Or at least on 20 gullible suckers who might not have seen Joe Millionaire the first time around. Posted on 02/27/2003 12:00:45 AM PST by MadIvan
Don't blink. Fox is trying to pull a fast one on you.
Or at least on 20 gullible suckers who might not have seen Joe Millionaire the first time around.
Yes, the same people who claimed the faux Joe series was "a one-time-only thing" have a sequel in the works.
You can hardly blame the network for trying to capitalize on Joe 's success after the series helped the net win the sweeps champ title among coveted 18-49 year-olds this month and came in third in overall viewers with 12.1 million behind CBS (13.8 million) and NBC (12.5 million).
After all, this is the net that tricked 20 young women into believing Evan Marriott was a multimillionaire looking to share his $50 million inheritance with a lucky missus, so honesty's not a major network requirement.
Still, even Fox Television Entertainment chief Sandy Grushow isn't sure how to pull this one off. "It can't be done identically to the first one for all the obvious reasons," Grushow told reporters during a conference call Wednesday.
But where there's a ratings point there's a way. Grushow insists the network "has come up with a notion that carries all the same values forward. We're obviously optimistic that it will perform extremely well when it returns." (Yes, he said "values.")
The incentive to trick another 20 gold-diggers into falling for an unremarkable oaf is overwhelming for Fox when you consider the series finale numbers. Some 40 million viewers tuned in for the punchline, when Evan picked Zora and told her he didn't have $50 million or even $50,000 (the twist promised by network promos was a $1 million check split between the two). The come-clean episode was the highest rated entertainment show in the network's history.
This week's tepid follow-up, Joe Millionaire: The Aftermath, still managed to reel in 19.4 million people curious to see how chummy Evan and Zora remained after the check had been cashed (prognosis: negative, no matter how you spin it).
No word yet on when the second season will air, how it will be different from the first and under which rock the network will find 20 sexy young things who didn't see the first installment. But Grushow did provide a few details: "There will be men, there will be women, there will be romance, there will be money at stake," he said.
Joe Millionaire butler and ringmaster Paul Hogan tells E! Online that "the producers are trying to wrack their brains to come up with a viable alternative, another twist. I don't know how they're going to do it but I'm sure it's going to be good." Hogan, who's hosting E!'s Anna Nicole Show season premiere Sunday at 10 p.m., says he ready to go if asked back.
Rival network heads chalked this season's sweeps up to a crazy as a fox effect. It was the "craziest sweeps in the history of television," said CBS prez Les Moonves. "Nutty," described NBC head Jeff Zucker. "Wild and woolly," opined ABC chief Lloyd Braun.
Fresh from victory, Grushow threw down the gauntlet. "The comments are so transparent that it borders on being comical," he said, adding, "If they feel that February was ridiculous or crazy or nutty, they ought to be ready for ridiculous or crazy months of March, April and May."
Don't mess with the man. American Idol continues to rule Tuesday nights--the brutal truth talent show pulled in 19.7 million viewers last week, ahead of, gasp, Friends.
Meanwhile, the network has another batch of twisted reality series up its sleeves, including Married by America, which lets friends and family pair up desperate singles, bowing March 3. Then there's Mr. Personality, another dating series coming later this season that requires one woman to find her soul mate from 20 masked singles who must rely solely on their personalities (and tight buns, unless the men wear burkas) to charm her.
Regards, Ivan
I'm warning the Fox Network not to get silly again.
Just before the trial, a reporter asked the District Attorney if it was possible to find 12 jurors in Houston who had not heard about the case. The D.A. responded dryly,
"I'll bet I could find 12 people in Harris County that don't even know they live in Harris County."
My slang term for all the women on these "reality" shows is "Darvas" (after Darva Conger, the first gold-digger to marry a multi-millionaire on a tv show, quickly dump the guy, claim she wasn't interested in the money, tells the media she's just a quiet Christian girl who wants to be left alone and then posed naked for Playboy - for the money). I'll bet Fox will have no trouble finding 20 Darvas who don't even know they are Darvas.
Bump!
heheh Great pic and caption in #2.
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