‘Divorce Hotel’ coming to a TV near you

On behalf of The Marks Law Firm, L.L.C posted in Divorce on Monday, October 22, 2012

The surreal world of reality TV is about to get a little stranger, according to media reports. Fox is producing a pilot program for “The Divorce Hotel,” a series that would generate instant, on-air divorces and — if all goes well for the network — big ratings in St. Louis and across the country.

The premise of the show is that it would put couples who have agreed to divorce into a luxury hotel with their legal teams for a weekend. By the time the weekend is over and the smoke clears, a divorce agreement will have been reached.

The CEO of the production company making the pilot for Fox says, “People can take years to secure a divorce and in the process experience huge misery. Obviously ‘The Divorce Hotel’ will be voyeuristic, but it is going to feel like real drama because these are real people trying to sort their lives out.”

Not only will they be attempting to sort their lives out, but presumably, also their assets. The show will feature only couples without children, apparently. Hashing out child custody issues under an artificial deadline and in front of millions of viewers is, at least for now, off-limits.

He acknowledged that the show encountered “legal complexities,” but insists those have been “overcome.”

One has to wonder what the conditions are that participants will have to agree to, and what sort of compensation they will receive for airing their differences on the air.

Of course, many will also wonder how much of the undoubtedly theatrical exchanges between spouses and legal teams will be scripted. Many observers have speculated that cast members of reality TV shows are little more than untrained actors assigned roles and behaviors and handed lines they to deliver.

The show hasn’t chosen a site yet, but producers have apparently ruled out Las Vegas.

While there will undoubtedly be long lines of people eager to end their marriages on national TV, most couples will prefer to iron out their differences away from the bright lights and cameras, with the aid of experienced family law attorneys rather than make-up artists and publicists.

Source: Chicago Tribune, “Fox checks into ‘Divorce Hotel’: It orders pilot of Smith reality format,” Oct. 10, 2012

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