The Joe Schmo Show

this is the funniest television show i've seen in ages. if you haven't seen an episode yet, trust me, give it a chance. the show's posing as a reality show with eleven fake contestants and one real one. the eleven are really actors, while matt, the sole contestant, is the show's basis.

all the actors play a different type of character from different backgrounds, a gay guy, white trash, a geek, a southern bell, and a couple others. each actor stereotypes their characters to the max, while matt hasen't at all a clue he's being played. sorta like the truman show, but on crack.

the difference between this game and others, is that it's really based on a 'joe schmo' - the average guy. he isn't very good looking, nor wealthy in any means. he's just a nice guy, or like two of his fellow 'competitors' refer to him as 'just the nicest guy in the world, the kinda friend all girls love.'

trust me, watch it. shame though, that it's on spike. bet if it was on nbc or cbs, it'd be recognised as the next best thing.

I saw the first Joe Schmo, and thought it was a great concept. Who among us isn't a bit sick of the plethora of reality. In practice, it was pretty damn decent.

My favorite part of the first one was Ralph, the Smarmy Host, so how pleased am I that he's back as Derek Newcastle? Very!

The new version is a parody of reality love shows, this one called, "Last Chance for Love." Two innocents (using that term loosely) are on the show with such stereotypes as the Heir, the Stalker, the Bitch, and the Drunk Girl.

I think that this season may be even stronger and funnier than the first, as they have already experimented with the formula and now can perfect it. And watch out for Ingrid-- she'll school you good...

A average, everyday person finds themselves selected for a reality TV show with a large prize at stake. Little do they know they're the only contestant: all the other "competitors" are actors and the whole show is just a set up to test how they react to different scenarios and moral dilemmas.

A show that that uses reality TV as a basis for a competition but has the opposite effect, and degree of quality, as reality TV. While reality TV is cheap, dime-a-dozen broadcasting bringing out the worst in people, The Joe Schmo Show was a clever, quality production showing the best in people. Watching Season 1 gave me a new, positive view on mankind: whatever the producers/writers threw at our hero - all manner of moral tests - he passed with flying colours, always doing the honourable thing.

Wonderfully life-affirming and a great a parody of the blight that is reality TV.

<<They're going to study up some on reality shows before they go on one, they would hear of "Joe Schmo," and they'd wonder if something was up.>>

Jane Schmo (Ingrid) said in an interview that the only reality shows she has watched were "The Real World" and "The Bachelorette", and Joe Schmo (Tim) hasn't even mentioned any reality shows he has previously watched.

The first season of "Joe Schmo" peaked at 3 million viewers, which is only about 1/4 of the "Bachelorette" audience. You have to think that the "Joe Schmo 2" producers made absolutely sure that neither Joe nor Jane Schmo had heard of "Joe Schmo" or Spike TV, and because "JS" didn't get huge national ratings, that shouldn't be too hard.

<<I wonder if they also know that Spike TV is hosting it, or how Spike TV would hide that fact?>>

Most reality shows, just like sitcom pilot episodes, are not tied to their eventual network when they are produced. Potential reality shows are filmed and then production companies shop them around to various TV networks. There is no reason for Joe and Jane Schmo to even be told that this particular show will end up airing on Spike TV. The producers could simply say, "Once we're done filming 'Last Chance for Love', we will be meeting with TV executives to try to sell it for future airing."

On top of that, Jane Schmo (Ingrid) probably has never heard of Spike TV because a) she is not in their target demographic (young men) and b) she has spent the past few years traveling the world and reading books about Madeleine Albright in her spare time, not watching wrestling on Spike TV.

I love this show. Genius idea if you ask me. I've never watched any of the reality shows...I've seen bits and pieces, and to me- that has to be the dumbest stuff on tv ever. This makes fun of all of that stuff, so I enjoyed it a lot. Even if it wasn't making fun of "reality" shows, it would be entertaining. Matt is clearly a really nice guy, and that helps the show a lot. He's so cool in general, you can't help but like the guy and want to see what happens. The actors do a fantastic job, all playing over-the-top stereotypes of reality show contestant personalities. The gay guy, the jerk, the rich snotty girl, the old guy, etc.

In Matt's defense...I'm not sure why some call him dumb. I don't think ANY of us would ever think that we were being set up on a fake show and the rest of the contestants were actors. Why would that thought even come to mind if you were on a show like this? You're just thinking you're on a show with some normal people and some not so normal people...none of our reactions would be- "wait, are all you guys actors?" He surely wouldn't have recognized any of the other actors from previous work, since none of them have had any leading roles in a thing- I looked at all the actors pages on this site, and the hutch has done some work, but not much, and not too many people would recognize him from his past work.

Very nice idea, well played out so far...but you can't help feel bad for good ol' matt who is being duped. Then again, he's on tv, he's going thru this adventure, and I'm sure they paid him in the end- so I guess it's not TOO bad of a deal for him.