Contest - TV show about economists

[econpointadmin]

A while ago I thought that it would be good to have a TV show/comedy about economists (budding or mature). You could mix in both how crazy some of the economic theories sound to an average person and how irrational people can behave at times.

Afterall, even physicists got one (The Big Bang Theory) and in my opinion it's easier for most people to relate to Economics than Physics. Besides people might want to see what life looks like through econ goggles.

In any case, as a step to promote this forum and have some fun in the process I'm proposing a contest.

The contest is for the best plot for a sitcom TV show about economists.

Some simple rules:

• to be eligible for the final prize, the plot must be posted on this forum (in thread named - Contest submissions on a TV show about economists)
• the plot will need to describe the basic setup of the show, but you can be as detailed as you want
• the final decision will be made by voting on short-listed candidates
• the deadline for last submission is April 1, 2009
• the voting will take place for one week after the last submission

Now for the prize:

• $100 worth of books from Amazon

Let me know what you think about it. We can discuss the contest in this thread.

[Cleo]

hi there, I am interested to join, but I have a few question first:

Is there a specific length and do we need to specify how many episodes? (since it's a sitcom it should have some episodes, right?)

Are we talking about a US economists' sitcom, or can we also include foreign economists?

That's all for now...

Thanks!

[econpointadmin]

Hello, there. The plot will need to describe the basic setup of the sitcom, but you can be as detailed as you want. So think of it as the pilot episode if you wish.

It doesn't need to be about US economists...

[Cleo]

Hey, thanks. Might as well start working on it....I think a more global point of view would make it more interesting and appealing not only to Americans but to other nationalities as well. That would result to more viewers...

[Ironman]

Or could it be a crime-drama or mystery show, aka "The Economic Detective".

[econpointadmin]

Or could it be a crime-drama or mystery show, aka "The Economic Detective".

I've read your piece before, I like it! There are none submissions so far, so if things go at this pace I will have to expand it to include crime-drama (and probably sci-fi).

Let's wait until Feb 15, and if none submits a sitcom plot, I'll expand eligible genres.

Thanks!

[Cleo]

If it's okay with you, I would like to suggest for you include other genres now, so that we won't be limited on thinking about sitcom plots. I think it would help us think of something easier, like for example we could mix some elements of sitcom and mystery, to make it more interesting....just my two cents...

[econpointadmin]

If it's okay with you, I would like to suggest for you include other genres now, so that we won't be limited on thinking about sitcom plots. I think it would help us think of something easier, like for example we could mix some elements of sitcom and mystery, to make it more interesting....just my two cents...

But sitcoms are so much fun!
Let's wait a bit more, I hope there will be some brave and witty men and women that will submit their plots.

[Cfoster]

First, I don't see why considering other genre needs to conflict with the sitcom. Let's take over the airwaves! We could corner the market and have all tv shows centered around Economists.

For a sitcom, though, how about 3 generations of Economists. Every week there would be some conflict(work, school, dating, calling a plumber, whatever.) The old man always oversimplifies matters and willfully ignores any information which would require him to change his original position. The middle-aged person always overcomplicates matters, generally by emphasizing small elements all out of proportion to their importance while missing the bigger picture. The youngest (child or young adult. Not sure which works better.) would always resolve the conflict in the best, most commonsense way despite the meddling and advice of the elders.

I think it would work best if the older two were male and the youngest was female. Sitcoms frequently portray older male authority figures as comic buffoons(which was really funny when I was younger, but seems less so now).

I think some neighbors to represent Marxism would be good, too. There wouldn't be any explicit reference to Marx nor the ideology, but they would be very organized around rigid rules and schedules which would change arbitrarily. They'd also misallocate resources like having their clumsy, overweight son pursue a ballet career.

Whad'ya think?

[econpointadmin]

I think we have our first submission. I will create a separate thread for submissions and copy your post in there.

As per mixing with other genres, I had some further thinking on this matter and I agree that if the ultimate goal is to bring economics into every living room then every genre should be valid. So, with this said, let's expand the eligible entries to any genre.