Spike
TV's 'Joe Schmo' puts new spin on reality
shows
By
Eric Bost
Daily O'Collegian
STILLWATER, Okla (U-Wire)-- What started
with shows like "The Real World"
has now blossomed into a spiral of confessionals,
tribal councils and plenty of sexy singles
trying to hook up. But Spike TV is trying
to find its own niche in the reality television
genre with "The Joe Schmo Show,"
which premiered Tuesday night.
Here's
the concept of the show. Take a regular
guy and put him in a fancy house with other
people to compete for $100,000. But, everyone
else in the house is actually an actor,
trying to keep the regular joe, Matt Kennedy
Gould, from figuring out the whole thing
is staged and he is the real focus of the
show.
Gee,
a rigged reality show, that's a new one.
The two-hour premiere episode introduced
us to the actors and Gould, and gave us
a look at some of the problems the actors
and producers encounter while trying to
trick Gould. Apparently, he is not as predictable
as the producers thought he would be.
The cast included stereotypical characters
from all sorts of reality shows. There's
the "rich bitch," Ashleigh (Melissa
Yvonne Lewis), "the buddy," Brian
(Brian Kieth Etheridge), the "grizzled
veteran," Earl (Franklin Dennis Jones),
the "schemer," Gina (Nikki Davis)
and more.
It
is great that the show is infusing parody
and reality in this fashion, but at times
it seemed a little too staged, but I guess
that is sort of the point.
Even
Gould noticed in the first overly dramatic
dismissal that the "contestant's"
farewell speech was really like something
out of "Survivor." Oh if he only
knew.
It
is hard to review the acting in the show,
because the main character is not an
actor.
But
this is a reality show, so the actors are
themselves when being interviewed
about the show so far, as well as being
filmed all day and night.
The
show is definitely a new spin on an already
tired genre.
If
you're a hardcore reality fan, watch "Joe
Schmo" with a sense of humor and the
knowledge that there are still dozens of
reality shows still available.
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