MovieChat Forums > The Joe Schmo Show (2003) Discussion > Feel more like a Schmo every week

Feel more like a Schmo every week

posted 12 years ago by SaladGoat
11 replies | jump to latest

They tell us in the opening - every damn week - that the show was in the planning stages for a year and a half.

Really?

And through all that time it never occurred to anybody that a hearing person playing a deaf person in a live, uncontrolled environment was a terrible idea?

Apparently they also thought that film actors were the best option for unpredictable situations. Personally, I would have gone with improv actors. People who can come up with things at the drop of a hat, not look like deer caught in the headlights every time Karlee "hears".

I'm no improv actor (not an actor of any sort) but I have immediately come up with fake reactions to every mistake someone has made. (Example: Day 1, arrivals - Randy shows up and Chase asks him why the producers didn't make him shave his beard. Randy is supposed to be the badass. The obvious response is *beep* the producers, I'm keeping my beard." What do we get? Randy=speechless

And shouldn't they have a back-up plan? Shouldn't they all have a line or topic they can introduce on a moment's notice to distract their mark from a huge error? No, they all stare at each other and hold their breath and hope he doesn't notice.

The prisoner escapes. Everyone goes in the bathroom and the actors head for the window. The producers start yelling at their screens, "Don't go to the window!"
Why? Did you seriously believe that gung-ho Chase would not go to the window? What would have happened if he had grown a pair while the guard was away and gone and knocked on the door? He would have walked in and walked right over to the window.

And why was it such a big deal that the crew is milling around outside? Didn't he know he was on a TV show? If Chase is not willing to go after an escaped prisoner, why would he think the crew should?

They put out a bigger glass! Of course they did. Jake is the only one with a stopwatch - he couldn't have fudged the time a little? Come on!

Karlee: My biggest fear is being buried alive.
Producers: We should bury her alive.
What?! How did this make any sense at all?

So many other things I can't think of right now.

At the end of every episode, more and more every week, I feel like it is the viewer - not Chase - who is the Joe Schmo. Since at least week 3 (and maybe I am late to the party) I have believed that Chase may be "in on it" and the joke is being played on the viewers. This feeling grows stronger every week. I just can't help but think that a year and a half of planning should result in better ... everything!

And yet I continue to watch....

[–] Doc80 12 years ago

First off, I totally agree with you on casting an actress who can hear to play a deaf person in a "live" show is just asking for trouble. I would also say it was a mistake hiring the actors they did because they are all working and Chase thought he recognized "Randy" and if I was in his place I probably would have had the same thought because I am a fan of Super Troopers. I may not have completely recognized him but I know I would have thought he looked familiar.

I think they actually covered why the people were walking outside the bathroom window by saying one of the crew members saw him run up this hill or whatever it was. He was apparently gone so it was OK for them to keep working. A little weak maybe but it's at least a bit believable.

[–] SaladGoat 12 years ago

Chase to Randy: You look familiar.
Entire cast: dead silence.
Randy: um.

How about either, "I get that a lot", or "Really? Sorry, can't help ya."
Again, improv skills, people!

Maybe because they are actors they are used to actually responding with the truth: "Did you see Super Troopers?" And now he doesn't know how to respond. Any regular, non-actor type person would say one of the above. Maybe take a closer look at the person saying it, to see if it goes both ways.

OR, considering Super Troopers was over ten years ago, admit it. "Yeah, I am a struggling actor, maybe you saw me in a movie I did a long time ago."

The cover story for the people outside the window was fine, but the whole panic over it was uncalled for. It's a TV show, there are going to be people around. What does that have to do with the guy getting away?

Chase's reaction to seeing the people: This is a setup.
How so? You're on a TV show. Why do you suddenly think you're being set up, because there is a TV crew outside?
It didn't make any sense and only served as an actual setup for the cliffhanger of "does he know", because that is where that episode ended.

Too many episodes end with that cliffhanger to be believable.

"Can I have a notebook?"
All of a sudden, in the middle of the show, he wants a notebook? For what? Because he has thoughts he cannot share in the private interview sessions, because it might get him kicked off the show. Cool premise, except why write it down? Just think it. Think about every other reality show you've ever seen - how many people ask for a notebook to write their thoughts in? None.
If he had asked for the notebook in the first episode because he keeps a diary at home, great. Believable. But this was obviously a tool for storytelling.

[–] aerosmith777 12 years ago

Well, I guess we'll see at the end. But I don't think all of it is as far-fetched as you're making it out to be. For example, the "this is a set-up" line. It wasn't that he was surprised to see a television crew on the set of a television show. His surprise was that all these people magically just "missed" an inmate in a bright orange jumpsuit climbing out of his bathroom window.

As far as using film actors, most of them are comedic actors it seems, so it's certainly plausible that some of them at least have improv experience. Given who his dad is, I imagine Rob Belushi at least has some exposure to improv. And honestly, I've probably watched Super Troopers a dozen times, and I didn't recognize Michael Weaver in the pilot. To be honest, I thought his, "I guess all gingers look alike" line to play it off was pretty smooth.

As far as hiring Jo Newman to play a deaf character, I struggled with that one for awhile too. The only reason I could come up with is they wanted an actress who could pick up on either visual or audible cues the producers wanted to give the cast members without alerting Chase. Overall though, it does seem like it wasn't worth it, and was too much of a risk. I was surprised they didn't get rid of her sooner, but then again the playoff between her and the interpreter was one of the more amusing parts of the show.

Some of the mistakes, like the glass mistake, were pretty bad though. I agree that you have to wonder if they did that stuff on purpose to create drama.

[–] oscarunger 12 years ago

yes they do a LOT of this stuff on purpose. what fun is it if chase is cluesless the whole show and they never screw up, they want to have him almost find out, thats the gimmick. My main qualm is pushing to so far and making it so ridiculous (i cant compalin about jo newman shes the best thing in the show (imo)

[–] fred112371 12 years ago

The producers screwing up so much, and showing things out of order has gotten me to be skeptical about everything they do now.

1) They bury Karlee in a coffin when she is supposedly claustrophobic. I'm wondering if this wasn't just an act for the audience. They could have picked anything else for her. She could have drank a (small) glass of juice that was supposedly bug guts and they could've put Allen in the coffin. I know they wanted to get her and Stan together, but they could've put them together in a glass phone booth or something. It's like Karlee screwing up her assignments is an intentional running gag.

2) What was the point of having the "everyone gets immunity" plot that they supposedly were trying to achieve? I know they said they thought it would get Chase to believe more in the show, but I don't see the correlation. And then, they eliminate 2 people back-to-back? Doesn't that mean they shrank the show 2 epidoses quicker than planned? Isn't episode count really important to a show?

3) Randy leaving. Way too big a risk to give Chase the power to kick him off if they truly didn't want him to leave. and like others have said, this was yet another Chase-centric event that could lead him to believe the show is rigged in his favor, as opposed to making him believe it's more real.

4) Lorenzo Lamas is coming back. Ok, but tell me he didn't already know about this. Are we to believe that Ralph thought of this idea off-the-cuff in the secret control room the day before and they decided to call Lamas up to tell him they need him back the next day? Not to mention they have to instruct him on what he's supposed to act out, all in about 24 hours?

[–] SaladGoat 12 years ago

I agree with both points: they want to get right to the edge because that's more fun for the viewer and they are going way too far, to the point of ridiculousness and I think it's the latter point that makes the whole show seem like a put-on for the audience. My point is that Chase is not the mark, as they say. We, the audience, are the mark.

[–] SaladGoat 12 years ago

But the TV crew didn't miss the guy escaping - they are simply not paid to do anything about it. OK, maybe I will concede it's a matter of viewpoints, where Chase feels a sense of how he would have reacted if he'd been on the crew and how I would have reacted....

I tend to let someone's talents speak for themselves, rather than look at their parentage. I've been exposed to improv too, but that doesn't make me a good improv actor. And I don't think "Allan" was used enough in the early episodes and wasn't shown enough to really know what Rob Belushi can do....

I understand why they didn't have a deaf actress playing the deaf character and I wasn't arguing for that. It really wouldn't much sense, from the comedy point of view. I'm saying having a deaf character at all was a mistake. Unless they had an "out" for her, if she got caught. Such as taking Chase aside out in the woods or something and confessing that she faked deafness because she didn't think the producers would pick her otherwise. And please don't tell (tears in her eyes). Of course, that's unlikely, since they don't seem to have any backup stories for anyone or any scenario!

[–] aerosmith777 12 years ago

Well, it's not their job to try to tackle the guy and bring him in. But you'd think in a crowd full of people watching an inmate in an orange jumpsuit jump out a window, ONE of them might just go grab one of the many armed guards who was walking around and filling him in. At least, that would've been Chase's perspective if he were looking at it as "real". But instead, it was presented to Chase that no one realized he'd run away until the guard walking into the bathroom to find him gone.

I only used Rob Belushi as one example. And by exposed, I meant participated in. My point it, it wouldn't surprise if most (if not all) of the actors who've made it to close to the end (Karlee, Allan, Randy, etc) have previous improv experience. And it should be pointed out that part of Rob Belushi's character is he's just a nice guy. He's basically supposed to seem like another Chase, to Chase. So when things get out of hand, it's in character for him to look flustered.

Yeah, fair point. The deaf character really does push it probably too far. But like I said, have her gives them the chance to bring in the interpreter, and has also led to some of the funniest moments of the show. So in that sense, it's kind of worked. They probably shouldn't have kept her around as long as they did though...

[–] Soloos 12 years ago

I don't think the actors have any problems with improv. If they were really speechless whenever Chase asked something tricky, he'd get suspicious very fast. It seems to me that it's a problem with editing; they're trying to make it seem more suspenseful than it really was. It's not good either way.

[–] SaladGoat 12 years ago

Yes, I noticed last week how the editing was done to add suspense. I mean, I realized it long ago (all reality shows are edited to add suspense), but it was quite obvious last week during the elimination ceremony when they showed the same shot twise from different angles. It's not usually noticeable because nobody moves or speaks, but in this case you saw Chase do a dramatic turn of the head in two subsequent shots.
So I get that the editing is deceiving, but the shots they show of the actors speechless, looking at each other for help ... maybe the pauses are not as long as we are led to believe (ok, I know they are not that long!) but it feels like there is enough time there to jump in with some saving comment.

[–] Agent0042 12 years ago

It seemed like things went off the rails there for a while, but I think the last couple of episodes rather pulled things in. The stuff in the most recent one was pretty neat, especially the bit with Chase on his spirit walk with his llama. I think I'll enjoy the finale.