So why am I down these days on Leno and Letterman? I'll list a couple of reasons here over the next few days but first I think I have to explain why I never liked Candid Camera — or just about any "hidden camera" shows. Allen Funt used to describe his little franchise as "people caught in the act of being themselves," but that was a fib. If they acted like themselves, they usually didn't get on the show. They got on for looking foolish, upset or baffled in what was usually a very artificial, contrived situation. Stunts on shows like that are always configured such that the target can't help but look silly, and the game, such as it is, is rigged: If by some chance the person reacts in some dignified way — say, if they demonstrate enough brains to figure out they're being filmed, as many do — the footage simply doesn't air.
Hidden cameras put unsuspecting folks at a disadvantage, and they give "us" the chance to laugh — usually not with them but at them. Once when I expressed this view to a producer of one of the many Candid Camera knock-offs, he admitted that it was true but he had an excuse that he felt absolved him of any guilt. The subjects (he actually called them "victims") all had to sign a release. If they looked like idiots on national television, that was their fault. For signing the release.
There was some validity to that, and it caused me to slightly modify my objection. Now, it's more to the fact that such shows exploit some folks' willingness to do anything if it gets them on television — a trait not unfamiliar to viewers of many current reality shows. But I also think some of the folks caught by "prank" shows are just plain unaware that they don't have to sign the release.
In his autobiography, Charles Grodin wrote of his brief tenure as a deviser and stager-of-pranks for Candid Camera. Funt, he said, had cautioned him against situations that might snare professional people, folks with actual careers. They had a tendency to not be as clueless and, when they were, to care about being seen that way. After one too many shoots where no one would sign the release, Grodin was fired. This happened many times with other operatives Funt employed and he eventually came to rely on a cheaper, easier way to obtain the footage he sought. It was to pick on the unemployed.
Instead of setting up a gag in a public place, he'd rent an office, slap an innocuous bogus company name on the door, and have a "temp" agency send over the stupidest people they had who were in need of some minimum wages. It was easier to hide cameras and later, when Funt began doing shows for cable and cassette, easier to set up stunts that involved nude female accomplices. Best of all (probably) was that the people who came in had no careers to protect and often weren't all that bright. They also couldn't just storm out the door for fear of not collecting that much-needed paycheck.
In a few days when I have more time, I'll continue this train of thought and relate it to some of the stunts that now occupy key positions on the Leno and Letterman shows. I don't like Jay's "Jaywalking" or "Howie Mandel's Hidden Camera," I don't like Dave's "Beat the Clock" or all those games he plays with folks he keeps at arm's length in Rupert's Deli. And I don't like the way that "let's laugh at jerks" attitude has infected other parts of both shows. Really, I think both men have forsaken actual, clever comedy material for a lot of bits that are way beneath them. More on this in a day or three.