Review: Invasion Iowa
A limited series on SpikeTV, it’s actually the only series I’ve ever watched from the male oriented (WWE Raw, Extreme Sports and such) network. And what a surprise it was.
The outline is one of a kind. Marketed as a reality show, I wouldn’t really call it that (that would make it the second reality show I’m watching currently, and I would deny it anyways). See it as a more elaborate, longer running, larger scale version of Punk’d. It follows William Shatner with a few other supporting improv actors and a small filming crew invading Riverside, a small town in Iowa, to film a movie called Invasion Iowa, while the real purpose is of course to film what goes around it all. It’s not really an invasion, as the self-declared future birthplace of James T. Kirk welcomes an outrageous pompous version of William Shatner with open arms. What follows are well scripted pranks, while the crew has to keep its cover the whole while they’re filming the fake movie with much help of the locals.
The result is five hours of comedy filled with hilarious (and later on touching) moments that can’t be copied by combining the aforementioned unique ingredients.