Is Jamie Kennedy Blowin’ Up or Just Blowin’ it on MTV
Usually when a good program pops up on one of these sub-networks (like “Dawson’s Creek”) it’s usually described as a “shocking occurrence”. But as far as Candid Camera rip-offs go (and there have literally been dozens), the Jamie Kennedy Experiment is at the top of the class.
The Jamie Kennedy Experiment worked for one reason, Jamie Kennedy. Kennedy was an expert at creating characters that, while outrageous, were believable. He started out doing character roles in films; most famously in the Scream trilogy and the starring role in Malibu’s Most Wanted (more on this one later). But he also played memorable bit roles (true character actor stuff) in As Good As It Gets and Bowfinger. All things considered, Jamie Kennedy is a pretty funny guy.
That’s why it’s so odd that he has been reduced to doing a fake reality television show on MTV (or is it).
Fake reality television is a fairly new genre (with a bouillabaisse of sub-genres to boot) popularized on MTV and VH1. It’s no surprise (to me at least) that the two networks that used to play music videos are now championing this new, mostly horrible, brand of television. Music videos were fake, shorter versions of movie musicals and fake reality television is the contrived, pointless stepchild of reality TV (more proof that our country is getting stupider by the minute). The biggest fake reality television show so far has been MTV’s Laguna Beach; a fake program about fake kids in a real town composed of mostly fake people.
However, Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin’ Up is not really in the same vein (or of the same planet). Blowin’ Up is more akin to the Christopher Guest/Mocumentary genre popularized by such movies as This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and Best in Show. Blowin’ Up follows around Kennedy (playing himself) and his sidekick Stu Stone as they try to make it as rappers in Hollywood (If you’ve seen Malibu’s Most Wanted this plotline will seem vaguely familiar). The show is actually better than it sounds. Kennedy gets a bunch of cool cameos from real rappers like Method Man, Ice T and Bob Saget (yes, there is a seen where Bob Saget raps in Jamie Kennedy’s Hummer).
I like Blowin’ Up because it doesn’t follow the cookie cutter formula of the beautiful people shows like Laguna Beach and 9th and Ocean. It’s like a combination of MTV’s Diary and that old show they had with the white kids rapping about stupid shit (if anyone can remember the name of this one, I think it began with an S, I’d really appreciate it- Google failed me). Blowin’ Up will probably only do one season (maybe two), but that’s just the shelf life for these types of programs. Even if they get good ratings people lose interest quickly. Thank God for the DVDs, right?
