I don’t watch much TV, but there was something I couldn’t resist about Joe Schmo, the reality show in which only one hapless contestant — the Schmo — is real. Everyone else is an actor playing a reality show archteype:
All the “drama” is scripted and treads the fine line between over-the-top and believable (rather like some of the stories in this blog, come to think of it). Normally, reality shows fail to capture my interest for terribly long because they’re so terribly contrived. However, by actually increasing the contrivance to Truman Show levels, scripting the “drama” and giving the viewer that “in on the joke” feeling, I think they’ve actually made the show feel more “real” than any reality TV show.
Of course, I’m assuming that the Schmo isn’t also an actor faking that he doesn’t know that it’s fake.
I think I would’ve loved being on the writing team for Joe Schmo.
I’ve done the occasional Tampa-to-St. Pete commute during peak times, and they can easily stretch…
Anitra and I saw the sticker pictured above on a Model Y Tesla parked outside…
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This stuff makes for amazing fried rice or musubi (a.k.a. “Spam sushi”).
Anitra and I were dropping off a package at the UPS Store on Kennedy when…