It's hard to decide whether this series of cautionary tales succeeds in its goal, or if it's just another exploitation of people's misery for the purpose of entertainment.
Clearly targeting a teen audience, it is probably far softer than it needs to be in order to be a truly effective deterrent. Teens are certainly a group who need to be cautioned. They frequently make terrible decisions, and rarely learn from their mistakes until much later in life. So it is a shame that the opportunity for scaring them straight is somewhat lost due to (what I suspect) is a desire from the producers to "protect" their young audience from anything "upsetting". Therefore, the end result is very sanitised, watered-down, safe, and in most cases has a happy ending.
Yes, despite how crazy it sounds, they end almost every episode with a happy ending - which negates the whole purpose of the warning. The episode about the girl who became a porn star was barely even a caution. It was very nearly a recruitment film for the porn industry, and it made her decision to do porn seem like a very, very good choice. The only negative to come out of it was a slightly spoiled relationship with her parents, but since they are painted as terrible people throughout the episode, it doesn't seem so much like a loss as a relief. She ends up rich and famous with an Ivy League education, no debts, and a very happy, celebrated life, where she overcame all adversity to reach her goals on her own terms. I applaud her, but it doesn't exactly fit the title of the series.
Hers is probably the most obvious case of the "bad" choice actually being a "good" one, but nearly every story seems to say between the lines, "if I hadn't made that bad decision, then none of these great things would be happening now." Teens won't be cautioned by this. If they watch it at all. Which I doubt. So I guess it's really just rubber-necking in disguise.
Clearly targeting a teen audience, it is probably far softer than it needs to be in order to be a truly effective deterrent. Teens are certainly a group who need to be cautioned. They frequently make terrible decisions, and rarely learn from their mistakes until much later in life. So it is a shame that the opportunity for scaring them straight is somewhat lost due to (what I suspect) is a desire from the producers to "protect" their young audience from anything "upsetting". Therefore, the end result is very sanitised, watered-down, safe, and in most cases has a happy ending.
Yes, despite how crazy it sounds, they end almost every episode with a happy ending - which negates the whole purpose of the warning. The episode about the girl who became a porn star was barely even a caution. It was very nearly a recruitment film for the porn industry, and it made her decision to do porn seem like a very, very good choice. The only negative to come out of it was a slightly spoiled relationship with her parents, but since they are painted as terrible people throughout the episode, it doesn't seem so much like a loss as a relief. She ends up rich and famous with an Ivy League education, no debts, and a very happy, celebrated life, where she overcame all adversity to reach her goals on her own terms. I applaud her, but it doesn't exactly fit the title of the series.
Hers is probably the most obvious case of the "bad" choice actually being a "good" one, but nearly every story seems to say between the lines, "if I hadn't made that bad decision, then none of these great things would be happening now." Teens won't be cautioned by this. If they watch it at all. Which I doubt. So I guess it's really just rubber-necking in disguise.
