Back in the early 2000s, the reality TV landscape was pretty different. Instead of getting a peak into the lives of celebrities or certain vocations (with plenty of contrived drama), they focused on regular people isolated into some kind of competition, with immunity challenges and eviction ceremonies. And, still lots of contrived drama. Which is an odd approach, as the premise of "a dozen or so people locked into a house, competing for a large sum of money" should have provided plenty of drama as it was, yet there was still a lot of over-the-top characters and bizarre situations that stretched believability.
The Joe Schmo Show was conceived as a parody of that type of reality show. Under the guise of a fake show called "Lap of Luxury," ten people were locked into a mansion and had to vote for who they think should be evicted every night, and the last one standing wins $100,000 with small competitions sprinkled in for either voting immunity or smaller prizes. The catch is that all but one of these people are actors, taking on the persona of a reality show archetype (the asshole, the schemer, the quirky one, etc.), following a script and trying to see how the typical manufactured realty TV drama goes when it's pushed to 11 and a real person is right in the centre of it.
It's an interesting premise, but what really makes the show is the Schmo himself. It seems like they expected a lot of the comedy to come from placing him in the middle of drama and seeing his awkward reaction, or trying to stay out of it, and there's even a sense early on that he was meant to be the butt of more jokes, but the man they chose is the most improbably sweet, considerate man out there. Matt Kennedy Gould is a saint.
I originally watched the show in my mid-to-late teens, when I wasn't as immersed in the world of videogames, but on a recent rewatch it struck me how much the Matt Man reminds me of a visual novel protagonist. One by one, the actors come to Matt with their pre-written problems, and without fail he listens to their concerns and is supportive every step of the way. He even goes out of his way when he sees people in need, such as when the host has a bit complaining about how humiliating this gig is, clearly meant as a jokey aside during setup before a competition, and Matt steps forward to give him a pep talk about how this show is going to be seen and as long as he's putting his best foot forward it doesn't matter how good the show is, it'll bring him more work.
Furthering his status as a visual novel protagonist, Matt (at least as portrayed on the show) doesn't seem to have many issues himself, except for an extreme version to chocolate (which is silly enough that it almost could be a VN protagonist thing). He's funny and outgoing and supportive, but mainly exists to build bridges between others, to support people and further the group dynamic. He's an amazing audience surrogate, since most people when watching a show like this will wonder what they would do in this situation, and Matt Kennedy Gould is exactly who we'd all like to imagine we are.
I've always found VN protags a little insufferable because they're always too perfect, and the characters you help just heap praise on them and it feels like a disingenuous way to hype up the player rather than the character, and that nobody's this perfect or deserving of praise, but next time I feel that way I'll just have to remember the Joe Schmo Show and that there are people like that out there.
The Joe Schmo Show was conceived as a parody of that type of reality show. Under the guise of a fake show called "Lap of Luxury," ten people were locked into a mansion and had to vote for who they think should be evicted every night, and the last one standing wins $100,000 with small competitions sprinkled in for either voting immunity or smaller prizes. The catch is that all but one of these people are actors, taking on the persona of a reality show archetype (the asshole, the schemer, the quirky one, etc.), following a script and trying to see how the typical manufactured realty TV drama goes when it's pushed to 11 and a real person is right in the centre of it.
It's an interesting premise, but what really makes the show is the Schmo himself. It seems like they expected a lot of the comedy to come from placing him in the middle of drama and seeing his awkward reaction, or trying to stay out of it, and there's even a sense early on that he was meant to be the butt of more jokes, but the man they chose is the most improbably sweet, considerate man out there. Matt Kennedy Gould is a saint.
I originally watched the show in my mid-to-late teens, when I wasn't as immersed in the world of videogames, but on a recent rewatch it struck me how much the Matt Man reminds me of a visual novel protagonist. One by one, the actors come to Matt with their pre-written problems, and without fail he listens to their concerns and is supportive every step of the way. He even goes out of his way when he sees people in need, such as when the host has a bit complaining about how humiliating this gig is, clearly meant as a jokey aside during setup before a competition, and Matt steps forward to give him a pep talk about how this show is going to be seen and as long as he's putting his best foot forward it doesn't matter how good the show is, it'll bring him more work.
Furthering his status as a visual novel protagonist, Matt (at least as portrayed on the show) doesn't seem to have many issues himself, except for an extreme version to chocolate (which is silly enough that it almost could be a VN protagonist thing). He's funny and outgoing and supportive, but mainly exists to build bridges between others, to support people and further the group dynamic. He's an amazing audience surrogate, since most people when watching a show like this will wonder what they would do in this situation, and Matt Kennedy Gould is exactly who we'd all like to imagine we are.
I've always found VN protags a little insufferable because they're always too perfect, and the characters you help just heap praise on them and it feels like a disingenuous way to hype up the player rather than the character, and that nobody's this perfect or deserving of praise, but next time I feel that way I'll just have to remember the Joe Schmo Show and that there are people like that out there.
