Do-gooders

It's nice that Vanna and friends helped out with rebuilding a neighborhood somewhere. We've got an unemployment rate pushing double digits and Obama on his magical misery tour, so charity was never more needed.



I'm just not sure that I like charity in game shows. Flinty me would rather see folks motivated by grim old basic greed. Like that Fox shaft-thy-neighbor show which actually used the word for its title. The upcoming project You Deserve It, which hands out the prize money to non-contestants, seems like a perversion of the whole grubby game show ideal: do your damnedest to win, and to hell with everybody else.



That's why I'm not thrilled with celeb versions of game shows where all the winnings go to "your favorite charity." I know I'm sounding like Scrooge here, but I might as well be honest (if a little curmudgeonly). Sometimes the charity versions get even more irritating, like when Jeopardy dumbs down the boards for the celebs. We don't want severe embarrassment here.



No, I'm not alleging rigging or anything close. But when you've got to tinker with formats to make celeb charity versions look more competitive, I get even grumpier. Oh well, it's all for a good cause, right?