What if the

world around you and the people who inhabit it weren't real? Each day

major plot points were being scripted by writers and your every move was

followed by camera crews. Worse, the people you thought you knew aren't

who they claimed to be, but actors. What would you do? How would you react

when the truth was finally revealed? Would you ever figure it out if they

didn't tell you?

It seems as

if these questions have been tossed about in many forms before, especially

in films like "The Truman Show," "EdTV," and, to a

lesser extent "The Matrix." Now, Hollywood has made it real

with the new reality (sort of) television series, "The Joe Schmo

Show."

The program,

which airs Tuesday evenings at 9 p.m. on Spike TV (yes, the network for

men, aka Anti-Lifetime), brings us the story of Matt, a young man who

thinks he is on a reality show called "Lap of Luxury." The other

"contestants" are gifted improv actors, each of them representing

the stereotypical categories of contestants on other reality shows including

"The Veteran," "The Gay Guy," "The Jerk,"

and "The Cheesy Host." Matt is the show's "Nice Guy,"

which is what makes the show such a rousing success and infinitely watchable.

this column hits the streets, the show will have aired its fourth episode

and kicked off its third "contestant." While a lot has happened,

there is still a lot left to occur. The plot is this: The contestants

live in a mansion and participate in weekly contests. The winner of the

contest earns immunity and can't get voted off that week. Sound familiar?

Yes, but where "Survivor" is cheesy and often, unintentionally

funny, "Joe Schmo" is intentionally cheesy and hilarious, mainly

because everyone but Matt knows the show is fake and therefore their participation

in the games are written to be very humorous. For example, a recent episode

showed Kip, the "gay guy," perform a horrible magic act for

the talent show immunity contest, while "Dr Pat," the therapist,

performed a puppet show about her marriage breaking down.

The actors

are amazed that Matt hasn't been able to figure out the ruse, but there

are 100,000 reasons clouding his judgement. The fact that he is surrounded

in the bag. He probably does. But winning isn't everything and now the

crew around Matt is starting to figure that out.

In the last

episode that aired, Earl, the veteran, was voted off. Unbeknownst to much

of the crew, Matt and Earl had developed a father-son type bond when not

on camera. When the ceremony ended and Earl was removed with the (gets

funnier every time I hear it) phrase, "Earl, you're dead to us now."

Matt started breaking down and crying.

It seems the

pressure of the game is starting to get to him, especially the apparent

randomness of it all. And it is random. Matt may scheme and plot with

contestants all he wants, but the order of removal has been plotted out

in advance. When the actors go off to write down who they want to vote

off, they don't write down a contestants name, but rather funny messages,

because all of the votes, except Matt's, have already been written.

Matt's breakdown

has forced some interesting questions about whether it is right or wrong

to do this to somebody. Even though there are few jokes at Matt's expense

and many more aimed at the inherent silliness of other reality game shows,

it is still basically a cruel trick on an unsuspecting fellow human being.

That is not

a major criticism, though, and I still highly recommend everyone to give

it a shot, especially because the landscape of the show is constantly

changing. How will the show change now, if at all, post-breakdown? Will

the actors change or will they be able to stay in character? While those

questions are interesting, the big question is how will Matt change? Will

the carefree, friendly guy be more guarded? Will he play the game any

differently now? Will he figure out "the joke" before they tell

him and more importantly, will he take the $100,000 or throw it in their

face?

It is rare

to see a groundbreaking show, especially on a brand-new network (Has UPN

even had one yet?). "Joe Schmo" is definitely groundbreaking

and it is wonderful that the "fake reality show" is proving

to be the most real program out there.

New episodes

of "The Joe Schmo Show" air Tuesdays at 9 p.m and the show has

reruns throughout the week. Visit SpikeTv.com for a more complete schedule.

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