A New Idea for NBC

Are you tired of NBC being That Pedophile Network? Is it getting a little boring to watch one poor schlub after another walking into a clear case of entrapment and getting arrested for child molestation? Is it getting old? Would you like to see something, well, a little bit different?

Well you're in luck, baby, because I have the perfect idea for you. An idea that captures the smug smarminess of Dateline: To Catch a Predator and merges it with the gut-wrenching suspense of Deal Or No Deal.

You're intrigued, aren't you? I can tell you are.

Okay, here's the deal:

NBC sends a man out into the streets of an American city. But not New York or Los Angeles -- we want the heartland. Maybe Minneapolis or Austin. A large city, but not too large. Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland. Cities like that.

The man is reasonably attractive and in fairly good shape, but he's no Richard Gere. A little snow on the roof. No spring chicken. Definitely well into middle age. But he's dressed well in an expensive suit and wearing a Rolex watch on his wrist that costs more than I make in a -- well, let's not go there.

So this guy is on the street. And he approaches a young woman. A very young woman. A teenager -- somewhere between the ages of 15 and 20. Either jailbait or very close to it.

He tells the girl that he's there on a business trip and he'll only be there for the one day -- he's flying out of town tonight. He tells her that he finds her very attractive and that, if she'll agree to go back to his hotel room right now and have sex with him, he will pay her $3,000 in cash.

What the girl doesn't know is that the guy is fitted with a hidden camera, and that everything he says, and all of her reactions, are being not only recorded but transmitted to a monitor in the man's hotel room.

And who's in the man's hotel room, you ask?

The girl's parents. Waiting to see what her reaction will be to the man's proposition.

Keep in mind, the man tells her that he's getting on a plane in a few hours. She'll never see him again -- and he's offering her $3,000 in cash.

Let's say she agrees to go back with him to his hotel room. The hotel room is in reality a two-room suite: the man and the girl are in one room, the host of the show and the girl's parents are in the other room, watching the proceedings on a monitor. They can see and hear everything that goes on in the next room.

Now here's where the fun really starts.

The parents watch while the man and the girl walk into the hotel room. He starts to disrobe their daughter. Their impulse is to rush into the other room and stop it from happening -- and probably call their daughter a disgusting little whore while they're at it.

But what if the host decides to make it interesting? What if, let's say, he offers them $10,000 in cash to let it continue? And what if, once the girl is down to her bra and panties, the host offers them even more money to let her keep going without them interfering? What if he keeps upping and upping the ante? What if he finally ends up offering the parents half a million dollars if they'll sit there, not interfere and watch their teenage daughter have sex with a stranger for money right in front of them?

Will they rush into the room to keep it from happening? Or will they accept the money and allow their daughter to prostitute herself on national television?

I can tell you're dying to find out. You want this show on the air tonight, don't you?

And the funny thing is, I think NBC would go for this idea -- in a heartbeat. Assuming that they could iron out all the pesky legal difficulties involved in portraying prostitution involving minors on television, that is. But you have to admit, it would get great ratings.

Tom Moran