Interesting MTV show - Asperger's on MADE

[susiestar]

MTV has a show called MADE. It features high schoolers who want to learn or become or achieve a goal. Something really tough for them. A friend suggested I might enjoy it.

They have a lot of shows listed, so I don't know even what year the various episodes aired. One show listed was about a boy with Asperger's who wanted to win the school's male talent contest (sort of a beauty contest for guys) and become "Mr. CHS".

I really liked how they handled it. A Miss Massachusetts was his coach. He also had a trainer, a coach to teach him comedy, and all kinds of assignments. Miss Massachusetts even had 3 of her friends from the Miss USA pageant come into his work and chat him up. THen he took all 4 of them out to dinner. It helped him become more comfortable talking to women. He even met Heather Kuzmich, the next top model candidate.

He didn't win the contest, which made this feel real, not "set up" or like MTV arranged for him to win. he DID gain tons of confidence (He HAD to - they even did a swimsuit competition for the contest!) and learned how to be much more confident in all sorts of social situation.

Here is a link to it if anyone else is interested: http://www.mtv.com/videos/made-season-9-ep-11-mr-chs/1590985/playlist.jhtml


Let me know what you think about programs like this.

 

[svengandhi]

I have watched episodes of this show with my teenaged daughter and it is very fascinating.

A brainiac with 3 left legs (reminded me of myself in HS) wanted to become a cheerleader. She lives not far from us and we have seen her school cheer at games against our school. She didn't make the squad but she did meet girls outside her social circle.

A boy who wanted to become a body builder. He actually lost weight and entered a contest.

The best one I saw was 2 girls who wanted to trek in Alaska. One didn't pass the training but the other went and it turned out that she shined as a leader and survived the challenge. This was a girl who went for a hike in the woods in practically stiletto heels.

My daughter and I talked about what we'd want to be made into. I said a singer (I can't carry a tune, my daughter sings at public events in our town) and she said she couldn't think of anything, she is happy with herself.

I think this show is great - they seem to really be supportive of the kid's desire, come up with realistic ways of helping them meet their goals and don't rig the outcome as you noted.

 

[susiestar]

I am glad someone else likes it. I think it really shows that if you work at something you can achieve it, with-o creating false expectations that just because a tv crew worked with you that you will always win.

I liked the episode about the girl who wanted to win a plus sized modeling contract. They worked her HARD for 8 weeks, esp the trainer. She was amazed that she had to lose weight to be a plus size model but she went from a size 18 to a size 12. Most of that was in the last weeks after they called her on the diet cheating and skipping workouts.

So MANY kids just don't want to stick with anything that is tough or requires hard work. They want to jump to the end where things are "fun" and easy looking with-o earning that and the money that goes with that level of success. I am getting very disgusted with that attitude. I think it comes from having everything spoon fed in school and with the internet age making actually looking things up in a library pretty useless. but I am a dinosaur I think.