Review: Amy grants wishes in new 'reality TV' show
By Peter T. Chattaway
WHAT CAN you give the pop star who has everything, including a handful of Grammys, far too many Dove Awards, and an acting credit or two? How about a chance to be a fairy godmother, a genie in the lamp, or a Touched by an Angel wanna-be, visiting small towns every week with a camera crew in tow and making dreams come true for some of the "deserving" locals.
The premiere episode of Three Wishes, which airs on NBC this Friday night, follows Amy Grant and her entourage -- including Clean Sweep's Eric Stromer and Trading Spaces' Carter Oosterhouse -- to a town in California, where they quickly settle on: a girl whose skull was badly damaged in a car accident; a leukaemia-stricken cheerleading coach who wants her girls to have a decent football field; and a boy who wants to be adopted by his step-dad.
Together, Grant and her team knock on judges' doors, plead with corporate donors, give away free trucks and T-shirts, build spacious playhouses in backyards while the unsuspecting families are away, and arrange fund-raising events to pay off the neighbours' medical bills.
The show is sort of like what you might get if the Make a Wish Foundation began performing random acts of kindness -- and because it's Amy granting the wishes, there are occasional musical interludes, too, whether it's because a girl asks her to play a song while she visits the house, or because the fund-raising carnival needs a headlining musical act.
There's something a little sickly-sweet about it all, but one is reluctant to criticize the show because the people who receive these favours do seem to need the help. And besides, I think most of us would gladly accept a free automobile -- or a year's supply of free diapers, for that matter -- if all we had to do was let somebody film us jumping for joy.
The show captures some of the townsfolk's cuter quirks, too, like the time Grant goes looking for someone and finds him flying a biplane. And Grant offers the occasional bit of homespun wisdom, such as when a girl asks why one of her friends, who was the best at everything, has suffered so badly; Grant replies, "Maybe it took someone that strong to survive."
But the show itself is still riddled with attention-deficit editing and manipulative, occasionally mawkish music. And neither Grant nor the producers ever let you forget this show's corporate sponsor. This last element, in particular, gives the show a somewhat exploitative feel, and I'm not just referring to the way it plays on our sentiments.
