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"Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)"
dabo 25344 desperate attention whore postings
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09-02-03, 03:08 AM (EST)
 
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"Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
I don't get Spike, does anyone here?http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/arts/television/02WATC.html?ex=1063080000&en=d05033939001cdd9&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE Glenn Cambell/Bravo
James on "Boy Meets Boy," Bravo's gay dating show, which will offer its final episode tonight. ARTICLE TOOLS
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Television Cable Television Tnn Janet Van Ham/Spike TV
From left, Brian Keith Etheridge, an actor; Matt; and David Hornsby, another actor, on the satire "Joe Schmo." THE TV WATCH
Frontier of Surreality: Mocking Reality Shows
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY Con artists and seventh graders know that people can be made to believe almost anything, so it is not astounding that Matt, a would-be contestant on Spike TV's first reality show, "Joe Schmo," does not suspect that the whole thing is a hoax. He does not blink at modeling women's panties. He is unfazed by a contest called "hands on the high-priced hooker." He does raise his eyebrows during the first elimination round, known as the "riches to rags eviction ceremony," when the actor playing the smarmy host somberly states that the person voted off must "say goodbye to high society and return to your sad existence working for the man." Reality backlash has finally arrived. Spike TV's mock reality show — an elaborate sendup of "Survivor" and its even sillier reality ripoffs like "Joe Millionaire" and "The Family" — begins tonight at the same time (9 p.m., Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time) as the finale of Bravo's gay dating reality show, "Boy Meets Boy." The gay bachelor, James, was finally told that some of his suitors were secretly straight. Tonight one of the impostors is among the three finalists. If James chooses Mr. Wrong, the heterosexual wins $25,000, and James goes home alone. Next Monday Bravo is taking a more jaundiced look at the reality craze with "The Reality of Reality: How Real is Real?," a documentary that suggests that these shows are ruthlessly edited in favor of entertainment, not truth. That is a bit like announcing that tobacco might be harmful, but the program goes to the trouble of connecting long-forgotten dots. Bravo interviews a "Survivor" contestant who says he got help from the camera crew. A woman tossed off the first "Temptation Island" says the producers knew all along she had a child back home and staged an on-camera expulsion to spice up the show. The Mike Wallace tone is a bit much coming from a cable network that just completed "Boy Meets Boy" and still has a a major hit with its saucy makeover show, "Queer Eye for a Straight Guy." But Bravo prides itself on high-minded reality shows: both "Boy" and "Queer Eye" were designed to demystify homosexuality and show gay men in a positive, appealing light. Side by side, however, Bravo and Spike TV also reinforce all the male stereotypes: gay men are sweet, self-deprecating and caring while heterosexual men are crudely childish. The two-hour premiere of "Joe Schmo," Spike TV's first big show since the cable network for men changed its name from TNN this summer (the makeover was delayed by a lawsuit filed by Spike Lee) lives up to the frat boy image. A pitiless parody, "Joe Schmo" nevertheless seeks to hook viewers with the two pillars of reality television: suspense and the squirmy pleasure of watching people embarrass themselves on national television. The deadpan parody of shows set in chateaus and McMansions is wickedly funny. (Matt is told he will be competing on a show called "The Lap of Luxury." When a contestant is eliminated, a "Lap of Luxury" collector's plate embossed with the contestant's face, is tossed into the fireplace. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the host intones solemnly. "You are dead to us." ) But because Matt, a law school dropout who lives with his parents in Pittsburgh and delivers pizzas, is the only butt of an elaborate, yearlong joke played by producers, directors, actors and technicians, some viewers might find the premise too cruel to watch. Husky, good-natured and eerily confident (he calls himself "the Matt-man" and tries to be a leader) Matt provides plenty of mortifying material. Luckily for him he is surrounded by co-stars who prove that Hitchcock was too kind when he said that actors should be treated as cattle. These at least need much firmer direction. Eight were cast to impersonate stock reality show characters, ranging from Ashleigh, "The Rich #####," to Kip, "the Gay Guy." They forget their own cover stories and make blunders so careless that even Matt looks puzzled. Like Matt the actors are interviewed at the end of each day. They talk about their craft and their fear of exposure, and they express conspiratorial glee at Matt's malleability. Unlike some of the impostors on "Boy Meets Boy," who express qualms about deceiving people they have befriended, none of the actors express pity for their victim or remorse. The real twist of "Joe Schmo" could be that the joke is on the actors. Like Stanley Milgram's infamous psychology experiments at Yale in the early 1960's, when students who agreed to inflict pain on other volunteers were actually the subjects of the study, the actors' callous self-absorption is far more laughable than Matt's gaffes and goofy moments. A more suitable title might have been "Actor, Schmactor." Yeah, wait for .... "Reality Bites."
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dabo 25344 desperate attention whore postings
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09-02-03, 03:11 AM (EST)
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1. "RE: Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
I don't get Spike, so if anyone does please let us know what happens (if anything).
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SkyRaider 1301 desperate attention whore postings
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09-02-03, 05:24 PM (EST)
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4. "RE: Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
Dabo - Yeah, we get it out here on the Left Coast. I'll give it a whirl tonight. Sounds even worse, if possible, than "The Love Cruise" and they're TRYING to make this one intentionally bad.From the Los Angeles Daily News: (Typos are mine, over use of commas are his...) "When reality televised first reared its head for years ago, we were contemptuous of the way TV producers exploited the participants of such shows. That was then, this is now. Contestants on these shows should know they're going to be depicted in a manner as throughly inssulting as it is humanly possible, and if they don't know that, they simply haven't done their homework. Whick brings us to "The Joe Schmo Show" which is a canany combination fo the anti-reality TV movies "The Truman Show and "Ed-TV": Here our mark knows he's on a TV reality show, he just doesn't realize it's a bogus one designed solely to make him look idiotic. One could argue that's the point of all reality TV, and one could scarecly argue back. "Joe Schmo" lands our dupe in a pointedly stupid reality contest title "Lap of Luxury" in which he and other contestants (actually paid actors essaying the roles of cliched relaity-T-show contestants), prodded by an unctuous host channeling George Hamilton's ham-fisted turn in "The Family" vie the pitiful sum of $100,000 via a lurid series of cynically debasing contests, such as keeping one's grasp upon a porn star's flesh for the longest time. In tonight's episode alone, we see the dupe tilt awkwardly towards vestiges of homophobia and racism despite his apparent claims at being a good ole boy; he cringingly shares his hopes of scoring with the women the show makes clear are far above his station in life (after he discovered the chicanery, he refused to participate in Spike's promotions for the show). That he misses clear indications that the show's a fake and also obfuscates the TV producer's expectations is just a bonus and a blip in the proceeedings. What we're watching, really, is every viewer's basest fantasy of how every reality show should treat every egomaniacal participant, nothing less. That this guy was treated far worse - or even niminally better, it's hard to tell with reality TV - than typical contestants should have no bearing on the reality fan's ultimate assessmanet of the cesspool that it reality TV." David Kronke/Television Critic/ Los Angeles Daily News/02Sep03
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Draco Malfoy 10525 desperate attention whore postings
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09-03-03, 06:34 AM (EST)
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7. "Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
LAST EDITED ON 09-03-03 AT 07:50 AM (EST)Before the show "officially" starts, we get shots from the pre-show meeting where they kind of break everything down. They tell the cast, "Keep it kind of normal at first, we can do outrageous later". We start off with introducing the "characters"
Earl- The Veteran
Dr. Pat- The Quack
Hutch- The Asshole
Gina- The Schemer
Ashleigh- The Bitch
Kip- The Gay Guy
Brian- The Buddy (who is also one of the writers)
Molly- The Virgin
Matt- The Patsy (Joe Schmo) Ralph the host comes up, very Joe Millionaire-esque, in riding gear on a white horse. He tells the "cast" that they will be on a show called "Lap of Luxury", trying to win $100,000. They are sent into the mansion in groups of 3, with Matt, Earl, and Dr. Pat being the last group, getting a bedroom with 1 king size bed. Matt immediately pegs Kip as gay, but apologizes profusely and keep reiterating that "He's an ally" and doesn't have a problem with it. Challenge 1- Whose underwear is this? Everyone donates 1 piece of underwear for this challenge. The winner gets to sleep alone in the "Master Suite", the loser has to wear the winner's underwear for a day. Kinda silly, but our Patsy gets into it, posing in black speedos. Other high/lowlights: Earl in a leopard print thong, Hutch in crotchless panties, and Kip in NOTHING. The script calls for Matt to lose, but Matt (in what will become a running gag) actually answers more correctly than anyone and the writers have to scramble to switch whose underwear belongs to who, and hope the cast will pick up on it quickly. Kip ends up "winning" and Matt has to wear Kip's gold g-string the rest of the day. Earl, being all old and stuff almost blows the gag two hours in by forgetting which pair of underwear was "his", but he and Dr. Pat manage to cover it up enough by saying he didn't have his glasses/contacts in so he had trouble making out what was on one of the pairs of boxers and got it confused which was his. "Alliances" begin to form. Gina begins making real nice with Matt. Everyone shows off their Luxury "creature comfort" items. Kip has a Polaroid camera and scrapbook, Molly has a picture of her boyfriend (which she promptly leaves behind, confusing Matt), Gina has a dry erase board, Earl has nothing because "his generation never had any comfort", Brian has a 150 dummy named Albee, Dr. Pat has "therapy dolls" (which no one is supposed to touch), and so on and so forth. Gina takes the opportunity to mention how big a fan of Survivor she is... only to moments later totally blank on Dick Hatch's first name, referring to him only as "Mr. Hatch". At the meal, Hutch begins going into full Asshole mode, discussing masturbation and picking his nose at the table. Later Matt confronts him in the pool and tells him that he's pissing people off. Later Ralphie comes in and tells them that the Tribal Council Riches to Rags Eviction Ceremony will take place the following night. Suitable tension follows. The next day, while Matt is filming his daily interview, the cast is in the Winnebago of Doom discussing the day's storyline and being told to get more into their characters. Gina gets Matt into the billiard room with the revolver and sets up an alliance with him to the end. We all know how well this will work. At the pool, Matt and Ashleigh have quality time. Angelique accidentally changes her story from being an only child to having 2 brothers, with suitable backtracking. Challenge 2- Hands on the Immunity Idol High Priced Hooker. A hooker is brought out. The cast draws dollar bills from her bikini and panties to decide what part of their body will have to remain in contact with what part of her body. The winner becomes Head of Household Lord of the Manor and gets to wear the Pimped Out Immunity Necklace Robe. The loser has to sleep in the laundry room. The hooker removes her bikini top, exposing her breasts, and Matt recognizes her as a porn star. Whoops. The important placements are that Matt must keep his left hand on the hooker's right breast, Molly must keep her right hand on the hooker's left breast, and Hutch must keep his crotch on the hooker's right hand. Now, according to the story, the last 2 are supposed to be Matt and Hutch. So naturally, Matt pulls away first, saying that he doesn't want to share another night in bed with Earl and Dr. Pat. SCRAMBLE TIME! So now they have to play this out, without Matt. Fairly early in the game, Ashleigh pulls out of the game and goes to her bedroom to "find" Gina's dry erase board. Hutch plays his part to the hilt, and when it is down to Molly, Kip, and Hutch, he harasses both of them into quitting, thereby winning immunity. Meanwhile, Ashleigh and Kip pull Matt into the bedroom and show him the dry erase board, where Gina has written a ton of not nice things about each cast member except Matt and Earl. Everyone decides that they're going to vote Gina out. Gina and Matt meet by the pool where Matt tells her she's busted. Gina overacts a lot, and Matt kind of picks up on it, but thinks she's just trying to play him. Still, because of their alliance, he says he will not write her name on the ballot. Pre-eviction fun- Kip suggests that everyone do imitations of the other cast members, and he will give the best one something. Matt wins easily with his imitation of "gay Scarface" Kip, although Kip nails Matt's "concentrating face." His prize, Kip gives Matt the master suite. Makes it much easier for the producers to keep track of him. Tribal Council Eviction Ceremony. 9 "collector's plates" with each castmember's picture and name on it are on a table, and the cast gets in the same position. Ralph enters, and tells them that for one of them, the vacation ends tonight and that they will go back to their sad pathetic lives working for the man. I'm only barely making this up. Vote time, and everyone goes through the motions of writing their "vote", showing it to the camera, and placing it in an urn. Kip's vote- "The Hutch has one testicle". Earl's vote- "Lap of Luxury my ass". Matt's vote- Molly.
Ralph goes to tally the votes, and we see EVERY vote. The final score- Gina 7, Molly 1, and Matt 1. Gee, guess where that Matt vote came from. Gina has to serve Ralph her plate, and then address the rest of the cast. A delightful parody of Sue Hawk's "rat vs. snake" speech ensues. Matt rolls his eyes in disbelief throughout. Ralph finally has enough and takes her plate, throws it into the fireplace, and breaks it, saying "You're dead to us." Real cheery. After the ceremony, Brian goes up to see why Matt was rolling his eyes throughout Gina's speech. He's worried that Matt saw through the overacting and ripoff of Sue Hawk and knows the gag. Turns out Matt put two and two together and realizes that the vote for him had to come from Gina. He's very bitter that she broke the alliance. Brian is just relieved that the gag still isn't blown. Later, Matt gets to say his good bye to Gina, or as he says, "Good Riddance". Next week: Kip barges in on a game of pool and throws his scrapbook down to show that someone has taken a bunch of pictures of their butt and pasted them into the scrapbook. Overall, a fun ride, with LOTS of references to other reality shows thrown in. I know I heard The Mole music in there a few times, and the Eviction Ceremony music was very reminiscient of the Tribal Council music. But DW and I think that there has to be a twist. Matt is just a bit too clueless, and has screwed up their plans twice now. Maybe the joke is on everyone else and Matt knows EXACTLY what is going on, and putting him in the Master Suite is their way of getting him alone to plan. That said, I really think Mark Burnett would have a hell of a case against Spike TV if he decided to pursue a lawsuit.  Start Weight:339 Last Weigh-in:327 Loss To Date:-12
"For the last time, no you may NOT play pin the tail on our lord and savior." - Oh My Gods!Edited to finish summary and correct Ashleigh's name.
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DataShark 1395 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Beef Jerky Spokesperson"
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09-03-03, 02:04 PM (EST)
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13. "Great Job!" |
Saw the show - missed a lot that you picked up on.Enjoyed this so much.
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Majic Mitch 474 desperate attention whore postings
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09-04-03, 08:35 AM (EST)
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15. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
Thanks for the recap! Well done...
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kingkida 38 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Beauty Pageant Celebrity Judge"
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09-04-03, 08:22 PM (EST)
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16. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
What did you guys think of the show? I was on it, but I don't want to tell you who I am yet.
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Lisapooh 12664 desperate attention whore postings
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09-30-03, 06:04 PM (EST)
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18. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
you need to go disable your profile then.
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kingkida 38 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Beauty Pageant Celebrity Judge"
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09-30-03, 06:14 PM (EST)
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19. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
Thanks. Duh. I am his neighbor. He signed up and logged in to this forum on my computer about a month ago, and I have been posting with the name ever since. Oops.
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Lisapooh 12664 desperate attention whore postings
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09-30-03, 06:19 PM (EST)
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20. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
no problem. Tell him he should post more - he's got fans.
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kingkida 38 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Beauty Pageant Celebrity Judge"
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09-30-03, 06:35 PM (EST)
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21. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
thanks, I will! He is a super nice guy. I tell him whenever someone on this message board throws him some props, but I especially like telling him when people call him an over-actor! He gets a kick out of that. He wont tell me how Joe Schmo ends, but he laughs his ass off at the fact that everybody thinks Matt is an actor. He told me that went through his mind as well when he was shooting the show! He promises me that Matt isn't. I DO know that Matt does a post show interview where they show him clips of the actors' auditions, rehearsals, etc... That should be pretty dope. I am pretty hooked on this show, even if my neighbor IS an over-actor! Ha. He'll kill me if he reads this. By the way, if you want to visit his web page, just type www.(his first and last name here).com. He has a bunch of prank calls and shorts that he directed. Nice web design too.
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erikman 324 desperate attention whore postings
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09-30-03, 07:29 PM (EST)
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22. "RE: Officially Half-Assed Joe Schmo E1 Summary" |
he is'nt the guy who played kip is he. there are 4 guys i cant see earl going on this site brian is to connected to the show, and hutch has the mullets to worry about.
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dianaoo 4 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "American Cancer Society Spokesperson"
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08-15-04, 08:06 PM (EST)
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23. "RE: Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
WHAT ABOUT MDN!?????
Does anyone watch MDN on spike?
I actually really like the channel and i do get it.
lol
anywayz everyone should check out the show cuz its crazy funny
they've always got hotties both guests and hosts : ) YAY
Its on saturdays around 1 a.m. i think..and it was on last night with luke mitrani and nicole egert
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OvernightCelebrity 3 desperate attention whore postings
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08-16-04, 02:52 PM (EST)
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24. "RE: Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
Yeah I've seen that show. It's really awesome. I must admitt it is very entertaining. They've had some cool guests on their too. I loved those dudes from Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I give it two thumbs up!!!!!
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dianaoo 4 desperate attention whore postings
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08-16-04, 04:53 PM (EST)
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26. "RE: Spike TV (Joe Shmooe)" |
WOooOO~!
I love people who watch MDN
It truly is a funny show
I was rooting for Kumar (Kal Penn) but he didn't seem to be doing so good in the game.
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