In addition to their new comedies and dramas, Fox also has a new unscripted series coming in midseason 2009 called Secret Millionaire. Like so many of the other series that Fox recently greenlit, that’s just a working title and could change.
Here’s part of the premise of the series, which is posted on Fox’s website:
“Each week, one of the wealthiest Americans, worth millions of dollars, will go undercover into one of the most impoverished and dangerous towns in America. Their job is to spend one week canvassing the town - meeting as many people as possible - some of whom will touch the millionaire with their dedication to helping others while others will have incredible stories of trying to overcome tremendous odds. On the final day, the Secret Millionaire meets with the chosen recipients and reveals his/her true identity and intentions - to give them a sum of money that is going to change their lives forever.”
Ok, so the whole thing reeks of that gimmick where the beautiful, skinny person puts on the fat suit and learns that some people treat obese people poorly. Except obviously, in this case it’s a rich person putting on a poor suit to find out how tough life can be when you have no money. Gimmicks aside, I definitely think this series is going to work. People love this kind of stuff plus the whole aspect of a wealthy person rewarding people who are genuinely out there helping make the world a better place gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling just thinking about it.
As of now, Secret Millionaire is set to air on Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. (good luck competing with Grey’s Anatomy and NBC’s comedy line-up there!) starting midseason 2009.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FOX's FALL 2008 AND MIDSEASON 2009 SCHEDULES
