TV series on student debt
NEW YORK: Student debt afflicts a large number of young people across the world, with many paying off their varsity fees during the first few years of their working life.
After experiencing this debt problem first-hand, actor-comedian Michael Torpey saw entertainment value in the perennial predicament. He and the cable network TruTV devised Paid Off, a show that offers the elements of a classic trivia game show with a debt-removing twist. “One of the mantras is ‘an absurd show to match an absurd crisis’,” Torpey, who also hosts the programme, said in an interview. “A game show feels really apt because this is the state of things right now.”
The series, which kicked off with the first of 16 episodes yesterday, hopes to increase awareness of the many students and graduates saddled with debt and provide a few of them with some relief. Paid Off, for which Who Wants To Be A Millionaire veteran Leigh Hampton has overall creative authority and management responsibility, follows the format of a traditional game show.
Three contestants square off to answer a range of trivia questions. Categories often come with an education-related theme, such as questions on “ology” or surveys about the best job you could have in college.
Contestants – most are in their late 20s or early 30s – must be carrying college debt to appear on the show. Depending on how many questions the winner answers in a speed round, the show will pay up to 100% of their loans, with TruTV footing the bill.
Though the meat of the show is still comedic, Torpey makes sure serious student-debt issues are never far from viewers’ minds. He slips in a “super depressing fact of the week” in every episode and sometimes offers a bleak political edge. “If you’re just tuning in, ya, this is real life in America,” he says before the commercial break in one episode.
The host also finds ways of working the student-debt crisis into player banter. “Anthropology, that’s the study of humans,” he says to one contestant after she names her major. “So, why do humans charge so much for college?”
The idea for the show took root when Torpey, a New York-based actor best known for playing the season four antagonist Thomas Humphrey in Orange Is The New Black, met the woman who would become his wife and learnt that she carried a heavy amount of debt from her time as an undergraduate and graduate student. The couple struggled with the debt for years, until Torpey happened to appear in an underwear advert. They were able to pay off the debt and finally begin planning to buy a house and start a family.
Shortly after, he conceived a game show that centred on the debt problem, enlisting the help of a non-profit organisation called Student Debt Crisis.
“I know what we are doing is a little ridiculous,” Torpey said. “But in a way the show matched my family’s story. The only reason we could pay off student loans was because I booked an underpants ad. That’s insane.”
He said he did not see the high cost of college as a left-right issue but merely something that needed to be on the political agenda.
TruTV got involved after Torpey and the production company Cowboy Bear Ninja pitched the idea to them. Though executives acknowledge that the issue of student debt isn’t necessarily must-see TV – the idea of a game show devoted to the subject comes with an element of the surreal – they hope the combination of trivia fun and social relevance will attract viewers.
“We’re a comedy channel first and foremost,” said Lesley Goldman, senior vice-president of development and original programming at TruTV, which often targets viewers younger than the age of 35. “But we fell in love with this idea because of the unique hook of a game show taking the bite out of a student debt crisis. It seemed so incredibly innovative, relatable and timely.”
No politicians are scheduled to feature during the game show’s first season. Goldman said that could change in potential future seasons. In the meantime, that hasn’t stopped Torpey from urging his audience to get politically active. “Call your representatives right now,” he says at the end of each episode, “and tell them you need a better solution than this game show”.