Who’s Your Daddy, Episode 1: I've Been Searching So Long

Welcome to FOX’s first installment of the show that got everybody’s panties in a bunch. It’s called Who’s Your Daddy? The idea of the show is that the producers have found a woman who was adopted a long time ago and who is looking for her real parents. Then, they’ve brought in her real father – who is also looking for her – plus seven imposters. She has to guess which one is her real father, based on talking to and observing them. Adoption activists think the show will be cruel and demeaning.

Well, let’s see how it turns out, shall we?

First, we are introduced to Finola Hughes, our host. She explains everything I’ve just told you, but in more detail. Then, we get to meet the woman. Her name is “T.J.” and she tells us that she was adopted when she was six weeks old. Her adopted parents divorced when she was twelve and she still loves them very much. The divorce was a turning point in her life. She spent eight years searching for her birth parents. She knows that her dad was nineteen at the time of the adoption. She is worried that he may not want to meet her.

T.J. arrives at the mansion, where she and the men will be staying, in a limousine. She steps out and is met by Finola, who tells T.J. that her dad is right behind that door over there. The door opens and eight men step out and form a wedge on the stairs. T.J. is overcome with emotion.

At this point, I mentally eliminate the two guys standing at the front of the line, since that would be too obvious and might strike too great of a first impression on her.

We hear an altered voiceover from her father. He says it was an incredible moment for him to finally find her after all these years.

Finola tells us that the producers were able to track down her father through reunitetoday.com (blatant plug alert) and that they were able to do DNA testing and confirm that they are father and daughter.

Finola bids the men to introduce themselves. First is Carl, from Simi Valley, California (he’s one of the ones in front). Next is Scott, from Olympia, Washington. Third, is Charlie, from Yuma, Arizona. Fourth is Peter, from Mesa, Arizona. He’s all choked up and can barely talk.

I think he could be the one. Earlier, Finola said that T.J.’s father was standing “right in front of her” and Peter is standing almost directly in front of her at that point.

Fifth up is Ray, from Redondo Beach, California. Next is Rick, from San Clemente, California. Seventh is Jerry, from Norco, California. And then last, is Sam, from Little Rock Arkansas. He was the other one who was first in line to walk out the door. Interestingly, he is the only one living east of Arizona. Could the producers be going cheap and recruiting imposters only from areas close to California? That would make Sam the father.

She begins guessing and second guessing which man might be her father. She weighs which ones showed emotion and which ones looked at her with the special look and so on. She has good reasons to pick each one.

Finola tells her that they’ve arranged a cocktail party for everyone, and that all the men have been briefed on her background and her father’s. T.J. is let loose on the roomful of men to begin her detective work.

She asks the men what their best qualities are, they answer with many admirable qualities, such as honesty from Sam (that’s another feather in his cap) and sensitivity from Peter. Carl says he likes M&Ms and T.J. thinks that may be a clue because she likes M&Ms too. She doesn’t think Rick can be her father because he has sharp features and she has round ones. Ray is too tall, but has her smile. She got an amazing feeling from Scott. And so on and so on. She’s putting way too much thought into the matter.

After a while, Finola enters the room and tells her that it’s time to eliminate four of the men. This is a twist I was not exactly expecting. What if she mistakenly eliminates her father right away? The remaining 60 minutes of the show is going to be pretty boring. Finola allays my fears when she says that T.J. is not to worry about accidentally her dad – there is a safeguard in place that she’ll explain later. She takes T.J. away from the men to mull over her choices in private.

Finola takes her to a monitor room where she can use cameras to spy on the men as they eat dinner and relax. Finola also mentions that none of the other men know who the real father is and neither does Finola. T.J. goes crazy making her decisions.

She finally decides and meets the men outside. Finola tells her that she will not actually be eliminating four men, but that she will be separating the men into two groups and picking one group to leave. If she’s chosen the group with her father in it, the producers will override her decision and make the other group leave instead, keeping her father around. But, if she picks the wrong group, she will lose $25,000 from the potential $100,000 she can win if she eventually picks the right man at the end.

She agonizes a little more and finally selects Sam, Jerry, Peter, and Ray to leave. She bases her decisions partly on who expressed emotion and who looks like they had been in the military (she knows that her father was a military man).

Finola makes her squirm for a while and then finally tells her that she has chosen correctly. Her father is, indeed, one of the remaining men. The eliminated men give their real names and wish her well in her journey. Surprisingly, none of the men had the same first name as they were using on the show. That’s kind of odd to me, since they might as well have used their real first names, since she doesn’t know her dad’s real name.

And so we move on to the next day. She’s still completely second guessing her thoughts. Right now, she’s most leaning towards Charlie.