‘Spy TV’ More Mean Than Funny

Aw, rats. The producers of “Fear Factor” and “Big Brother” have weaseled their way into prime time again.

Their latest annoyance is “Spy TV,” a mean-spirited NBC knockoff of “Candid Camera,” in which unsuspecting people become the victims of elaborate practical jokes.

Judging from the half-hour opener, the creators are in this solely for the inherent humiliation factor. Otherwise, why refer to someone as a “sap” or “sucker”?

In the first segment, a car buyer who “loves to drive out of control” is petrified while taking a test drive with a veteran stuntman making wild, erratic maneuvers on the streets of a suburban neighborhood, resulting in a chase with phony police.

As the frightened fellow repeatedly screams, “Let me out!,” host Michael Ian Black supplies this telling voice-over: “It sounds like Shawn wants out. Well, that’s too bad because we’re not done with him just yet.”

Nice guy.

The next bit follows good Samaritans coming to the aid of what they perceive to be an injured man in an out-of-control wheelchair.

Oh, what hilarity!

Afterward, a supermarket customer is angered when a guy supposedly wins a check for $1 million after cutting in front at the checkout stand. Back to Black: “Now that he’s good and furious, why not rub it in a little more?”

“Candid Camera,” created by the late Allen Funt, always had good-natured fun putting people in silly situations and then capturing their amusing reactions. But he generally knew where to draw the line. Can anyone on this show make the same claim?

Even though each of tonight’s confounded victims laughs upon being told, “Smile, you’re on ‘Spy TV’ ” (as if they even know what it is), there are no chuckles forthcoming here.

If they want a smile from this corner, it’ll come when “Spy TV” gets a cancellation notice.

* “Spy TV” can be seen tonight at 8:30 on NBC, with another episode airing Tuesday at 8 p.m. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children).