This might be the most emotional show to ever air on television. "Motor City Masters," a competition among 10 car designers to, well, design cars, is in production right now and will debut on truTV this summer.
It wouldn't be truTV's first "Detroit" show since they already have "Hardcore Pawn," something some of you snarky bastards remind me of in the comments on every post here. (Keep those Les Gold screenshots coming, guys!) Per The Futon Critic, "Masters" is co-produced by Chevrolet and the production company that brought you MTV's "The Real World."
The winner of the 10-episode competition gets $100,000 and a 2014 Camaro Z/28, as well as acting as a "brand ambassador" for Chevrolet.
Motor City Masters will bring together 10 experienced designers, with various specialties and backgrounds, all of whom share a passion for car design. In each episode, the contestants will have the ambitious task of creating new, fully functional (though not street legal) concept cars based on a theme that will showcase the each competitor's unique personality.
"Fully functional but not street legal" and something reflective of one individual's personality lets me know that nothing these designers come up with will ever go in production. So don't hold your breath.
Even the title of the show itself is a misnomer, as the first nine episodes will be taped in L.A. while the finale is taped in Detroit. Brooke Burns hosts the show, and a special celebrity judge pops in every week. Perhaps Ralph Gilles will turn up to tell the designers they're full of shit.
I like my reality TV to lie on opposite sides of the spectrum: Explicitly trashy with no sense of purpose or something educational with merit. On the surface, "Motor City Masters" fits neither of those parameters, but we'll see.