January 27, 2004

My Big Fat Obnoxious Twist

I've been watching My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, mainly to see how far they can push the joke before somebody blows it or Randi climbs a tower with a rifle.

In case you're not familiar with it, the premise is that two strangers -- Randi and Steve -- try to convince Randi's family that after a whirlwind romance (that the family had no idea about), they're going to get married in two weeks. If she can convince her family to accept this and go through a wedding without protesting, they both win $500,000.

The catch? Her betrothed is a fat obnoxious slob, and her family (as is she) are the most tightass WASPs ever to appear on network TV -- and I'm including Al and Tipper Gore. At least that's how Randi sees it, although I doubt she would acknowledge the tightass part. In fact, Steve is an actor, and he's going out of his way to irritate Randi and antagonize her parents.

Since this is a Fox show, I've got a real strong feeling that we're in for at least one major twist. Here's a couple of possible scenarios:

Scenario 1: Her family is in on the joke.

    Reasons for:
  • There was a brief shot in some previews where someone (her father?) stands up at the wedding in apparent protest - if it really happened that way, Randi would lose. It's possible that he was just saying "Honey, it was a big joke on you and we're all in on it."
  • The family as a whole seems too collectively tightassed to even be theoretically possible.
  • It's consistent with certain spoilers you might have read on the internet (which I won't repeat here).
    Reasons against:
  • Can the family maintain the act without giving things away?
  • This would essentially make the show "The Jane Schmoe Show", already done by SpikeTV.

Scenario 2: Everybody is in on the joke, including Randi; the joke's on us.

    Reasons for:
  • Randi is just too perfectly cast as the uptight little bitch.
  • She hasn't really tried to find out from Steve why he's acting the way he is with so much money at stake. That's certainly the first question I would ask if I were in her situation.
    Reason against:
  • This would make the show an 'unreality' show and might backlash with viewers (then again, this is Fox we're talking about)
What do you think?

Posted by Chris at January 27, 2004 08:00 PM

Category: Reality TV
Comments

> What do you think?

I think I will continue to only watch hockey on TV. :-)

Posted by: 2!3054). at January 27, 2004 09:36 PM

Yeah, I know. It's a 13-week-long train wreck, and I can't look away.

Posted by: Chris at January 28, 2004 10:09 PM

Chris, man, this reality-show obsession is going to kill you. You need to see a hypnotist.

Now if only they'd bring back American Gladiators...

Posted by: chess h at January 31, 2004 01:50 PM

I think the family is in on it. But the family gets paid if they can convince randy not to go through with the wedding.

Posted by: at February 14, 2004 05:43 AM

I like it! That would probably make it different enough from "The Joe Schmo Show" that SpikeTV couldn't sue them.

Posted by: Chris at February 15, 2004 11:46 AM

I don't think the father actually gets up during the wedding in objection. The commercials might have been edited for that dramatic effect.

But I doubt the family would get as far as actually attending the cerimony without being in on the joke. Maybe they were let in on the joke, not before they met "steve," but shortly before the wedding.

Also, FOX hasn't shown commercial clips of any type of conclusion. Maybe it would give too much away as the conclusion might be all th actors, and her own family confessing they were all in on it. Anyway you look at it, def atwist coming.

Posted by: at February 16, 2004 01:17 AM

A friend of mine at work thinks her parents aren't in on it, but her siblings are. This is at least as plausible as any other twist I've heard about, and it's not inconsistent with anything I've seen on the previews for next week.

It seems very strange that siblings would be _so_ opposed to her wedding that they'd boycott it. I personally don't have any basis for comparison, since my siblings married people I like, but even if the situation was the same, I'd just go along with it - it isn't like it's my life they'd be wrecking...

Posted by: Chris at February 17, 2004 03:18 PM