What's an an average episode like?

If you wanted to be crude, you could call it a prank show, but it's a lot more like the cringe-comedy of Ali G than Punk'd or Candid Camera. Most episodes are about Fielder meeting a small-business owner around Los Angeles who is struggling to get by. He makes them a pitch: follow my proposed plan and I'll improve your business. He's here to make dreams come true.

The only problem? The proposals are often overly elaborate and borderline insane. A recent episode saw Fielder "helping" an antiques shop owner by instituting a strict "you break it you buy it" policy, while also transforming the store into a 24-hour establishment in the hopes of luring drunk patrons from a nearby bar. The episode ends with a drunk man, recruited by Fielder, wearing a sumo-wrestler suit as he wiggles through the store in pursuit of a free piece of pizza, breaking $280 in antiques along the way. It makes sense when you watch it. Sort of.

Fielder's proposals often contain a kernel of logic or truth-- there's a reason he's able to convince business owners to go along with him -- but they quickly escalate into bizarre stunts, squeamish encounters, and performance art gone awry. It can get pretty dark. And, yet, the show retains a curiosity and sweetness to it that something nihilistic like Borat lacks.

Fielder isn't trying to expose small business owners as rubes. He's exposing himself -- sometimes literally.