That’s if the test proves positive, of course.
Satellite/cable TV is set to plumb to new depths of depravity and poor taste when we inevitably get 5-year-old reruns of the latest reality show over the ‘pond’.
Paternity Court should need no explanation, but putting it down on paper might at least serve to assert in my mind that the notion is not just a bad dream. Who knows? We might get really lucky and get our own version. It certainly pays homage to the spirit of “if you can’t find anything really new, throw together a mash-up of tried and tested . . . or perhaps that should be tired and tested
According to star of the show, Lauren Lake, who wouldn’t surprise me if she turned out to be a bona fide judge-gone-downmarket: “People will reveal shameful truths, those secrets they are ashamed to talk about.” That’s right, so ashamed they are happy to expose themselves to 300 million people.
Ms Lake goes on: “What you’re going to see in this courtroom is those people shed that guilt, that shame. I try to figure out where they go from here. I call it the way I see it; if not, what they need to hear because what they want to hear and what they need to hear are usually different things.”
Lake admits her show has “Maury” in its own DNA, referring to the long established ‘tabloid’ chat show hosted by Maury Povich that specialises in DNA tests.
“We’d seen that shows like Maury had scored amazing ratings dealing with paternity issues,” said Lake. “So we’ve taken the paternity issue and put it into a court show format.”
She added: “We respect the shows that came before and we understand that they have paved the way for us.”
Litigants in Lake’s courtroom agree to a DNA test, and she learns the results when they do — as she reads them aloud. Cases aren’t limited to nailing down baby daddies either, she said.
“A grandparent might want to know if the child is in fact theirs, and if they are entitled to rights under the law to see that child,” she said, adding that potential siblings have faced off in her court as well.
Be warned; this is what your toddler will be watching when he or she comes home from school in a few years time.
