While I can't say that I'd personally make room in my overcrowded TV viewing schedule for this (unless I'm feeling like wasting a box of tissues), I actually didn't hate this show; on the other hand, watching a grown-up version of Make-a-Wish isn't necessarily my cup of tea. I'm probably far from the target demographic as I only watched it because of my inexplicable longstanding fascination with the Survivor host. Here, he's following in the footsteps of his CBS counterpart, Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, who produced No Opportunity Wasted, which was basically a show about helping people achieve their lifelong dreams. The twist with this Probst version is that he's helping people with terminal illnesses instead of just average Joes.

Last night's special focused on the mild-mannered Roger Childs, who is afflicted with ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease), and who has a fondness for space and aviation. Probst (and company) hooked him up with a family trip to NASA to meet Buzz Aldrin, and then sent Childs to a ski lodge where he and his old college buddy were helicoptered to the top of a mountain and then challenged to ski down (not an easy task when you have limited use of your hands) with Probst in tow, and finally then put him in a fighter jet. All of these adventures were fun and kind of heartwarming to watch, especially the look of glee on Childs' face as he begged the fighter jet pilot to do more vomit-inducing maneuvers. I was fine with the show until they added in the hokey giant reunion with everyone he ever met (seemingly) at the end and forced him to keep a scrapbook. I know he's living with a bitch of a disease, but these activities just seemed to be contrived to make the viewers at home cry, while the rest of the show focused on Roger making the most of his life and inspiring other ALS sufferers.

Still, this was far from the worst way to spend an hour, and I appreciate the fact that Probst (and CBS) were trying to do something nice for people. So if they want to continue it, just cut out the scrapbooking and reunions that make it seem as if the person is going to drop dead the second the cameras fade to black.