The “Primetime” Limited Series Explores How People React When a Situation Cries Out for Action; Will They Step In, Back Away, or Just Walk Away?
ABC News’ highly-rated newsmagazine series, “What Would You Do?,” is back! Using hidden cameras and actors to see how people react when placed in provocative situations, “What Would You Do?” takes real-life situations, some of them straight from the headlines, and records the everyday dilemmas that test character and values. Are people compelled to act or mind their own business? ABC News correspondent John Qui–ones reports on peoples’ split-second – and often surprising – decision-making process in this “Primetime” series launching three new episodes beginning FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2010 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. The series will also air three additional episodes: June 29th; July 6th and 13th
From light-hearted situations to potentially life-threatening scenarios, some of this season’s episodes include:
* THE GIRL WHO HAD TOO MUCH: How will people react when they witness a young woman – seemingly intoxicated at a bar – and a male stranger who approaches tries to take her home? Does it make a difference if the girl is dressed provocatively and seems “out to party?” Do people try and help the young woman or do they turn the other way?
* LOTTO: During these troubled economic times, more and more people are playing the Lotto. What happens when a store clerk turns out to be a crook and tries to pocket the winnings of his customers? Do people stand up and do the right thing? And what happens when the clerk offers onlookers a piece of the action?
* BATTERED WOMAN: Domestic violence is a serious problem in America, with many cases of abuse going unrecorded. “What Would You Do?” brings a couple into a New Jersey diner, with a professional make-up artist creating the illusion of bruises on the woman, and a man with a bad temper and a bad attitude. Do fellow diners try and help the woman when she seems in obvious danger? Or do patrons continue to sit back and eat their meals without intervening?
* SHE CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE: What happens when a mother gets so fed up with her children’s’ misbehaving in the backseat of the car; fed up to the point of forcing them out after a dispute and tells them to walk home. Do people try and help? Do they confront the mother? Or do some onlookers feel that this is an appropriate form of punishment when a mother is at the end of her rope?
* BREASTFEEDING IN PUBLIC: “What Would You Do?” explores how people react when a restaurant manager harasses a mother breastfeeding her baby in plain view of others. Do people become enraged? Do they get up and walk out? Hidden cameras capture their reactions.
“What Would You Do?” has won awards from the Chicago International Television Festival, and the Avon Foundation’s 2006 Voice of Change Award. The foundation called the program “an important work of journalism that illustrates the unwillingness of many people to become involved or speak out against domestic violence.” The Columbia Journalism Review has also praised the series as a “candid camera of ethics.”
Please note: the first two episodes of “What Would You Do?” are available for review at http://www.abcmedianet.com
David Sloan is the executive producer and Chris Whipple is the senior producer of “What Would You Do?”.