By all accounts the television drama Big Love which airs on HBO draws around 5 million viewers a week.  The series tells the convoluted story of a man with three wives and a mess of children trying to get by in a world full of challenges, temptation and increasing complexity.

It seems to me that producer Tom Hanks and the rest of the crew are missing a huge market segment.  I’m pretty sure that, based on the popularity of web search terms, they could double their audience simply by renaming the series Collaborative Love and billing it as Marriage 3.0.

I can see the blurb in the television guide now:

Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) employs new collaborative processes as he seeks to raise the reproductivity of his non-traditional family organisation.  Family members wrestle with issues of empowerment, communication and organisational conflict.

Looking at the show through this lens you can see our current business struggles pale in comparison to the challenges Bill faces.

Bill struggles continuously with the conflicting demands of his role as family leader, and generally does a good job of creating the vision for his family and then allowing the various wives and business partners the authority and responsibility to move the team forward.

Still, when Bill puts his hands on his hips and says, “Doggone it, honey, this family is my responsibility and I’ve made my decision,” if you squint you can see a bit of Jack Welch vestigal tail poking out of the back of his Mens Wearhouse suit trousers.

Did you watch the season finale last night?