Mark Hadley reviews "Random Acts of Kindness".

CHANNEL:  The Nine Network
TIME-SLOT:  6.30 pm Sundays
RATING:   PG

The Nine Network's latest attempt to make ground in the battle for 'feel good' television is part This is your life, part Australian Story. Sadly, the look and feel of Random acts of kindness is far more like A Current Affair.
Each week the show's three hosts - Karl Stefanovic, Scott Cam and Simmone Jade Mackinnon - seek to out-do each other in the generosity stakes by targeting good-hearted Australians who could do with assistance and showering them with gifts. In the process the viewer is introduced to some real every-day heroes who deserve recognition and support for their consistent unasked for charity.
However Nine manages to take these truly inspiring stories - the horseman who works with street kids, the mother who assists families with premature children - and somehow cheapens them. The episodes are drenched in FM-radio, heart-strings music, combined clunky slow-motion shots and unrelenting, extreme close-ups. The combined effect is guaranteed to ruin any emotional moment with its obviousness.
You don't have to watch long to realise that Random acts of kindness is not so much interested in rewarding its subjects as provoking ratings-winning moments of intense emotion. Karl Stefanovic can't seem to resist the obvious "How does that make you feel?" lines, and often throws to a commercial with gems like:
"After the break - what's behind the wall [of hay] that makes a grown man cry - again!"
The production is also not above indulging in a little creative dishonesty to try and maximize the emotional impact. The perfect miking of some 'moments of surprise' including the alternate camera angles makes it more than likely that some of these situations were re-run after they were shot. Furthermore Carl makes it seem as though he's pressing donors to be generous on the spot but their donations have clearly been stitched up by a producer long before - or do tractor salesmen often leave the keys in the ignition?
Random acts of kindness does a good job of rewarding the humble, but is itself decidedly lacking in humility. The show absolutely glories in what it is doing, drawing attention to the scope of their generosity at every point:
"What we've done has blown this simple Aussie bloke's world wide open ... I turn a 9 year old girl's world upside down ... Look how one simple act of kindness stuns her - and all her friends!"
It's the sort of generosity that would sit well with the Pharisees that proclaimed the extent of their temple offerings with loud trumpets. It didn't sit well with Jesus two thousand years ago, and it's unlikely to impress Australians now.
The biggest tragedy is that this series, though it recognises and benefits some worthy Australians, completely fails to live up to the promise in its title. The acts are not 'random'; they are very much staged for effect. Furthermore, the episodes miss the epitome of kindness - grace. The show clearly picks its recipients out because the producers believe their recipients deserve what they are going to get. But what about those who don't deserve our help, those who may actually be responsible for the problems they find themselves in? Can Nine's 'kindness' stretch to cover them? Ultimately the program learns nothing from the very people it aims to reward, who give particularly to those who are in the most need, not those who have somehow earned it.
I have no objections to programs like Random acts of kindness rewarding the unsung heroes of our community. However what we risk by doing with a program like this is affirming the ideal that blessings are the sole province of 'good people'. However the truth is that 'bad people' need them even more. God's idea of kindness does not ask what we have done to merit His esteem before He bestows His blessings. Rather, He searches out the most undeserving and gives them what they really need to become whole again: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
Now a show demonstrating that level of kindness would be one to watch!

Notes
• Description: television host Carl Stefanovic (channelling Rove McManus) leads a team of do-gooders on a weekly expedition to reward Aussie heroes for their consistent, unasked for charity. In doing so he showers unsuspecting evey day people with the sorts of gifts that could make a huge difference to their lives - and stands back and watches. The prime example: Gary Powell, the saviour of wild brumbies and boys at risk.
• Production: RAK is incredibly well shot, combining parts of 'This is your life' with 'Australian Story'. The look and feel though is far more like 'A Current Affair'.
• Nine manages to take truly inspiring stories and somehow cheapens them. The episodes are drenched in FM-radio heart-strings music that is supposed to add to the already powerful scenes of gratitude that these people are feeling. All it manages to do is consistently ruin the moment with its obviousness.
• The extreme close ups in real, tearful moments of grief just look exploitative, and it's clear that this is what the program is aiming for: "After the break - what's behind the wall [of hay] that makes a grown man cry - again!" (Carl Stefanovic)
• Deceptive and lacking in humility: The production is a little deceptive though, because the perfect miking of some 'moments of surprise' including the alternate camera angles makes it more than likely that some of these situations were re-run after they were shot the first time (usually done for cutaways).
• Secondly Carl makes it seem as though he's pressing donors to be generous on the spot (including a tractor salesman) but the deal has clearly been stitched up by a producer long before - otherwise why would there be keys sitting in the ignition?
• Further, the show absolutely glories in what it is doing, drawing attention to the scope of their generosity at every point: "What we've done has blown this simple Aussie bloke's world wide open ... I turn a 9 year old girl's world upside down ... Look how one simple act of kindness stuns her - and all her friends!" What ever happened to Jesus' advice when it came to generosity? - 'When  you give, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.' This is the sort of giving that Aussies really respect.
• Completely misses the point of kindness: The biggest tragedy is that this series, though it recognises and benefits some worthy Australiasn, completely fails to live up to the promise in its title. The acts are note 'random' - they are very much staged, produced and deliberate (making me wonder what a real 'random' act of kindness would look like?). RAK has picked their recipients out because they deserve what they are going to get ("I can't think of anyone more deserving of a random act of kindness than this man!" - Carl Stefanovic).
• They also miss the highest value of 'kindness'. The basis premise is that there are a lot of unsung heroes out there who could do with our support - all well and good. But by tying their acts of 'kindness' to their recipients 'deeds' they make it consistently sound as if the people who really need this sort of generosity are those who have proved they 'deserve' it. They've learnt nothing from the very people they are trying to help, who give particularly to those who are in the most need, not those who have somehow earned it (kids at risk, parents of premature babies, the environment).
• What we risk doing with a program like this is affirming the ideal that 'good people deserve good things' when the truth is that 'bad people' need them even more (and it can become a back-handed way of congratulating ourselves when we recognise the goodness in others - there is nothing quite so dangerous as vicarious giving). But the highest kindness is above all merciful: 'This is how we know what love is - while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'