Here in New Hampshire, the tape would be used as evidence in favor of an innocent person who responds with deadly force to a believable threat of violence (or kidnapping, arson or sexual assault).
In many states self-defence laws do not require that the bad guy actually be about to hurt someone, only that a person would reasonably believe that he was. A good shoot is a good shoot regardless of the bad guy’s intentions.
Considering how many people here have concealled carry permits, I doubt they would dare to film such crap here.
I saw a show when I was about 16 that pissed me off so much it’s stuck with me since then. They “offered” these teenage girls the opportunity to try out for a lipstick commercial. The girls were to be blindfolded and they were to test out the lipstick by kissing these gorgeous men sitting on stools. When the girls were blindfolded, they removed the men and replaced them with…chimps. I had to leave the room in disgust when some of the girls started French kissing the chimps.
Maybe its my somewhat-exhibitionist side, but I would LOVE someone to do this to me. I think its hilarious. From the first time I ever saw Candid Camera, I’ve always hoped one day I’d be the one who had to “smile”
Now, I prefer clever pranks (aka, Candid Camera) over “agressive” pranks of other shows, but in a general sense, I find this stuff quite amusing.
Remember, the target of the prank has to give their permission to use the video. If they say yes, they couldn’t have been that bothered by it.
In their one funny bit of the entire season, SNL did a takeoff of these shows.
It was called “Pranksters,” and Christopher Walken was pulling the prank.
Host - and now we’re going to see footage of another Stiffly Stiffleheimer getting pranked tonight on “Pranksters.” Tells us what’s happening.
Christopher Walken - Well this Stiffly Stiffleheimer at work is always taking my parking space, so I arranged a surprise.
Host - Looks like somebody messed with the wrong prankster.
Christopher Walken - You can say that again.
::Footage of Christopher Walken setting up a camera in a parking garage. He runs and hides behind a car.
A moment later a man comes walking out, opens his car door and is about to get in when all of a sudden Christopher Walken jumps out with a crowbow and savagely beats him in the head repeatedly for 30 seconds or so. Standing over the corpse he gives the thumbs up to the camera::
Host - Oh my God!
Christopher Walken - I pranked him right in the head with a crowbar! That’ll teach him.
Does anyone else remember this show (or episode of a show)? It would’ve been 12-13 years ago. I can’t find anything in Google, but not knowing the name of the show, I don’t really know what to look for.
The only guess I could make is that the girls were expecting to kiss men, so that’s what they thought they were doing?
The people DO have to give their permission for the tape to be used, but is there an opportunity for them to make money off of it? Because if I were in that position, I’d consent; hell, by then the damage is done, so if I don’t have a choice to go back and time and never fall for that crap, I’d sure try to make a buck off of it as a silver lining.
They did show a “cutting to commercial” clip where Jamie (dressed normally) was with the mom and step-mom (who were dressed differently, so this must have been days after the taping of the initial “prank”) and thanked them for being such good sports.
The step-mom was smiling, but the mother still looked pissed as hell.
I love pranks. I even love Crank Yankers (If I got those calls, I’d be laughing!) But I can’t bear the thought of watching these shows that cross the line from fun to downright cruel. Where’s the humor in that? I think I’m glad I’ve never heard of this Jamie Kennedy person before. I think FairyChatMom has the right idea when she said, “Seems to me if the ‘victim’ doesn’t laugh, then it’s not funny - it’s just hateful.”
ALLEN RUNT LETS PRESIDENT IN ON HILARIOUS “CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS” PRANK
Relieved Kennedy Laughs Heartily after Learning of Elaborate International Gag
JFK a Good Sport, Says Host of TV’s Candid Camera
WASHINGTON, DC–A period of intense national tittering came to a hilarious end early Monday morning, when notorious prankster and Candid Camera host Allen Funt ended his most elaborate gag to date by letting President Kennedy in on the “Cuban Missile Crisis” that has kept America in stitches since last week.
…
National Security Affairs Special Assistant McGeorge Bundy proceeded to remove the picture [of Lincoln in the Oval Office], revealing a smiling waving cameraman. As the room exploded in laughter, the commander-in-chief finally figured it out. “I don’t believe it!” the embarrassed president said. “Candid Camera! And all of you knew? You guys! All right, you got me. I admit it, you got me.”
-from The Onion: Our Dumb Century
That’s funny because it didn’t happen. A lot of these shows go waaay to far. There is a show called Women Behaving Badly in which Melissa from the Real World New Orleans gets another 15 minutes another with other women. They do dumb stuff like walking around a city in ultra low-ridder pants (about mid-ass) and thong underwear. Good, clean fun. In another segment the girls pretend to be jewelers. People bring their wedding rings in for cleaning, they tell them that the diamond is fake. Ha-ha-ha. You spent two-month’s salary on glass. Ha-ha-ha. Okay, you’re on TV, we’re kidding. Come on, laugh. Not funny, damn scary in fact for all parties involved. I hope these people have security close by. Toying with people, especially strangers, can be pretty risky.
The prank shows seem to be getting out of hand. They seemed more innocent in my youth when we had candid camera and Blooper/Practical Jokes. But TV seems to be getting out of hand (I’m showing my age, eh?)
Still, a well-play prank can be fun. I had a very tough week. A lot of politics from our sister group. By Wednesday I was angry and frustrated. Yesterday I had it mostly in hand and thought the worst was over. This morning my guys (the ones that report to me) crafted an email that made me think I would have to go back to square one. Almost the entire department was enlisted. When the joke was sprung, I laughed as hard as anyone. It was all in good fun and they wouldn’t have done it if they thought I would ber truly hurt.
Funny is funny, but cruel is just cruel even if it’s disguised as funny. There is a line and I hate these shows that cross it. I have a good sense of humor. I can be very sarcastic and biting. I can take sarcasm and humor. But I would not joke about something that I knew was a sore spot for someone or I thought would embarass them. And I can’t stand seeing it be done to someone else. I always hated Howie Mandell’s comedy routines for this very reason. He crossed the line constantly and was cruel. Especially when he would go out into the audience and start picking on people. Just a verbal bully. I really hate that stuff.
Put me down in the “hate this stuff” camp. To me, this sounds like the same kind of mentality that you can do whatever you want to anyone as long as you say “sorry” afterwards. I don’t believe in sorry; sorry doesn’t take away the hurt/angry feelings that you caused in someone else. When they pull nasty pranks on people, the feelings they create are real at the time, and I think that is cruel. Making people feel badly just for a joke? Mean.
dwc1970, there was an episode of Jenny Jones way back mid-90’s (?) where they were doing “Secret Crushes Revealed”, and one of the crushes was a gay crush a guy had on his male co-worker. If I remember correctly, after the show, the crushee killed the crusher. I actually watched this episode of JJ (one of the few I’ve seen), and I remember thinking that the guy who was being crushed on seemed really pissed off at the whole thing. Guess I was right.
What’s the name of that show on the Sci-Fi Channel, hosted by Shannon Doherty? The premise of the show is to scare the victims witless. I caught a few minutes of an episode recently, which featured a charming staged Satanic sacrifice. The victim watched as the “high priest” was about to stab a woman, and just stood there. His friend, who was in on it, rushed in to “save” the woman while the prankee just watched like a sedated cow. It was disgusting on so many levels.
I always thought the US prank shows were bad but this one Spanish language show, Lente Loco, is beyond belief. Many of these stunts end in fistfights or worse. There is no way these pranks could be pulled off in the litigious US. Cruel is not the word.
In one of the more memorable ones, they lured a young man, who was selling his muscle car to pay for his wedding, to a constuction site. While the “buyer” is talking to the seller, a bulldozer “accidentally” pushes the car off a cliff. The seller gets kind of angry. The “buyer” proffers the asking price in cash to the seller, but the seller isn’t buying it. He threatens to kill everyone and gives the “buyer” a few good kicks to the mid-section. Boy that was a hoot. Talk about quality entertainment.
Wow. The prank show is my second-favorite TV genre, right next to sketch comedies. As long as nobody’s hurt in the end, they’re fine. They’re never cruel, as they always end with relief. They make the marks think that the worst has happened, and then relieve them once they reveal that it was all a joke.
Man. You’re gonna think poorly of me, but I thought that episode of the Jaime Kennedy Experiment was actually pretty funny. I thought it made the parents (specifically the mom) look pretty dumb for protesting and, I mean, her son did consent to this, and she consented to having it aired. But it was pretty fucking hilarious, in my opinion, though I do think it raises some valid moral questions regarding the “transsexuality is bad” part of it. I mean, if I were in that situation, I wouldn’t question my own son’s judgement and I thought it was a way of making fun of those who are so ignorant and biased as to throw a fit about their son marrying someone they think’s a man - and for the record, I’d never say for certain that as he was dressed up, Jaime Kennedy was a man. There wasn’t a 5 o’clock shadow or anything like that, the makeup wasn’t overdone, there was nothing besides his voice to flag someone, and what if she just had a problem with vocal chords? I’d look like one hell of an ass for second-guessing gender.
