[WILL-AM] This American Life rundown (June 10/11)
Denise Perry
FR: THIS AMERICAN LIFE/WBEZ
DT: JUNE 6, 2000
RE: THIS AMERICAN LIFE PROMO COPY FOR 6/10/00 & 6/11/00 SHOW
[WILL-AM/580 airs this program at 2PM (CDT) on Saturday, June
10, 2000, with a repeat at 6PM (CDT) on Sunday, June 11, 2000]
THIS AMERICAN LIFE 6/10/00 & 6/11/00 "Do Gooders"
Pgm I.D. : 00C13-000-23
Stories of people trying to do good: Why they often fail and
why they occasionally succeed. A couple returns home to the
small town in Missouri where they grew up decades ago, and the
more they try to improve things in town, the more people hate
them. Writer Philip Gourevitch tells two true-life fables of
do-gooders near the Rwanda massacres. And other stories.
(Note that the creation of this show is the subject of This
American Life's comic book, which you can read (and buy) at
http://www.thislife.org.)
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* Rundown for THIS AMERICAN LIFE 6/10/99 & 6/11/99 *
* This week: DO GOODERS *
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Documentary cartoonist Jessica Abel watched the This American
Life staff put together this week's show. For a look at the
comic strip she put drew about the experience, visit
www.thislife.org.
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Host:Ira Glass
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Stories of people trying to do good: Why
they often fail and why they occasionally succeed.
Prologue. When Brigid starting going blind, she tried to hire
someone to drive her around. Only problem was, the guy she
hired, wanted to carry her groceries, hold her arm as she walked
to the curb, he tried to help her in too many was. When we try
to help others we tend to think it's a simple thing, when in
fact it's as complicated as any human relationship, which is why
it's so easy to blunder. (4 minutes)
Act One. You can't go home again. Jackie and Kenny Wharton were
kids in the tiny town of Canalou Missouri, off of old Highway
61. They moved away for 40 years, but always dreamed of moving
back. After Kenny retired, they finally did. Canalou had
fallen on hard times. They hoped to do a few things to help
restore some of the spirit it had when they were kids: modest,
innocent things, maybe start a softball league, build a place
for kids to play ball, maybe pave a few streets. And the more
they tried, the more people resented them. After three years,
they realized that something had changed in Canalou that would
take a lot more than two do-gooders to fix. This is the story
of what went wrong. (32 minutes)
Song: Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisted"
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ID break--59 seconds of music for stations to air under local
announcements, usually comes between 25 and 35 minutes into
the show. Today it's 37:17 into the hour. OUR OUTCUE BEFORE
THE BREAK: "... when our program continues."
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Act Two. Humanitarians. Modern day fables of two different
kinds of do-gooders during and after the 1994 genocide in the
African country of Rwanda. Philip Gourevich, author of the book
"We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our
Families" tells first about international relief workers who
served as "caterers" to some of the Hutu powers as they
continued their policy of ethnic cleansing after fleeing to
refugee camps. Then he tells the story of a more effective do-
gooder: a hotel owner in Kigali who saved hundreds of lives, by
keeping a fully stocked bar that Hutu officials liked to
frequent, by bribing officials, and by using the international
phone lines. In Gourevich's description, he's a lot like
Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca," self effacing, friendly with
evildoers, and very effective. (18 minutes)
Song: Jimmy Durante, "As Time Goes By"
Times are approximate.
THIS AMERICAN LIFE is a production of WBEZ Chicago and is
distributed by Public Radio International.
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Listeners can purchase tapes of THIS AMERICAN LIFE for
$12 by calling 312.832.3380 or emailing: ta...@thislife.org
Here's a list of the shows we're planning for the next few
weeks. The following shows and dates are firm.
THIS AMERICAN LIFE 6/17/00 & 6/18/00 "Mapping"
Pgm I.D. : 00C13-000-24
Five ways to map the world. We bring you five stories - one
about people who who map the world the traditional way - by
drawing maps of things you can see. The other stories are about
people who map the world using smell, sound, touch, and taste.
The world redrawn, by the five senses.
THIS AMERICAN LIFE 6/24/00 & 6/25/00 "Moving"
Pgm I.D. : 00C13-000-25
Stories of movers ... and people moving.
All the following shows are in production and haven't been
assigned broadcast dates.
"When The Big Money Rolls Into Town." What happens when a rich
developer arrives in a small town in Texas? People try to
destroy the town in order to save it.
"Neither Here Nor There." Stories of people caught between two
worlds.
"Americans in Paris." Stories of francophiles and francophobes,
including a new story by David Sedaris, about life in France.
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This American Life
email: ra...@well.com
website: www.thislife.org