Mortgage Foreclosure help latest reality of TV

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A family sits around the kitchen table making dinnertime conversation, when the phone begins to ring. It rings and rings in the background, and the family chatter dies away to silence.

The parents don't want to answer the phone because they suspect it's somebody calling to remind them they're behind in their mortgage payments.

This awkward moment -- along with similar others -- may be coming soon to your television screen.

They are public-service announcements from the mortgage industry, reminding people who are in financial trouble that there are ways out of danger -- but only if they don't wait too long to ask for help.

They are genuine signs of the times. The 30-second PSAs that focus on the nervous tension around the family table are the product of a partnership between the giants in the mortgage industry and the Ad Council.

So now, along with pleadings to stay in school and prevent forest fires, American TV viewers will be reminded that home ownership is a terrible thing to waste.

Could we make this up?