An incredibly longtime staple of the medium, Candid Camera-type shows never seem to completely disappear from television. They may hibernate for a while, fooling everyone into thinking that they're gone, but before you know it, a new one is on the air. The show almost certainly won't be called Candid Camera, but the essential idea behind the show — put everyday people into odd situations and film them without their knowing — will remain unchanged. CBS is about to bring us round two of their latest variation on the theme, I Get That A Lot.
This show, which first aired on April Fool's Day 2009, features celebrities doing some sort of customer service job, and denying to anyone who sees them that they are in fact famous. Rather than copping to their identity, they just utter the phrase "I get that a lot" over and over and over again.
The celebrities who appear this time out are Rachael Ray, Gene Simmons, Julie Chen, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, and Tony Hawk. The scenarios the celebrit
ies are put in are all rather plain, and each of the various situations only work as well as the celebrity involved.
It is Julie Chen who is the standout amongst the group. Although she is not recognized by everyone she helps get yogurt for, she has an incredible amount of fun with the scenario, constantly annoying, frustrating, and perplexing customers. She is, perhaps, the most traditional Candid Camera-like person here, just generally bothering people whether or not they have any idea she is famous. Then, when people do recognize her – or at least that she looks kind of like Julie Chen – she turns it up a notch and is truly outstanding. Chen is even good-natured enough to make fun of herself by doing a Chen-bot impersonation.
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