''Average Joe'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

show broadcast on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons.

Premise

Instead of attempting to make a "dream couple" between two extremely attractive people, ''Average Joe'' tried to get 16 to 18 ordinary men to win the heart of a

beauty queen A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

. The men were what the producers considered to be average in appearance, with many being overweight or

underweight An underweight person is a person whose body weight is considered too low to be healthy. A person who is underweight is malnourished. Assessment The body mass index, a ratio of a person's weight to their height, has traditionally been used ...

and

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

y, or awkward in their behavior and personalities. Prior to the show's start, the beauty queen was not aware she was to be dating "average" men. She was instead led to believe her show was going to feature only handsome suitors. (The second series, taped before the first one aired, also contained this element, thus avoiding the problem associated with the second season of ''

Joe Millionaire ''Joe Millionaire'' is an American reality dating show that premiered on Fox in 2003. The first two seasons of the series followed a group of single women, competing for the affection of a bachelor who was falsely billed as being a millionaire ...

''.) Halfway through the show, several handsome suitors appear and compete against the average Joes. Throughout the show the beauty went on various dates with the men, both in groups and individually (at her choice). When the attractive suitors show up, there were also competitions between the rival groups of men. At the end of every episode the beauty votes to send a certain number (usually four) of the men home. In the end, she must pick only one to go on an intimate vacation with.

Seasons

''Average Joe''

The first two ''Average Joe'' series were intended to be somewhat of a mockery of traditional set-up shows such as '' The Bachelor'' and ''

''. The show was marketed to have an implied moral subtext, namely that beauty was only skin deep, and that personality could ultimately triumph over looks. However, the first two seasons ended in a way that seemed to prove the opposite. In ''Average Joe'', Melana Scantlin chose Jason Peoples, one of the attractive suitors, over

Adam Mesh Adam Mesh (born September 14, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, stock trader, television personality and author. He is the CEO and founder oThe Adam Mesh Trading Group Adam Mesh was first introduced to television audiences in the 2003 NBC show '' ...

, the last remaining Average Joe.

Kathy Griffin Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...

was the host.

''Average Joe: Hawaii''

In the second season, ''Average Joe: Hawaii'', Larissa Meek chose attractive Gil Hyatt over Average Joe Brian Worth. A few days later, on a " honeymoon" between Hyatt and Meek, Larissa revealed she had once dated

Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin '' Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

, which caused Gil to leave her in disgust. Meek now owns a website design and art company registered and situated in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, which is Hyatt's hometown. They are not a couple any longer, according to Meek's blog. She said "we gave it our best but decided to part ways."

''Average Joe: Adam Returns''

The third season, ''Average Joe: Adam Returns'', featured the return of rejected contestant Adam Mesh, this time as the object of the affections of 19 female contestants. The women in this situation were a mixture of fairly attractive and average, with the busload of "babes" arriving later sent home immediately by Adam. In the final episode, Adam chose saleswoman Samantha Trenk over schoolteacher Rachel Goetz

''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back''

The fourth season entitled ''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back'' started airing on June 28, 2005. The name references ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...

''. In this season, one rejected Joe from each week received a complete makeover and the opportunity at another chance with the show's beauty Anna Chudoba. In the end, Anna chose Average Joe Nathan Griffin over model/bartender Rocky Fain, breaking the "Joes" losing streak. A contestant on ''Average Joe: Hawaii'', Alfred "Fredo" LaPonza, along with two other men, sued NBC claiming the network used ideas of theirs on the show. Matt Hoffman, who later appeared on '' Big Brother 12 (U.S.)'', was a contestant on ''Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back'', and was eliminated on the first episode of the season.

Syndication and other spinoffs

GSN had acquired the first two seasons in 2004. Episodes were also aired on the

Fox Reality Channel Fox Reality Channel was an American pay television channel. It was launched on May 24, 2005, and was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group. It featured many shows that were originally on the Fox network (or produced by Fox). The channel also fea ...

. A role-reversal version of the show, with a series of ordinary women who were to compete for the love of a very handsome man, to be entitled "Plain Jane", was announced as being in the works, but such a show never materialized. The title was eventually used for another reality series with a different concept.

International adaptations

A local version of Average Joe has been made in France based on the original US format. Licensing of the format is handled by NBCUniversal.

External links

* * * *{{IMDb title, id=0460079, title=Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back American dating and relationship reality television series 2003 American television series debuts 2000s American reality television series 2005 American television series endings NBC original programming Television series by Universal Television