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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Average Joe

22:21 / 20.07.04

I'd seen this trailed for a few weeks, but missed the first one. Watching the second episode now, and trying to untangle the myriad subtle shades of ickiness (some of which is, I expect, lost in cultural translation). For those who've not seen Average Joe, its particular wrinkle on the tried-and-tested reality TV 'dating' format is to surprise "former NFL cheerleader and beauty queen" Melana (whose name is one syllable away from "tarry faeces") with an island of "C-grade suitors".

Hmmm.

Okay, so Melana herself seems a reasonably nice person - albeit in a stereotypical American 'beauty comes from the inside' kinda way - and is negotiating the format less cruelly than the programme's makers perhaps would've liked. Even so, despite her 'inner beauty' platitudes, she's voted off the fats, baldies and dental monstrosities in an entirely predictable manner. It's, oooh, 90% certain she's gonna go for Zach, the token muscle-jock.

It's the more casual cruelties which I found disturbing. The show's (female) host repeatedly refers to the guys as "you freaks", and the fact that they're sub-par "nerds" is freely discussed, not least among the contestants themselves. Many of them seem socially and emotionally unprepared for meeting Melana (who is a birrova stunna), and quickly declare themselves "in love". Self-esteem issues aren't so much just below the surface as erupting, acneiform-style, from every pore; many seem to view the contest as their one chance to defy the nay-sayers and show that yes, the geek can get the girl. It's only partially about Melana herself; more about what she represents.

Inter-contestant rivalries are everywhere, with acidic little spats flaming and dying - particularly around Muscleboy Zach, who's clearly evoking multiple memories of playground tormentors. Most amusing, for me, was the not-entirely-unBarbeloid who, totally unacquainted with Selfawaria, was insistent that he and Melana had formed a "connection", and her body language was communicating to him that he was going through to the next round - all the while she was selecting a different contestant for a one-to-one 'date'. "I don't mind if she has to date Tareq," he shrugged, "just to confirm for herself that it's me she wants".

Is anyone else watching this? Where do your sympathies lie, geekster?

22:44 / 20.07.04

Nope. Makes we switch away/off in the same way that thing with the failed singer woman and her bloke does. It's the production values. It screams "even ITV could never put out something this crass" as soon as you see the Vaselined lens effect.

22:55 / 20.07.04

Well, that's the weird thing. It's less crass than I expected - or rather, it's crass in ways I didn't expect. I anticipated the central 'prize' (Melana) being nastier, really. It made me realise we don't really see "geeks" on television much.

08:08 / 21.07.04

I've been watching this too and am enjoying it far more than I ever would have expected.
It has been horribly predictable so far with, as Ganesh says, the fats, baldies and dental monstrosities going first and Malena herself is being far too generous to them all.
That said, I think she probably is feeling very special at the moment because although I'm certain a woman of her stature would usually get a lot of attention from men, the guys on here have just put her on a pedestal so high that she can't fail to be flattered.
Highlight so far for me though has to have been the completely failed attempt to hide the look of horror on her face when she first saw them all getting off the bus in the first episode and muttering to herself "I guess this is what you get for saying it's what's on the inside that counts on the application form..." (or something like that).
After only 2 episodes it's already looking like love for one or two of the guys and I imagine that when hearts are eventually broken it will be horrific.

20:59 / 17.08.04

So... she's gone for the male modoo.

I am picking myself up from the floor, having fainted clean away with surprise.

Not.

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:34 / 17.08.04

I did rather like the way that the "I'm going out with you" speech and the "I'm dumping you" speech were formally almost identical until the very end... truly, Americans on television have created an entirely new language for which there is no good reason whatsoever.

22:17 / 17.08.04

Mmm. I wondered whether that was influenced by the more general reality TV habit of presenting yes/no conclusions in a contrived tangle of multiple negatives, so as to disorientate the subject until the money-shot coup de gras.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:10 / 18.08.04

Oh, absolutely. I think we were meant to think that she was dumping the model, as he went first (who the hell was doing costume, btw? His suit was v. badly cut at the shoulders). Both of her speeches sounded like the vows at Joanie and Chachi's wedding, which shoudl surprise us not one whit. And the symbolism of the plane/Greyhound was just hysterical.

As you say, there was no suspense here whatsoever, just the gleeful infliction of emotional damage on the unattractive.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:29 / 18.08.04

Except the last guy wasn't that unattractive, or indeed average - in fact, he was kinda filthy rich, which implies that the wealthy can sniff each other out... He did have scary teeth, though.

Would this be the right place to talk about Dismissed? I don't think it deserves its own thread...