Joe Schmo
 

Anyone hear anything about this? good or bad?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...re_joeschmo_dc

'Joe Schmo' Turns Reality TV on Ear with Twist

By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It sounded like the ideal job for a college dropout-turned-pizza deliveryman in today's America: go on a reality TV show, live in a fancy house, spend time with good-looking women and vie for the chance to win a lot of money and national fame.


Reuters Photo



Except the whole thing was an elaborate hoax, perpetrated on an unsuspecting "Joe Schmo" by a cast of actors and a team of producers known for reality competition shows and irreverent, male-oriented programming.


"The Joe Schmo Show" premieres next Tuesday on Spike TV, culminating more than a year of work creating a reality series as elaborate as any that have aired on the mainstream broadcast networks.


"I never had a question about whether we could pull it off; we had a question about whether we could find the right guy," David Stanley, one of the show's producers, told Reuters.


That "right guy" turned out to be Matt Kennedy Gould, who was delivering pizzas in Pittsburgh after leaving law school.


Enticed by the chance to appear on the show "Lap of Luxury" and compete for the chance to win $100,000, Gould signed on for what turned out to be a month in a mansion this June in southern California, competing in reality-style reward and immunity competitions and participating in evictions.


Among the competitions Gould is asked to endure: "Hands on a High-Priced Hooker," where the contestant who keeps a hand on the prostitute for the longest wins; a talent show; and a mock sumo wrestling battle.


"What we set out to do was to parody reality TV," said Rhett Reese, one of the show's creators and executive producers.


STEREOTYPICAL CONTESTANTS


The cast of eight "contestants" includes all of the most common reality show stereotypes, including "grizzled veteran" Earl, played by Franklin Dennis Jones; "schemer" Gina, portrayed by Nikki Davis; and "buddy" Brian, played by segment producer Brian Keith Etheridge.


Producers saw 1,500 people for the cast, all of whom needed to be newer and unrecognizable talent so as not to give away the scam.


"Joe Schmo" is "hosted" by Los Angeles radio personality Ralph Garman, playing "himself." Garman, best known for his work doing comic relief on the popular L.A. morning radio show "Kevin & Bean," said one of the biggest surprises of the program was finding he actually liked Gould.


"It was definitely surprising that I developed some real genuine affection for Matt as we started working on the show," he told Reuters. But he also said it was difficult to try and maintain the fiction as time went by.


"There were lots of moments where the show didn't go as planned ... there were plenty of moments where I thought the 'jig is up, this guy knows what's going on,"' he said.


Scott Stone, Stanley's partner and another producer on the show, agreed that there were mixed emotions as the project rolled on.


"All of us got to that point where we realized how vested he was in the show and the people around him, that we felt bad for the emotional rollercoaster he was going through," he said.


Paul Wernick, a veteran news producer who with Reese co-created the show, was more blunt about the emotional impact. "There were times we wanted to stop the show," he said, though he also allowed that "the bottom line is Matt had the experience of a lifetime."





But does Gould agree? He was not available for interviews about the show, and all of the producers declined to talk about how happy or unhappy he is, now that he knows that he was put up, for America's amusement, as a "Schmo."

I was wondering what the hell this was about. The commercials caught my eye... sounds like good tv. Also - reminds me of that Japanese reality show where the guy didn't know he was on a show.

aka The Truman Show ;)

It's an interesting twist and I'll definitely give it at least one shot. In reality it's just a really in-depth Jamie Kennedy-type stunt. But I love that show so I have hopes for this.

If I produced the show I'd have them all turn on Joe one day. They could call him names and stuff. Then I'd have him walk into a room where one of them looks dead and when he goes over to the body have the other roomates accuse him of doing it and call the cops. Then I'd have the cops have him commited to a mental institute and watch the hilarity.

Premieres tonight. I'll give it a shot.

I read an articles about it in the Atlanta newspaper, and the guy who's the Schmo was so embarrassed by his gullibility that he refused to do any promotion of the show for Spike TV. Sounds like a winner of a show! :)

The more I hear about this show, the more I think they faked the whole thing. Either way, it's a pretty lame concept.

The Schmo looks like Chris Moore from Project Greenlight. This show looks fake. All of the "contestants" are obviously overacting.

Hilarious stuff! Well worth watching. I agree that a lot of the actors are way over the top (especially Molly the Virgin), but I suppose that's how a lot of these reality contestants are.

what if joe schmo was the one who was putting on the rest of the actors.
so it turns around the whole thing.

Anyone notice that the gay guy is the kid from supertroopers and porn and chicken? I would have known it was a fake five minutes in.

umm, what was the name of that porn star ?

I think it was Tawny Roberts

Wrong: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0469414/.

Here's the guy you are thinking of: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034309/

I actually do recognize one of his credits: the clown on a recent "Monk" episode. Of course, he was made up beyond recognition in that role.

It's interesting to see what stuff these folks have been in:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377024/

I finally watched this show last nite. It is pretty funny but the fact that all the girls are nice looking and the guys are just not attractive at all, bugs me. Why can't they have some hot guys on there too? I figure it's because this show is on the 'guy network.'

I was actually thinking (and told my wife) that maybe the whole show is a joke on the audience and not on Joe Schmo. What I mean is.. the whole thing is fake... Joe's in on it too.

Either way... It was entertaining... and if I remember it, I'llwatch it again.

I thought it was great... can't wait for more episodes. I have a feeling spike will air this show like 30 times a week.

I really enjoyed it as well. I'm not known for having the best taste in television shows though. :D

I enjoyed it. I think it's alot easier from an "in-the-know" position to see how fake the acting is. In reality, what reason would he have to suspect the whole thing is a sham? It's not like this has been done before. I would think these people were definitely being over-the-top, but alot of these shows (Real World especially) are filled with star-wannabes who overplay to the camera. I just can't imagine being in his position and thinking "You know what, this is just all too strange. I bet this whole thing is just an elaborate stunt to trick ME." It's too far out there to be a consideration, unless they go REALLY overboard.

My wife and I got some good laughs from this one. I strongly doubt Joe is acting. His reaction from the underwear gaff was not acting... if so, he deserves an Oscar.

According to my onscreen TVGuide, the new episode of "Joe Schmo" will air from 9 pm ET to 10 pm ET tonight with a repeat of the 2hr premiere afterwards from 10:00 pm ET to 12:00 am ET. Then tonights episode reairs from 12:00 am ET to 1:00 am ET.

LB...

I knew "The Hutch" looked familiar. He's one of The Mullets.

Did anyone else catch that "The Hutch" said he was a Police Officer? I would have wondered if something was up right then. Plus the "Virgin" looks like a stripper.

Last night's episode was okay but the previews of next week look great.

that was a great episode - next week does indeed look awesome. Those actors suck. Matt (Joe) is such a goober - I've never seen someone so extroverted before. I think I would've known something is up - I think Matt is kinda a dum dum.