Rent A Family (Part 1)

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{{Infobox |name = Infobox/doc |bodystyle = width:30em; |headerstyle = background:#ccf; |labelstyle = background:#ddf; |header1 = Series |header3 = Original Broadcast Date |header5 = Cast |header7 = Format |label10 = Preceded by: |label11 = Followed by: |data8 = Scripted Actors, Improv Actors, Panel Discussion, 1 hour |data4 = 1987 |title = Rent A Family (Part 1)[1] |data6 = Barbara Sohmers, Mark Hammer, [[Arthur Miller], Tim Jerome, Nick Ullette, Carolyn Swift, Larry Block, Lynn, Sarah, Carmen, Thomas, Timo, Sharon, Christa |data10 = Nightride |data11 = Rent A Family (Part 2) |data2 = Work In Progress | }}

"Anyway they closed the office and they let me go."

Rent A Family (Part 1) is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series Work In Progress. It was originally broadcast in 1987.

Synopsis

The program explores an organization that rents women with children to bachelors for days at a time. A woman talks about signing up with the program. Panel discussion about the program with a spokesman and questioners: men who choose a range of different families; renting spare children; the cost of different families; built in obsolescence; the relative value of long and short term relationships; the RAF as prostitution. Clips from the catalog of applicant videos against a background of chimes and Joe listing random nouns. The woman discusses her first experience in the program. Panel discussion continues: loneliness; the no parent family; intimacy in short term relationships; fast moving society, a bachelor in RAF commits suicide. More catalog clips. The woman describes the first meeting with her renter for a picnic on the beach. [Spoiler removed.] Panel discussion: the strangeness of the encounter as a positive, alienation in ordinary marriage.

Interesting Facts

There is/was an actual "Rent-A-Family" company in Japan that sent actors to visit lonely parents - see the Winter 1994 "In Context".

This show was so emotionally powerful, that the actors involved often broke down in tears (in real life) during the taping.

Music

Commentary

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External Links

Work In Progress

Another Country (Part 1) | Another Country (Part 2) | Another Country (Part 3) | At The Border | Bad | The Best | Building A Church | Case Studies | Cocktails Before Dinner | Dear Annie | The Dictator (Part 1) | The Dictator (Part 2) | The Dictator (Part 3) | Dreamland | Dreams Of The River | El Cholo (In The Beginning) | Emerald Isle | Emergency Room | Five Part Dissonance | Great Lives | Great Lives (Remix) | He Hesitated | Highways West | Home | Iceland (Part 1) | Iceland (Part 2) | Iceland (Part 3) | I'm Not Crazy | In The Dark (Part 1) | In The Dark (Part 2) | In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 1) | In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 2) | In The Middle Of Nowhere (Part 3) | Islands | A Kiss Is Just A Kiss | A Landing Strip In The Jungle | Let Me Not Dream | Lines | The More I Know You | Nausea | Night (Remix) | Night (Part 1) | Night (Part 2) | Nightride | No Show | On The Edge | A Pact With God | Performer | Photography | The Policeman's Ball | Pretender | Rain | Redneck Rounder | Rent A Family (Part 1) | Rent A Family (Part 2) | Rent A Family (Part 3) | Road To Hell | Rose | Sleep | Stories For Nothing | The Street | Summer Notes (Remix) | Talking About Love | Tell Me What To Do | Thank You, You're Beautiful | To The Bar Life | The Truth About Women (Part 1) | The Truth About Women (Part 2) | Two Babes | When She's Asleep, She Looks Like An Angel | Why I Don't Love You Anymore | Words