I had this whole plan worked out that I was gonna show you two pictures of two families and ask if you could work whether they're black or white but then I realised you'd know immediately.
Not that's it's so obvious to tell from the pictures but rather you'd know they were the other way round 'cos of the title of the story and you'd know I was trying pretend they weren't. Hopefully you know what I mean.
Tonight sees the start of the new series called Black.White. that's as mixed up as the above sounds. The set-up's simple: two families - one black and one white - swap places and live each others lives to see what things are like.
When I first heard about it I was sceptical - for the show to work the make-up that changes them needs to be realistic and I didn't trust that it could be but the pics are impressive:
The Sparks Before
The Sparks After
The Wurgel's Before
The Wurgel's After
Obviously knowing the set up makes you know they're cons but if you didn't know anything I reckon you wouldn't be suspicious?
As for the show itself - it's a six-episode series that starts off with each of the families being introduced, having their make-up done and then going out into the world.
In true deceptive reality TV style The Wurgels aren't actually a real family but rather a film actor and his girlfriend and her daughter who live in California whereas the Sparks's are a real family who live in Atlanta.
I've checked out some of the reviews of the show and they're far from complimentary - they are thought provoking though. One in particular says that instead of exposing and breaking away from racial stereotypes and resulting prejudices - which the show says it aims to do - it ends up reinforcing them by putting each of the races in a position where they stereotype themselves.
I think they mean that when the families swap and give each other advice on how to act they base their guidelines on stereotypes of their own race. Very interesting don't you think?
Another review says that the conflicts they get into don't have anything to do with the experiment itself but more with the characters they cast - so the tensions etc are a result of personality's instead of the situations they find themselves in.
Whether the show's good or terrible I reckon it'll be worth catching the premiere to see what's what. It won an Emmy last year for Outstanding Make-Up for a Series so the process should be something to see.
It premieres on M-Net Series (Channel 104) tonight at 20h00.
PS: Ice Cube's one of the show's creators - he sings the title song Race Card. It's made by the FX Network that also makes Dirt, Rescue Me, The Shield and Nip/Tuck.
PPS: Of course the pics are a different story to seeing them up close - I don't see how you wouldn't see the texture of the make-up. I suppose we'll be able to gauge the impact when we see how people respond to them.