Review: 'Eye Spy'

Hidden camera shows are as old as television itself and the cold truth is that the genre hasn't changed much since the days of "Candid Camera." Sure, modern day producers try and mix it up a bit by using all senior citizens as the pranksters ("Betty White's Off Their Rockers") or adding celebrities to walk the pranksters through the scene ("Punk'd). But except for a bit of the language, most of these shows would fit in rather well if they were airing back in the 1960s.

A new British show shakes up the genre a bit and while it's ultimately not completely successful, "Eye Spy" is entertaining and it's a format that would been fascinating to watch here in the U.S.

The series is "hosted" by Stephen Fry, who does his segments from the back of a taxi ("Sure, I can do the show. How about on my way to the airport?") and his sets everything up by claiming that while people have a sense that the world is going mad, he believes that deep down "we're a fundamentally decent lot." The show then creates some situations that test not just people's honesty, but their willingness to step in when they see something that is morally wrong.

One short segment features a test in which a number of wallets are dropped throughout London. They each have a bit of money in them and a voucher for a free pizza. There is a photo and address inside and the photo is changed up a few times to see if the potential identity of the influences whether the wallet is returned. The results? Out of 50 wallets, only 8 are returned and only one of those still has the money inside.

But the best segments center on a scene set up in several small restaurants. The first involves a mixed-race couple and a waiter who is obviously racist. At first he just asks them questions about what their family might think and if they'd considered what their babies would look like. He continues asking them questions as the rest of the restaurant goers listen in. The experiment was tried in London, a city where Whites are in a slight minority. In that case, the waiter didn't ask many questions before people seated at other tables began interrupting him. But in a similar experiment in a Manchester restaurant, the couple's fellow diners didn't step in until after the couple had been asked to leave by the waiter.

Even more interesting was a similar experiment carried out in a restaurant in an overwhelmingly non-white neighborhood. A young white couple come in and the waiter/actor makes it very clear that he doesn't like whites. He ignores them at first, making comments about their color to other diners. Then as they try and order he repeatedly tells them the restaurant is out of the item they've requested. Their fellow diners complain privately to each other, but it isn't until the waiter asks the white couple to leave that some of the diners step up and say that they are leaving the restaurant as well.

While the social experiments are fascinating, Fry's running commentary somewhat undercuts the effect. He spends a lot of time trying to argue that most Brits are decent people and that premise is often at odds with what is on the screen.

Despite that, "Eye Spy" is a show I'd love to see ported into an American version. It would be fascinating to see an MTV version of this series or one put together by one of the Discovery Channels. Or imagine CNN taking this on, focusing on matters such as racism, homophobia and strong political beliefs.

Ultimately, the concept of a hidden-camera series that focuses on social issues is a good one. "Eye Spy" isn't a perfect show, but it's a good blueprint for a much better series somewhere down the road.