Pure Human Goodness Overcoming Cynicism

December 31, 2022 10:35 AM

If you looked at this post title and thought, that is some hyperbole, I would have agreed with you if I had not already watched it. He Thought He Had Friends. They Were Paid Actors is a YouTube video by channel T1J that popped up in my feed and which I tried to ignore, because it sounds like a horrible mean-spirited thing I would not enjoy. But finally I couldn't help it, I had to know the ending. Reader, I cried. And you might.

SPOILERS BELOW just in case you prefer to watch it without any.




Does anyone remember this weird reality TV show? (The Joe Schmo Show)?
They Truman Show'd this fellow Matt in a 2003 Spike TV reality show, making him believe he was on a reality competition show when in fact every other contestant was a paid actor and the show was really about him. What they didn't expect is that he would be such a kind and decent guy, which changed the whole atmosphere of the show in the second half.

YouTube channel T1J breaks it all down.
Kristin Wiig appears pre-SNL as psychologist Dr. Pat.

review of the show at reality blurred

"The craziest thing they did, though, was to follow their star’s lead, and to let his honest reactions lead the way, even when that meant talking about the production. How many reality shows wrestle with the ethics of their own behavior as part of the show itself?"

(I was surprised to see there are 3 seasons. This was season one.)

posted by Glinn (20 comments total)

I only vaguely remember hearing about this when it came out, but I never watched it and didn’t know the whole story of it. The T1J explainer video is well worth watching! Like him, I enjoyed watching Matt unwittingly convince the actors and producers to be less terrible people. What a social experiment.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:48 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

The Joe Schmo Show (season 1) is one of the greatest, weirdest things ever to happen in the history of television, and it has bizarrely been almost forgotten. I'm sure this YouTube video is good but what you should really do -- if you are willing to invest the time -- is watch the season start to finish. Nothing else will really give you the full effect.
posted by escabeche at 1:11 PM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]

Here's a YouTube channel with Seasons 1 & 2

I watched season 1 as it aired. It was something special. They really chose a decent person for the single "contestant".
posted by ShooBoo at 1:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm glad that Matt carried the day and even changed the course of the show, but holy shit do I not dig the initial premise of the show. This is the first thing that I've watched from T1J and I appreciate that he doesn't sugar-coat that, or Spike TV's whole thing in general.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:37 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]

Yeah, it’s horrifying watching stuff like this from 2003. I know there’s no shortage of mean spiritedness now in various quarters, but it seemed to be more mainstream-acceptable in the 1990s/early 2000s.

I appreciated T1J’s commentary on the heinousness of the show’s original premise and Spike TV in general.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:01 PM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]

Season 2 was the best. I don't want to spoil anything, but it parodies dating reality tv shows like The Bachelor and I laughed so hard! What ended up unfolding was like lightning in a bottle!
posted by lock robster at 2:48 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

It’s weird how mainstream cruel, point-and-laugh cynicism became as reality TV took off at the Turn of the Millennium.

I can’t remember if I was aware of this particular specimen of Spike’s “no, being a catty brat IS macho!” branding, but it’s neat to see it examined now, two decades in the rearview.

This YouTuber probably isn’t news to most of you either, but he definitely just earned himself another subscriber.

Thanks for sharing this!
posted by armeowda at 3:13 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

What a story! Watching season 1 I can’t help but think he’s a real life Ted lasso. Wonder if they took any inspiration… https://youtu.be/vkWG89OkO-Y
posted by Buckt at 4:18 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Holy cow, Buckt, you are right—Matt’s very first clip is so Ted Lasso-esque!
Witness here
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:26 PM on December 31, 2022

I read the description and I still wasn't ready for that. Early to call it, but I don't expect to see anything more wholesome or heartwarming this year (it's 2023 at time of posting in Britland).

While I'm here: '[more inside]' is now a solid contender for being my favourite phrase.
posted by BCMagee at 6:07 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

I read the description of this post, thought, hey, is this about The Joe Schmoe Show? and then clicked read more to discover that yes it was! Absolutely fascinating, in a way that it probably shouldn't have been.

I suspect the success of shows like Masterchef and The Great British Bake-off, and even Gogglebox, are linked to what happened with The Joe Schmoe Show. What reality TV producers think audiences want to see is far more cynical and cruel than what audiences actually want.
posted by Merus at 6:34 PM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]

I'm told it's better to be loved, but easier to be feared.
posted by clew at 6:35 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

I remember watching this, as ShooBoo did, as it aired. Might be the only time in my life before or since that I watched a reality show with any regularity and felt in any way gripped by the narrative. My girlfriend at the time and I made a ritual of watching it and kept trying to convince our friend group to watch it but no one else would, thinking it was a dumb gimmick.

It was a terrible idea, on a terrible network, and should have been a terrible show. But, somehow, it worked, and it was actually fucking wonderful.

I even hosted an event a few years later with one of the women who was on the show and for some reason she didn't even want to acknowledge it except to thank me for saying I liked the show. It made me wonder if it traumatized - not in a big, dramatic, literal way, but in some small way - everyone involved.

When I watched T1J's video this morning I wondered if there was enough meat on the bone for the ol' blue, so I'm glad someone else agreed there was.
posted by revmitcz at 9:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

The first season was great, we watched real time. The second season was also quite good, but also quite different (and again they rolled with what happened really well). I didn't know there was a third season.
posted by PennD at 10:57 PM on December 31, 2022

oh god this is somehow both my most favourite thing (being suuuuper involved in audience participation at immersive performances) and my worst nightmare (my entire life is a lie and I don't know it) at once.

Would be a really interesting premise for a LARP though! Also reminds me of the work of Odyssey Works, whose main thing is crafting deeply detailed personalised immersive experiences for one specific person, using both actors and people from their subject's actual lives as part of the experience. (The person being gifted the experience knows about it but won't necessarily know the details upfront, and there's kind of a dreamy surreal aspect to the experience anyway. Though one of their subjects accidentally got caught up in a protest because they thought that was part of the experience!)
posted by creatrixtiara at 12:21 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Huh, I just checked in on T1J on Friday morning and was bummed to see hadn't posted in a while. This is great. Thanks.
posted by es_de_bah at 3:46 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Watched this as it happened, and it was *fantastic*.

And without spoiling season one or season two, season two was EXACTLY what it needed to be after season one.
posted by andreaazure at 4:41 AM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

Wth Hornsby
posted by BlunderingArtist at 6:11 AM on January 1, 2023

Pretty sure there was only one more season. IIRC, based on some interviews Matt wasn’t entirely happy about everything.

EDIT: They made another in 2013? Anyone see it?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:35 AM on January 1, 2023

I also just found out about a British reality TV show in 2005 that simulated a trip to space for 3 people who had no idea it was all faked and they were actually in a simulator the whole time. So, uh, yeah I guess some folks went a little hard.

That's nothing, of course, compared to the Japanese "game show" where one man had to send away to contests by mail for all his basic needs, thinking he'd been kidnapped and held against his will, but was actually just in a box in the studio.
posted by revmitcz at 8:44 PM on January 2, 2023