow, I don't believe it!" shouts a happy man. Winfrey shouts, too, of course, as is her custom on her own show. She may start a sentence speaking in a normal tone of voice, but as she nears the end, SHE RATCHETS UP TO CAPITAL LETTERS AND ESCALATES TO EXCLAMATION POINTS!