# Joe Schmoe 2 on DVD **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246 "2009-12-06T23:25:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/1 "2009-12-06T23:25:38Z")
And the best part, it was $4 at Target! I’ve had the first season on my Amazon wishlist for about a year now - it’s always hovering at about $35 or more. The second season wasn’t nearly as good, but for $4, I’ll bite. The packaging is hilarious - it’s an extra thick clamshell, but inside are two discs in those paper/cellophane sleeves just kind of pinned against the case. For those who aren’t familiar, the first season was a reality spoof show, of sorts. It was a Survivor-like setting on a fake show called “The Lap of Luxury”. Every contestant but one was a hired actor. The real guy - Matt - was kept in the dark the whole time, as the show was manipulated to put him in ridiculous situations, on the brink of elimination only to be “miraculously” saved by timely backstabbing, etc. It involves a send-up of every reality show cliche available, and embraces the cheese. On it’s face it sounds cruel to put one guy at the center of attention, and make him the butt of the joke. But it turns out, Joe was a fantastic guy. Everyone just fell in love with him, and he really seemed to be the genuine article. He was pre-ordained to win the cash prize ($100,000), and the actors couldn’t have been happier to be a part of it. Season two takes on two regular people - a man and a woman - on a fake dating show. It’s not done nearly as well, but it’s a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/2 "2009-12-06T23:36:32Z")
Oh man that’s a good deal. If i ever saw Joe Schmoe 1 on DVD i’d def. pick it up for less than 15 bucks. Matt WAS a great guy and the Hutch was great… Plus i think a few of the actors and actresses on that show went on to bigger careers since then as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/3 "2009-12-07T05:42:09Z")
Wow! THREE OF US watched that show! I already own Season One but didn’t watch enough of Season Two to justify buying it. Indeed that was an incredible show. I think they got a little more than they bargained for not totally taking into account how complicated the game gets when one guy doesn’t even know he’s playing. They almost pulled the plug a couple of times. Which was really the best part. It ended up being a show about everybody and what they were going through and not just Matt. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/4 "2009-12-07T14:13:17Z")
I loved the first Joe Schmo, but I feel kinda bad for Matt, who was such a sweet guy - things didn’t go well for him, according to [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Kennedy_Gould) - > [@](#): > > In August 2008 Entertainment Weekly interviewed Gould about whether he would do the show over again or not. Gould thought that he had signed up for Spike’s Big Brother-esque reality show — but in fact he was surrounded by actors and mocked for thinking the whole thing was real. > > “If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t do the show at all. Honestly, the show really made me feel dumb. And I never felt like that before. I did it because I needed the money. I lived with my parents. I had just dropped out of law school. I was a regular pot smoker. I didn’t want to work. And after the show I got $100,000 and signed a development deal with Spike. I went to California, and I was supposed to do all this stuff, and I just didn’t do it. I was so embarrassed about the whole premise of the show that I never wanted people to think, Oh, here’s this guy who didn’t even know the show was about him. It’s a big joke, and now he’s some reality star trying to be a TV host. So I holed up in an apartment in Santa Monica, and spent a lot of the money on marijuana and alcohol. I lived there with a girl who broke up with me. The next day I flushed a half ounce of pot down the toilet, packed my car, came home to Pittsburgh, and I got help. I haven’t done drugs or alcohol for four years. Now I’m married with a new baby and a stepson. I work at a logistics company. Were things different, I would much rather be working in the entertainment business. I just went about it the wrong way”. -Matt Kennedy Gould. And there were a few people that went on to bigger and better things - > [@](#): > > Kristen Wiig, who landed a regular spot on Saturday Night Live in 2005; Lance Krall, creator, writer, and lead of VH1’s Free Radio; and David Hornsby, who is a writer, supervising producer, and plays “Cricket” on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, have enjoyed the highest-profile post-Schmo careers to date. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/5 "2009-12-07T15:21:28Z")
That makes me sad. I remember we had weekly threads, and everyone loved Matt. Though I could see the Hollywood crowd not “getting” it and making fun of him. That’s really too bad - but I’m glad he’s on his feet and happy. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/6 "2009-12-07T16:12:48Z")
I was a huge fan of the first season but didn’t get to watch much of season two. I remember the girl figuring it out pretty early on and getting recruited to keep playing the game as an actor. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-schmoe-2-on-dvd/520246/7 "2009-12-08T03:46:42Z")
What the hell is going on here? I loved both series, but am really bummed about Matt. At no point did I think the show made fun of him, and I never myself laughed AT him because he was just the constant victim of Candid Camera. Instead I laughed with him, and I assumed most people did, because of the way he was thrust into all these awkward situations. Still, he did make a cameo in season 2, or at least was supposed to, but it got cut.