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''Punk'd'' is an American Hidden Camera Practical Joke Television Series on MTV , produced and hosted by Ashton Kutcher , which first aired in 2003. It bears a strong resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show '' Candid Camera '', and to '' TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes '', which also featured pranks on Celebrities . "Punk'd" refers to the act of having such a prank played on oneself, and the word also refers to the show's style of prank itself. New episodes of the show premiered on Sundays, which was changed to Mondays in the seventh season. FORMAT The show begins with a description by Kutcher of which celebrity will be punk'd, what the celebrity's claim to fame is, why he feels the celebrity deserves to be punk'd, and what the setting of the joke will be, including the accomplices and the premise. As the show is usually set in Los Angeles , the pranks often take place in common locations such as Parking Lot s, Restaurant s, hotel rooms and residences, though Kutcher will sometimes engineer the prank at a celebrity event at which the target is a prominent guest, as when he pranked actress Halle Berry by convincing her that fire codes prohibited her from entering the building at the premiere of her own film, '' Gothika '', or when he pranked Philadelphia 76ers ' Guard Allen Iverson by convincing him that he could not enter to his own 30th birthday party because the President's daughters and the Secret Service were inside the party. Kutcher will also sometimes use real-life current events as elements in his pranks, as when he pranked tennis player Andy Roddick , who was scheduled to appear on '' The Tonight Show '', by convincing him that his automobile was trapped by the 2004-2005 Los Angeles Mudslide s. After the joke progresses to a point, usually with the celebrity having become angry or frustrated at the outrageousness of the situation, Kutcher or one of the actors will announce to the surprised victim that they just had a practical joke played on them. An episode will usually feature three pranks. A frequent segment during the first season had the then fifteen-year-old Ryan Pinkston pretending to interview celebrities at red carpet events for a kids' show, only to mock them instead {Link without Title} . Road Trips In Season 3, Ashton Kutcher and his crew went to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC , at an event tied to the release of the film '' The Prince And Me '', and pranked actress Julia Stiles . In a road trip to Tony Hawk 's hometown Carlsbad, California in Season 5, Hawk was pranked by his son Riley, who destroyed a park restroom with an M-80 , injuring a bystander played by an actress. In the Season 6, after football player Terrell Owens was suspended from the Philadelphia Eagles in the summer of 2005 , Kutcher sent crew members to Moorestown, New Jersey , where Owens lived. The crew staged an auto accident and Owens saved elderly people from a bus that had turned over {Link without Title} . FAILED PUNKS
CONTROVERSIES In late 2003, it was announced by MTV that Kutcher had decided not to continue production on ''Punk'd''. Some commentators speculated that the announcement was a ploy designed to lower the guard of increasingly wary celebrities in an attempt at another season of pranks. This proved to be true when the third season began airing on April 25 2004 . The television audience itself had been "punk'd". Some controversies arose in seasons 3 and 4, when New York Yankees third-baseman Alex Rodriguez and '' Alias '' star Michael Vartan threatened to sue Kutcher if the pranks played on them were aired on MTV. According to the June 5 , 2004 issue of ''Sports Illustrated'' and the June 7 , 2004 '' People '' magazine, Rodriguez ordered Kutcher to destroy the tape of it, which it was, in order to avoid a court case. Vartan also threatened to sue Kutcher if the prank played on him, which involved a supposed emergency on the plane Vartan was on, was aired on MTV. Australian musician Grazielle Oganna also threatened to sue Kutcher if her prank was aired, according to Edward Norton , who himself also denied ''Punk'd'' broadcasting rights. INFLUENCES In addition to the obvious influences of past hidden camera prank shows such as '' Candid Camera '' and '' TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes '', Method Man , Redman and Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade had a hidden camera celebrity prank show on MTV called ''Stung'' in 2002, a full year before the introduction of ''Punk'd''. Whether this was a direct influence on ''Punk'd'' is unclear. PARODIES AND DERIVATIVES
CELEBRITIES WHO HAVE BEEN "PUNK'D" See Also: List of celebrities who have been Punk'd CELEBRITY ACCOMPLICES
NOTES: 1 Her first name is misspelled as "Stephani." EXTERNAL LINKS
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