Nearly two years after it was first announced, TBS has finally landed on a premiere date for its revival of “The Joe Schmo Show.” Originally slated to run in early 2024, the unscripted reality parody will now debut on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET.
Based on the original hoax series from the 2000s, the new “Joe Schmo Show” follows Ben, described as “an electrician from Baltimore,” who is led to believe he is competing for a chance to win $100,000 on a game show. Instead, the contestants on the show-within-a-show around him are actually improv comedians, and he is the actual unwitting star of the real series.
“The modern revival of ‘The Joe Schmo Show’ is the perfect complement to TBS’ best-in-class comedy lineup,” said Jason Sarlanis, president, Turner Networks. “Filled with heart and hilarious reality game show hijinks, the series will completely immerse our audiences in the ruse, taking them on a wild ride and keeping them rooting for our protagonist week to week.”
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Cat Deeley (“So You Think You Can Dance”) hosts the 10-episode series, which also pulls back the curtain to show how the actors and crew create the illusion and think fast in order to keep Ben from discovering the truth — even as the fake game show gets more over-the-top. “With each challenge, the stakes grow higher as production is forced to pivot storylines, and castmates, who Ben sees as competition, improvise strategies to pave the path to his victory,” TBS said in its logline.
The original “Joe Schmo” premiered in 2003 on Spike TV, with a follow-up in 2004 and then a third season revival in 2013. Created by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (both of whom went on to a successful screenwriting career, including the “Deadpool” films), “Joe Schmo” made waves when it first debuted for parodying the then-relatively new and white-hot reality competition genre.
Decision to revive it came after the 2023 success of another reality hoax series, Amazon Freevee’s Emmy-nominated “Jury Duty.” (A Season 2 of “Jury Duty” is believed to have been in production for some time, but Amazon has not yet confirmed such a renewal.)
MTV Entertainment Studios and Fly On The Wall Entertainment are behind “The Joe Schmo Show” with creators Reese and Wernick back as EPs, along with exec producer/showrunner Dave Kneebone.
The first three seasons of “The Joe Schmo Show” were hosted by Ralph Garman in various disguises and characters, depending on the season. The first season, a parody of vote-em-off shows like “Big Brother,” starred Garman as “the smarmy host” and also featured then-unknowns Kristen Wiig and David Hornsby playing housemates.
“Joe Schmo 2” was a play on dating shows like “The Bachelor,” with Garman as Derek Newcastle, “the pompous host.” Natasha Leggero and Jon Huertas were among the actors playing contestants.
The 2013 revival, “The Joe Schmo Show: The Full Bounty” was a take on shows like “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and featured Garman disguised as host “Jake Montrose,” a so-called real-life bounty hunter. Actors playing contestants included Lorenzo Lamas playing a version of himself.