“Paid Off” A Noir Style Game Show to Pay off Student Loans
I do not know what generation Maxwell Strahan of Huffpost is of; but if he is of the Millennials, he has it correct in his HuffPost article. . . “The Greatest “Crisis of My Generation is Now a Dystopian Show.” The crisis? Student Loan debt, the penalties associated with it, and the inability to declared bankruptcy are the greatest crises facing younger generations and will also be for this nation when millions of them default. The Show? “Paid Off!”
There is a certain degree of cynicism and blackness to this show which places it in a “film noir” category or show noir (if such a category existed) to be precise. Young students saddled with a life time of debt from profit and non-profit institutions to which there is no escape unless disabled or dead. The blackness to this show comes when the indebted contestants turn to answering zany questions taken from stranger categories in the hope of eliminating their student loan debt which should not be such a burden if they could work in the field they were trained or educated in and make enough to pay off the debt. If delinquent, the burden increases, and rather than capitalize the accrued interest, the student must pay the interest before they can pay down the principal which acquires more interest. It is a vicious cycle created by a Congress favoring financial institutions over constituents.
If an 18 year old student received the right advice and chose the correct education with adequate funding; they were probably successful, courted by others, and can now sit back and critique those who were less fortunate. If the 18 year old was not so fortunate to have had the right advice, direction, and low-cost financing or a paid-for education; they potentially ended up saddled with a lot of debt, indentured to a life time of payments, and a degree which possibly will do little for them. Having a college education has turned into a crap-shoot for many as it may not offer the expected monetary returns. Or as the Knight (Robert Eddison) guarding the Holy Grail in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” said; “He (or she) chose poorly.” Or chose poorly because of a lack of knowledge, being sold a worthless product by hucksters, and a lack of jobs.
The “Paid Off,” show is a take-off of Jeopardy (see the clip below) except instead of winning money, the contestants gets a chance to eliminate student loan debt. The “Paid Off” host Michael Torpey asks each x-student-player a series of Jeopardy-style questions from selected categories which each must win. Each player clicks on a button and whoever is first and answers correctly wins that question and receives multiples of $100. At the end of the game, the person with the most $dollars goes to the final round and must answer 8 questions in 60 seconds. If they are successful, the show pays their student debt in total. If Michael Torpey is a familiar name to you, he is best known as the Corrections Officer Thomas Humphrey of “Orange is the New Black.”
A clip of the show
Here, Maxwell Strahan describes the intensity of the show.
“The darkness (my emphasis) and most excruciating minute of the series premiere of ‘Paid Off’ ― truTV’s new game show offering contestants the possibility of a life free of student debt ― comes near the end. Madeleine, a graduate of North Carolina’s Davidson College, walks up to the middle of the stage as the only player to make it to the show’s final round.
Saddled with $41,222 in debt, Madeline has the chance to wipe it all away in an instant should she answer eight trivia questions correctly in a 60-second period. Before the final round begins, Michael Torpey of pauses to ask Madeline what her dream life would look like if she were to magically rid herself of the tens of $thousands she owes.
‘Right now, I live in a tiny little loft apartment with my boyfriend and my dog, I would love to marry my boyfriend and move into a home with a yard.’ (Sound familiar to all who have reached that point in life? Rather than funding bank profits, a couple starts to be more productive in their community and funds it).
If ‘Black Mirror’ is a dystopian glimpse at where society is headed, ‘Paid Off’ is an even more horrifying peek at where it already stands. Maybe on another game show in another era ― say, the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ of the early 2000s ― Madeleine would have dreamed of a McMansion, or a fancy car, or a trip around the world on a luxury cruise. But this is the United States of America circa 2018 and it is much simpler and less exciting. Madeleine is one of the more than 40 million Americans struggling to get out from under a collective $1.5 trillion in student loan debt.
For Madeleine and the millions of other people like her, just getting back to zero would be a reason to celebrate.” Hence the noir quality of the show.
Oh and did Madeline succeed in wiping out her student loan debt? Unfortunately; she answered 7 of 8 questions in the 60 seconds, won $24,211, and not enough to pay off the $41,222 she owes.
“I know it’s not everything,” a consoling Torpey says to her.
“It’s a lot,” Madeline replies . . . just getting back to zero is a reason to celebrate and move on while young in life.
Madeline’s Full Episode “Paid Off” The show and Mike Torpey hit it on the head.
It’s this millennium’s “Queen for a Day”.
“If an 18 year old student received the right advice and chose the correct education with adequate funding; they were probably successful, courted by others, and can now sit back and critique those who were less fortunate.”
“Were less fortunate?” Or perhaps, just had poorer judgement? Some should be excused from debt because they “chose poorly because of a lack of knowledge,” but if arrested for violating a law will be told, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Bill:
I will answer your comment rather than ignore you. Of course ignorance of the law is not a defense as long as it is well documented and distributed so that a reasonable person would know a particular act is illegal. However in many case there is a set procedure to rid yourself of debt of which Trump has availed himself of 6 or 7 times. In his case, he knew the law and continued to commit the same crime multiples times. In a student’s case, I am pretty sure many of them did not understand the magnitude of what they signed as they were not told the consequences of signing for a student loan and also how it differs from other loans. This I would classify as ignorance of fact which is valid.
You’re so right, Bill H.
It’s great how we require crushing debt simply to get a 4-year degree that, back when Boomers like you were that age, was not even necessary. Even though that 4-year degree, which 30-40 years ago (Boomer’s heydey) basically guaranteed a decent wage, is treated by employers today as equivalent to a high school diploma. I.e., the minimum qualification to work anywhere, even menial jobs.
And then they way Boomer Congress made college debt non-dischargeable due to financial hardship (but only AFTER the baby boomers had all graduated from college)? Brilliant!
Oh, and your point about 18-year-olds being 100% responsible for picking the “right” degree up-front or knowing all the ins and outs of financing (like a 50-year-old bank executive), right on the nose, bro! Everyone knows 18 year-olds can see the future and are born with finance PhDs.
On second thought, go f**k yourself.
Harm:
I write articles about student debt and I also support Alan Collinge of The Student Loan Justice Org. I also did quite bit of advising of the young ones around me of what schools to go to and what not to. It was alwaysa go where they want you and they will do so by offering you the scholarships, the grants, the subsidized Staffords, Staffords, etc. If it was only loans, thank them for their time and leave. Kenyon did this with my son so he went to Ohio Wesleyan which appreciated his presence much more.
You should be angry and express it over and over again to all around you including politicians who I have cornered (Stabenow) on occasion in her campaign meetings. The person to keep in mind is Joe Biden who sponsored the 2005 bill denying bankruptcy for student loans even though Trump has availed himself of bankruptcy numerous times and relies upon it to excuse his blatant usage of it to rid himself of the multiple loans he takes to improve his profitability.
Good reply by the way and I am a baby-boomer just like Dan is also.
It amazes me how some boomers seem to ignore how lucky they were. We were born on third base and think we hit a triple. Meanwhile, our country is in the shape we are in because of us white boomers.
Case in point.
I graduated from Penn State University. I could pay my yearly tuition by working 500 hours at minimum wage. My grand nephew is now attending Penn State. To pay a year’s tuition he would have to work more than 2400 hours at minimum wage.
Yet, some boomers talk about these kids having bad judgement.
They are cretins.
Yup, I just don’t know what happened to my class. We protested the war, supported civil rights, made Woodstock happen and here we are with Trump and debt to the financial world being the new version of the company store.
Like Run, I advised and still do to not pick the Name Brand school. Prove your self in a cheap school and the Brand Name school will give you the money when you transfer. And, your diploma does not say 1/2 cheap other have Brand Name.
We always knew that baby boomers would eat their young. At least we feed cows and pigs before butchering them.
Kaleberg:
And many of us are unrelenting. My Masters was about $5,000 in 1980. I paid using the VA and employer funding towards the end. Today it would cost $85,000 and according to one of my old Professors that is a bargain compared to the flag ship school on the south side and a Vicentenian school near by. Jesuits are cheaper. I am not sure I would hase this level of education today with out extraordinary financial help. To make matters worst, there is no relief.