Althouse: "Aw man. We're not astronauts. We're just asses."

December 17, 2005

"Aw man. We're not astronauts. We're just asses."

How was that reality show where they tricked people into thinking they were sent up in space?

9 comments:

CCMCornell said...: Wow - it's like Joe Schmoe, Spike TV's hoax reality show, in space. Schmoe was the only "reality" show that I've watched since the early Real Worlds. I think I liked it so much (besides the humor/drama of the charade and the parody of reality shows) because the mark seemed like a genuine, nice person unlike most of the personalities you see on real "reality" shows.

His actual positive attributes aside, I think that perhaps the show's editing was done in a way to be sympathetic, unlike the "shreditting" that's often done on other shows to paint vindictive, competitive personalities. Maybe this was a result of both the show's intended light character and a reflection of how cast and crew really came to love the guy.

Anyways, if you haven't seen Schmoe, check it out - it's on DVD.

I wonder if they'll air Space Cadets here. Probably not, since there's so many reality shows out there and they don't re-air foreign shows in the US - they just remake them. Hmmm...I see there's some bittorrents for all 10 episodes already.; 12/17/05, 10:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Yeah, I thought of "Joe Schmo" here too. I watched the first season of the show and have a post here about the beginning of the second season.; 12/17/05, 10:49 AM
Adam said...: I, too, was a big fan of both seasons of Joe Schmo. I wrote about the original here.

The actress who played "Dr. Pat" in season one is now a featured player on SNL.; 12/17/05, 12:25 PM
CCMCornell said...: I haven't seen the newer Schmoes. I haven't watched SNL for years either, but Dr. Pat was my fav.

I saw Lance Krall, "Kip," in small parts on both Monk and the Office. Apparently he's got some kind of variety sketch show, too.; 12/17/05, 6:22 PM
Anonymous said...: It shouldn't be hard to fool people to think that they're in space. Sure - you would think that the fact that there was still gravity in their spaceship would have clued them in on the trick.

But they don't teach gravity in school anymore. Because, you know - like evolution, gravity is just a "theory".; 12/17/05, 6:29 PM
Simon said...: "Channel 4 invested millions in the hoax but viewing figures slipped during the series."

Most likely because the viewing public aren't even remotely as stupid and gullible (to wit, "is this really supposed to be 'entertainment'?") as the contestants.

American reality TV seems to go from bad to worse, while British reality TV simply manages to go from inane to absurd.; 12/17/05, 8:32 PM
Frank from Delavan said...: Re: "But they don't teach gravity in school anymore. Because, you know - like evolution, gravity is just a "theory".

It isn't so bad that they hoaxed a plasterer and a football recruiter, but one of the three was a teaching assistant. To me that speaks volumes about the level of teaching today.; 12/18/05, 6:34 AM
- said...: Space Cadets was truly dire TV, even worse than the usual reality 'entertainment' we're constantly subjected to here in Blighty.

My family, warm and loving as they are, are unfortunately huge fans of reality TV and as a result every idiot box in the house blared the grating voices of the trepid voyagers. I only watched the conclusion of the series in the hope that one of these idiots would go crazy on learning he'd been duped and start swinging. Alas, they had planned for that eventuality and bunged each dupe-ee £25,000 to distract them from the fact that they'll forever be known as gullible morons.; 12/18/05, 1:08 PM
L. C. Staples said...: I believe, from the pre-show press, that the producers originally intended a "hard landing" for the cadets. The set was constructed to make this possible. I can only conjecture that the change to a soft landing was made in midstream, probably in response to complaints that the original plan was too cruel and would turn off viewers.; 12/19/05, 4:22 AM