Task Five: Piloting Public Opinion

Welcome, teams.

As we begin into the final legs of this competition, things are really heating up. The six of you left are all very strong competitors. The next few weeks will be very interesting.

This week, we have a task which I believe will require all your skill, all your ingenuity and all your anything that's left.

You're tasked with creating a new television series. Television, since its inception, has been a primary tool for corrupting the minds of the masses, as the hit blockbuster film, Batman Forever, proved.


Industry giants such as GE and the NewsCorp have long used television networks to influence public opinion. GE of course works through NBC to convince the world that black people don't exist. And NewsCorp is an Australian attempt at world domination.

Now, more than ever, television's role in a society is one of extreme importance. According to this scientific article, television-viewing is at an all time high.


For this task, you'll be setting up your very own television show that will take advantage of this fact. You will be creating a series that will influence the world in some manner to accept or adopt a message or belief of your choosing.

Challenge Five

• Develop a TV series


• Insert a message or belief into the series


• Shoot the pilot episode


• Pitch the series to network executives


• Optional: Go Viral

You will be judged on the creativity of your message or belief, the originality of your TV series premise, the quality of the pilot and the effectiveness of your pitch.

Optionally, you may come up with some kind of Internet byproduct to take advantage of "viral" marketing. This could be a YouTube video, a fake website, or even these silly things I recently heard about known as Character Blogs. If you feel so inclined, come up with a way to use the Internet sensation to your advantage, to help promote your TV series and further the reach of your message or belief.

This will likely be the most difficult challenge so far. Choose your project managers quickly and get to work. You have until Friday at midnight, Eastern Standard Time, to complete the task.