In Iraq: Inspiration and Reality TV

A New Hit Show has come to a television near you, if you're in Falujah. At least, if you're one of the lucky ones that has reliable electical power. And if your television set hasn't been destroyed by an errant US bomb-drop or strewn with Insurgency bullets:

Laborers were already toiling away, hammering planks, laying bricks and pouring concrete. They had begun their work in early August, when an Iraqi television network hired a contractor to rebuild the house.

"I get chills thinking about this," said Ms. Ismail, whose father had died from injuries he suffered in the explosion, as she raced across the street in a blue robe toward a cameraman filming the laborers. "Words can't express how grateful I am."

So went a recent taping in mid-August of "Materials and Labor," a homegrown Iraqi show inspired by "This Old House" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," but with a twist of "Apocalypse Now."

Reality TV could turn out to be the most durable Western import in Iraq. It has taken root with considerably greater ease than American-style democracy. Since spring 2004, when "Materials and Labor" made its debut, a constellation of reality shows has burst onto TV screens across Iraq.

And so the reality TV craze seeks to rebuild Iraq where American contractors have failed. It's a subtle irony that "Materials and Labor" seeks a similar sect of the socially victimized populace as "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" that have little or nothing that they can rely on. They've exhausted their official options; they've been abandoned or left out by the social system [at least, this is the pretense of "EM:HE"]. So it's an interesting irony that both nations have turned to this strange tool, reality television, to both capitalize on their audience and presumably attempt to document a sense of improvement in these circumstances.

Is this the best tool that Americans can give to the country of their invasion? Let's hope not.