The Most Underrated TV Prank Show Of All-Time, "Scare Tactics", Is Coming Back And Jordan Peele Will Be Producing
Impractical Jokers, Punk'd, Candid Camera have NOTHING on this show. Oh, football is back? Who cares about the most popular sport in America? We've got all the entertainment we need with Scare Tactics making its return to tv, BABY! Sorry, but you'll have to check in on the Week 5: Vikings vs Jets matchup on the small screen, the best hidden camera prank show of all time is getting main screen treatment.
What a win for USA network. They used to play Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore on a loop between episodes of Monk, now it looks like they are going the TruTV route. One prank show, any day, any time (except for two weeks in March). I understand that I'm one of maybe 8 people in the world excited that this show is making its return, but this comeback should be on everyone's radar due to the fact Jordan Peele and his company Monkey Paw Productions are producing this new installment of Scare Tactics.
Jordan Peele's background in quick, to the point comedy sketches on Key & Peele, mixed with his horror movie directorial experience make him the perfect candidate to be working on this comedic horror prank show. Peele's horror movies are currently my favorite theater experience due to the way he can have everyone scared shitless, on the edge of their seat, then throw in a quick joke that has the whole theater laughing, then set the tone to have everyone right back to being terrified. It's the only time I enjoy being in a crowded movie theater.
My hopes are sky high, despite having the same excitement for Peele bringing back the Twilight Zone a few years ago. The new Twilight Zone was a big swing and a miss, but that's probably because the original series from 1959 was literal perfection. Bringing back Scare Tactics doesn't have the same gravitas as the classic series, so there should be no pressure.
A huge determining factor for the show's success will be who is going to host. When the show first started in 2003, Shannon Doherty hosted a season, then they replaced her with Stephen fucking Baldwin for one season. The only host that mattered was Tracy Morgan. Watching someone get their dick scared off, then cutting back to Tracy Morgan saying some ridiculously cheesy shit was the formula for good tv. My only complaint for the show is I wish they would have let Tracy go off script and say whatever was actually going through his mind. That adjustment would have made the show perfect in every way.
Seeing how people handle the worst moment of their lives is also great television. The episode where an animal rights activist gets a late night job in a lab only to be attacked on his first day of work by a genetically mutated rat man is a moment I'll never forget.
Advertisement
Enjoying scaring people is definitely a serial killer trait, and the pranks were definitely borderline cruel and unusual punishment, so I'm surprised with today's wokeness they are bringing the show back. When the host of Cheaters got stabbed everyone was like, "Yeah … I'm honestly surprised it took 15 seasons." For Scare Tactics, it's only a matter of time before someone takes a blunt object to the head of one of these actors in movie monster make-up, and gets the show canceled forever. Until that day, I'll watch every second of Scare Tactics.