|
|
Joe Millionaire
(review first posted January 14th, 2002)
(updated upon finale,
February 17, 2002)
The FOX TV network is
getting truly masterful at trash TV. This isn't meant as an insult
as much as a sincere compliment. Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?
--a similar sham-- was total garbage; three years later, they upgrade the
concept into Joe Millionaire: a total sham that is such
shamelessly devious fun, it can only be one of the most guilty pleasures
ever to grace reality television.
 Here's the (fairy) tale:
20 women are sent to a rich, exotic castle in Europe, to meet Evan; the
inheritor of 50 million dollars, who is using that money to go hog-wild,
in search for true love. He will date them a la the TV series The
Bachelor, though far more elaborately, since of course this is a
50-million-dollar-man, who can offer million-dollar dates. This is
surprisingly well handled, since in truth, this is not a 50 million dollar
man at all. Heck, it's not even a 50 million dollar TV show.
It helps the ruse --which
we'll get to next-- that
Evan is a gentleman, not a jerk (see The
Bachelor, for signs of the latter). Let's just say this much; if
this was a man making even as little as $30,000 a year, he'd have romantic
advances from women by the dozens. Hence
the devious charm of this TV series; any woman who'd look merely at this
guy's "50 million" salary, is too shallow to have viewers sympathize. If a woman is
uninterested with Evan because of
his monetary status, isn't that pretty superficial...? If she is about to marry
the exact same man because of 50 million dollar signs, isn't that
even worse...? Yet there's that ray of hope for the show's fans, that among these gold diggers
is a Cinderella looking for true love...in a retroactive-fairy-tale
sort of way.
 We've
discussed the fairy tale enough. Now, here's the real deal:
Evan is actually a construction worker, earning 19 thousand a year. You may think this
ruse is just to make
fools of 20 women, though it's far more devious --and slightly romantic--
than just that. You see, in marriage, a bride is supposed to take her
husband for better or worse; rich or poor. If the final woman Evan chooses
truly loves him, she can get beyond the fact he isn't really a millionaire, right? Right...?!?
It's not like these are
stupid women, either. These are not giggly-jiggling rejects from a Baywatch
reunion special, though include a doctor, a business banker, a senior
account manager, and many more occupations that, quite frankly, would
never give a construction worker the time of day. Yet I sense that, had
they ever passed by Evan at a construction site, they'd truly wonder what
dating him would be like. Sure, these dates are far more glamorous than a construction
worker could ever afford, though surely some of these
women looked past the superficial and saw the good in the man. Okay: maybe
they did. These are supposed to be smart women, though. It's a question of what they would
find more wise: marrying a likable, down to Earth construction worker, or
simply waiting for a millionaire so he can cheat on you and make you look
like a fool in the tabloids. The choice is theirs.
At worst, these women
have a lot to go home with. Every night on the show was spent in an
exotic castle, even when not on a date with Evan. When the 20 women are slowly reduced in number, they are
not given an el cheapo rose, though a pearl necklace, a sapphire,
or something even more worthy of a lady's jewelry box. Even if they storm
out of this mansion madder than a pit bull, they have some impressive
jewelry to return home with. After all, most of them are gold
diggers, so free jewelry is far better than nothing. Add to that the
exotic dates they go on, and there really isn't any reason to
complain...or at least, not as much as the girls from The Bachelor!
Of course, there was a
caveat to enjoying this show, which made the finale all the more pleasing
(the opinions of which this review has been edited to add). It was truly
hard for Evan to find a woman who could get past the truth, even if she
wasn't a gold digger. Evan is, at the show's very core, lying to all these
women. That's a biggie. I know
we love a good Cinderella story now and again, though nothing can
deny the bad first steps any "relationship" will have when begun
with such a lie. Yet that's what made the finale so enjoyable; a moment
when Joe Millionaire chooses a true down-home Cinderella, tells her he
isn't really a millionaire, and she is not only okay with it; she's even a
bit relieved! Such a moment of honesty was capped off with FOX's generous
"twist," of awarding Evan and the last-girl-standing a total of
one million dollars. In the end, they left together as millionaires. What
an amusing, fairy-tale end to what was, for several weeks, a mere trash TV
ruse.
On the other hand, all these women from the show will have a lot to consider about how they
choose a date from now on, let alone a potential groom. However, let's be fair: the
same can be said for most guys. Given this series' success, is
a Jane Millionaire likely...? I hope so. It's clear these women
needed a big wake-up call about choosing the right future spouse. So do we
all.
---Techtite
Opinions? Speak your mind in
Techtite's Letters Page!
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2001; all rights reserved. Screen captures of program
reviewed are used only for the purpose of review, and by no means represents any affiliation with Techtite
and the distributors of this entertainment product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
|
Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
