Punk'd

Do I ever miss Candid Camera. That show actually showed some imagination in regards to the pranks they pulled. Of course if I was 10 years or younger, I might find Punk'd a good show. But now that I think about, I would still have to pity myself.

Believe me, I am an immense fan of the practical joke. Having had many pulled on me as well as coming up with some good ones myself, so I can't understand how anyone can take the fine art of practical joking and reduce it to something so lame and pathetic. I think the makers of this show forgot that practical jokes are supposed to be funny and fun for all involved. Not just for themselves without including the audience or victims.

Hopefully with all this DNA and stem-cell research going on, someone will be able to bring Allen Funt back. Until then I can't stand watching this lame second-rate sitcom reject trying to mug it up for the camera when there is really nothing to mug about at all. Truly sad.

Network: MTV; Genre: Reality, Comedy; Content Rating: TV-14 (for language); Available on Uncensored DVD and MTV2; Perspective: Classic (star range: 1 - 5);

Seasons Reviewed: 2+ seasons

Ashton Kutcher has parlayed his looks, teenage girl appeal and "That 70s Show" capital into his own MTV series. Given the opportunity, what he put together is a "Candid Camera" for a new, star worshiping generation. This is "Punk'd" and it has become not just an amusing practical joke show, but part of our language and popular culture.

I never got the appeal of Alan Funt's "Candid Camera" and the idea of watching everyday people get upset and angry over contrived situations, but not really doing anything funny or scandalous.. The "Punk'd" twist gives the jokes a purpose. Kutcher appears in rapidly cut black-and-white introductory monologues and conveys himself as nothing more than a good old farm boy screaming at us about how things are "where he comes from" as opposed to the pampered celebrity world he is immersed in now in L.A. "Punk'd" gives us the opportunity to see rich and famous Hollywood types get a squirming that they so richly deserve (often involving their cars). Well, some of them, like Fankie Muniz, Shaquille O'Neil, and Kelly Osbourne deserve to get knocked down to size, while others like my poor dears Eliza Dushku and Rachael Lee Cook, do not so much. Mandy Moore on Crib Crasher is a classic, as is an epic bit involving Beyonce Knowles and a Christmas tree.

Some of the pranks can be repetitive and uninspired. When the time comes for Kutcher to drop the hammer and let the victim know they've been punk'd, what you'd think would be the big punchline reaction we're all waiting for, it is over before it began. So really, for me, "Punk'd" works best as an improv comedy with a clueless celebrity caught in the middle of an elaborate free-standing piece of theatrics.

And the more elaborate and nonsensical they are the better. Seth Green being punk'd with a raid on an illegal craps game isn't as funny as the detail that Kutcher's phony FBI agent does a Hollywood barrel roll as he crashes through the window. It isn't that Hilary Duff gets punk'd with a driver's ed lesson from hell that is as funny as the detail that her teacher attacks another driver with a bat and a smoothie. It isn't that Kutcher makes Tommy Lee think he's hit a women, but that he piles it on even higher with a bus of Asian tourists pulling up to watch the spectacle. The show is also available on an unrated (read R-rated) DVD, which may be your only chance to hear Hilary Duff say the F-word, at least for a while.

Kutcher is having an unending blast here. He boasts that he can't be punk'd and that he can punk anybody, but it is never quite clear when the punking begins and ends because often the celebrity will look completely unfazed and occasionally will figure it out, but Kutcher still claims victory. But it is still smarter than you'd expect from MTV. At the end of the 2nd season Kutcher hangs up his hat in another effort to stay one step ahead of the smart-alec celebrities and delivering the ultimate punk - this time on the audience.

The show continues for at least 6 more seasons. As it does "Punk'd" evolves. Kutcher is just too nice a guy and becomes too immersed in the Hollywood crowd himself to keep the show without mercy. Very soon it becomes hip to be punk'd by Kutcher. We see it being treated like a right of passage when Kutcher comes out after the prank and gives the young starlet a big hug to let them know that they have arrived. It becomes a sickening Hollywood love-fest of celebrities "passing the punk" on each other. It also becomes repetitive, there are so many L.A. themed-pranks Kutcher can think of.

Kutcher keeps his cast oscillating so that any celebrity watching won't be able to spot them. All are on the same page, including B.J. Novak and Kaitlin Olsen, and pile on the conversation as serious as it should be. "Punk'd" is a mixed bag of work, splitting down the middle between the dull bits and the truly funny ones. Whether it is still a show for and by Hollywood outsiders is very debatable. But as a reality show, a practical joke show and an MTV show it is better than you'd expect.

* * * / 5

Ashton Kutcher is a genius.The show is amazing and you enjoy it when you watch it. If you can punk celebrates and get away with it, you know it's going to be funny because watching your favorite celebrates make fools of themselves is entertaining. hey they are real people, who would know?!?! hey, who doesn't like to see Justin Timberlake ball his eyes out on national TV and have no idea what is going on? It's funny,it makes us see that they are real people and it makes you laugh. It's en-lighting from all of the other reality TV shows, (let's face it we can get sick and tired of watching American Idol) and it brings a whole new meaning to the word, i just got punk'd. So all you haters out there you need to lighten up, and enjoy good TV. So Ashton keep doing what you're doing.

C'mon, guys-ya gotta know that it's all fixed!! You really think these celebrities are unaware of what's going on? If you ask me, most of these so called reality shows are staged, and this one definitely is. I saw a recent episode-the one with one of The Backstreet Boys and a girl named Trishell from MTV's Real World. They were trying to enter a security building, and the security guard kept harassing them-making them take off their shoes, raise their arms, scanning all between their legs-the Backstreet dude even pulled his pants down several times! Now, what celebrity do you know is going to allow themselves to be humiliated like that in public? They all have this-"Don't you know who the hell I am?!" attitude, so I just knew that this was all staged for the fun of MTV's gullible audience.

And, c'mon, even if it weren't staged, wouldn't you think that the celebrity would have at least HEARD of this show or SEEN it on television already?!!!

The only one who's PUNK'D is the audience.

I believe that punk'd is a really good show, and that Ashton Kutcher has awesome ideas. The show itself isn't funny, but seeing the celebrities reaction to the pranks is classic. I mean, come on, is it not funny to see Justin Timberlake or Avril Lavign or any one of the rest of the celebrities be tortured? I doubt celebrities like the show, but it is a good show for the regular people who watch it & like it. If I had to rate this,I would rate it five stars. You get to see what happens to celebrities when they get annoyed, and boy do they get annoyed! Someone who wrote about Punk'd said that it's illegal to do what they do. No matter what people say, I like Ashton and I like the show.