Skilled negotiators doing battle are a joy to watch. So why not televise some of their work? Fictional or real-life scenarios can be used.
Plus points:- + There is a sufficiently large number of styles of negotiation (and therefore combinations of negotiation styles) to keep the viewer coming back for more. + There is a huge range of matters on which there can be negotiation. + It’ll be an excellent educational tool - helping people to understand how to get at least a part of what they want. + There’s potential for spread betting.
Minus points:- - Programmes might run on a bit. - There’d need to be some exposition of the matter at hand. - The network'd probably bugger things up by hiring an odious presenter.-- my face your, Dec 14 2002 CSPAN http://www.c-span.org/"Our mission is to provide public access to the political process." [my face your, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] I would LOVE to have a show which featured re-enactments of the greatest debates of history. These also tend to be some of the shortest. For example:
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{Spartan King Leonidas and Persian Emperor Xerxes}
Xerxes: It's 600,000 to 300 in my favor Leo. But I'm willing to spare you and your men if you'll just lay down your arms.
Leonidas: Molon labe! (Come get them!)
{President Ronald Reagan to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev}
Gorby: Okay, you've made your point. We can't compete in an arms race and feed our people at the same time. I'm willing to give up half our nuclear arsenal and all of our medium range ballistic missiles if you'll help me save the USSR by giving up your SDI program.
Ronnie: Nyet. History shows you're not trustworty, and communism isn't worth saving. Have a nice day.
Yes, watching people negotiate is extremely interesting, but it's so much better to watch people of principle, courage and character cling tenaciously to their convictions.-- Guncrazy, Dec 14 2002 You could call the show "Anesthaesia!"-- bristolz, Dec 14 2002 CSPAN?-- RayfordSteele, Dec 14 2002 Anastheespaneesia-- bristolz, Dec 15 2002 The pharmaceutical companies would lose sleep over sales of sleeping pills, but sales of NoDoz would be stimulated.-- thumbwax, Dec 15 2002 True, at first blush, the programme would be nothing but a group of smartly dressed, probably unattractive people sitting round a table having a chat. So far so coma-inducing. However, the interest does not arise from visual spectacle: it comes from the subtle and complex matters of body language, of what is (not) said, how it is (not) said and when it is (not) said. Minority programming? Definitely. Entertainment for insiders? Unashamedly.-- my face your, Dec 15 2002 I'm not saying anything [your face mine]-- po, Dec 15 2002 //people sitting round a table having a chat// No, there are lots of ways to jazz it up. Since this fits into the unfortunately ubiquitous "reality show" craze, you could adopt some of their standards. Cut away to show clips of the negotiators talking to the camera, explaining what techniques they were using. Have the negotiation take breaks, and film each team during their breaks making plans for the next session. Do segments on how they prepared for the negotation. Cut it all together cleverly in order to tell the story of how they set out to get something and used their skill to get it.
I think it could be interesting. Many critical human events basically boil down to negotiations (international treaties, Supreme Court rulings, lawsuits) so it would be good to get an insight into how that works at its best.-- krelnik, Dec 15 2002 I am probably too harsh in my judgement of this. It likely would have its moments. Maybe.-- bristolz, Dec 15 2002 "I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle."-- angel, Dec 16 2002 "You just take back what you just said about my mother !"-- 8th of 7, Dec 16 2002 If ratings weren't as high as you had hoped, you could always throw in Physical Arbitration rounds, like pugil-stick fights on a beam above a tank of water. People love stupid crap like that, and it'd help to break the tension when negotiations are deadlocked.-- Pharaoh Mobius, Dec 16 2002 Love this. Good idea, lawyer-boy. I especially liked Guncrazy, my_face_your, krelnik, reensure's contrib's.-- thecat, Jun 24 2003 Instead of having the real negotiators on TV(what if it turns out to be a bad negotiation!), just record them at their thing. Then cut out the blah blah fluff, show the tape to phenomenally attractive professional actors like Rob Lowe who can do the whole thing over while looking fine, and incorporate the negotiation into a TV show.-- bungston, Jun 24 2003 The format of the program could be along similar lines to the old BBC chess program 'The Master Game'. With the protaganists recording a commentary over the action to explain exactly what was going through their mind at the time.-- DrBob, Jun 25 2003 random, halfbakery