A video store clerk agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a television show.
In a Hail Mary move for corporate preservation, the San Francisco based Northwest Broadcasting Corporation launches True TV, a new network which will broadcast the life of an Average Joe or Jane, 24/7 live and thus unedited, the subject chosen signed initially for one month. The project is conceived and led by one of the producers, Cynthia, but her boss, NWBC president Whitaker, will take the credit if it succeeds, and let her sink as the captain of the ship if it fails. The network is rebranded EdTV when Cynthia believes she's found her subject, Ed Pekurny, a native Texas hayseed, who fits the two main criteria that she is looking for in the person: he is easy on the eyes, and he has what seems to be a potential trainwreck of a life in that he he is thirty-one years old, spends most of his time hanging out at the bar, and has no ambition beyond his longtime dead end job as a clerk in a video store. Ed did not actively campaign for the job - his blowhard of a brother Ray was the one who played to the cameras when Cynthia's team was looking for subjects - but ultimately decided to do it after discussing it with those close to him, namely his immediately family of his mother, stepfather, and two siblings. After a slow start and despite some people associated with Ed hamming it up to the cameras in wanting their fifteen minutes of fame or more, Ed becomes enough of a toast to the TV watching public for the network to become a success. However, having the cameras rolling during certain times may not be the most advantageous for those directly involved, especially as someone from Ed's distant past reenters his life, and an issue with regard to Ray's relationship with his current girlfriend, a UPS delivery person named Shari who if Ed was being honest would admit that he is attracted to himself. Other issues that eventually do emerge is Ed and those around him using the cameras as a convenient excuse for things that happen, and as Whitaker, against Cynthia's wants as the moves being totally self-serving, begins to manipulate Ed to make EdTV more salacious TV viewing.—Huggo
A comedy about a video store clerk Ed whose life is thrown into chaos when he agrees to let an executive of a television studio film him for 24 hours.—Jordan Chamerski
A television network that specializes in Reality format decides to have a program where in they show the life of an ordinary guy. And the guy they choose is Ed, an ordinary guy. At first, things seem ok but when he reveals that his brother, Ray is cheating on his girlfriend, Shari and when he goes to see her, he reveals that he has been harboring feelings for her. While they try to see if they can have a relationship, the presence of the cameras make it difficult. When his contract is extended, Ed is not sure if he wants to keep on doing it but the network president, is holding him to his contract. And what happens is that Shari doesn't want to stay in town and all sorts of family secrets are revealed.—[email protected]
Cynthia, TV producer, has an idea about how to save the station: A normal person's life should be broadcasted 24 hours a day. "Ed TV" is born the second her eye falls on Ed Pekurny, a sympathetic Joe Sixpack. After the first week on air Eds fame grows and grows, but conflicts break open: His brother Ray publishes a very negative book about Ed, who now dates Ray's ex; Ed's parent's partnership problematics are broadcasted nationwide and a very attractive and seducing model uses innocent Ed to raise her own fame. Also, Ed's contract proves to be unquittable, so that Ed Pekurny suddenly can see the golden bars around his cage. But in a country that switches the TV set on for breakfast and off for bedtime, nearly everything can happen - and people can be counted on.—Julian Reischl <[email protected]>
This movie is a satire of voyeurism and celebrity when an ordinary guy who works at a video store in San Francisco becomes an overnight star when he agrees to allow his daily life to be televised. Ed (Matthew McConaughey) quickly learns that he has absolutely no privacy. The taping of his life begins when he is waking up and shown to be scratching himself in his most private area. His father (played by Dennis Hopper) shows up and his mother is forced to admit that she made him leave, after having told Ed that he ran away. The television producer Cynthia Topping (Ellen Degeneres) begins to manipulate his life by arranging to have certain characters to "show up." For example, shortly after his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman) moves away to escape the infringement on her personal life, Jill (Elizabeth Hurley) shows up and begins to seduce him. Jill isn't really interested in Ed, though, but is only using him in an attempt to further her own career. A really racy scene ensues and it appears that Ed and Jill are about to have sex on TV but he falls off the dining room table and squashes her cat, ending the ardor. The cat survives, fortunately, so we animal lovers folks can relax. He never sees Jill again.
Life for poor Ed begins to degenerate (no pun intended Ellen) when his brother Ray Pekurny (Woody Harrelson) publishes an expose book (entitled "My Brother Pissed On Me"). LIfe takes another terrible turn when he gets a phone call from his mother telling him that his stepfather has died. The doctor tells him that he died making love with his mother and about that time, his real stepfather, Al (Martin Landau), comes zipping down the hall of the hospital on his scooter and leaves Ed confused. His mother admits that she was having sex with Hank and admits on national television that Al is unable to perform.
Ed really wants to get back together with Shari, who has been caught following him in disguise. He wants to end the contract but the producers won't release him. So he devises a way to get them to cancel the show by offering a $10,000 reward to the viewer who can dish the most dirt on the producers. The main producer (Cynthia Topping) sympathize with Ed and tells him a terrible secret on Mr. Whitaker (Rob Reiner) that he cannot perform without pumping a liquid into his male member but before he can announce it, they quit airing the show.
