"Would anyone like to sit on the purple couch?"

   It seems these days that if you're not a redneck, a gypsy, have ten kids or are a foul-mouthed housewife then you're going to have a hard time landing your own show on reality television.

Andrea Syrtash and Dale Curd

   In our house, we have varying levels of acceptance for many of these shows but a lot of time is spent shaking our heads at what is being presented. Much of it is simply mind-numbing, train wreck stuff. But not all of it.
   Our newest favourite show is on Canada's OWN and it is called Life Story Project. It is co-hosted by Andrea Syrtash and Dale Curd and the simplicity of its concept and the resulting insight to the human condition is what has drawn us to it.
   The hosts simply plop a purple couch down in the middle of a well-travelled area in a major Canadian city and invite passersby to sit and talk. There is a theme topic to every show and the interviewees will be asked to talk abut their life experience with that particular topic.
   This week's topic was Fear and Change. Other topics have included Love and Betrayal and Love and Regret, as well as a variety of others.

The famous purple couch

   Not every person passing by is interested in talking and the ones that do take that leap of faith have no idea what the topic might be when they take their spot on the purple couch.
   It is quite often an amazing transformation that occurs when people find out what the topic is and then realize that, yes, they do have something to say about that. Dale and Andrea have the ability to make people feel open to revealing aspects of their lives which otherwise might have remained untalked about. Quite often what occurs is that a strongly cathartic moment is caught on screen. I have yet to watch an episode that did not almost move me to tears at some point.
   What is compelling about the show is that you quite often see little bits of your own life up there. It makes you realize, no matter what trials and tribulations you've encountered over the years, that you are not alone in many of them.

Dale, trying to enlist participants.

   Often, as people finish talking about their experiences, you wish you were there so you could simply give them a hug. This week, an elderly gentleman was talking about the love he felt for his wife of many years. He wrestled a little bit with trying to describe it faithfully and finally said that part of the reason he loved her so much was simply because she wanted to be with him. He seemed almost flabbergasted by this and just talking about it brought him to tears. They also spoke with a woman who talked about her cancer experience and was asked just when it was with that experience that she started to feel the fear. This is a woman who, as she was speaking, has been told she likely only has about two years to live. In the short period of time she was on screen, though, you could do nothing but empathize and identify with her. Then you find out what her prognosis is...
   It is powerful T.V., to be certain. It is also one of the clearest examples I know of T.V. at its best. Sifting through the morass of everything else that's out there and chancing upon this gem makes the watching experience just that much more worthwhile.