Phowned! Premiered, Featuring Z100's Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Crew Making Raunchy Prank Phone Calls

Phowned! premiered Monday night on Spike, and featured the prank phone calls (including ones with sexual overtones) from the New York City Z100 radio show crew of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. That radio show has been stirring up things with prank phone calls for the last decade via radio only, until now. Spike is running first run episodes with hidden camera set ups this week at 7pm ET, each half an hour long. Phowned! does raise this important issue about whether pushing people's buttons is really that funny, especially if, in rare instances, it could cause someone to get so angry or stressed out they have an accident in a car or a heart attack. One man was getting pranked as he was angrily driving to his wife's work place.

Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Gets Raunchy with Prank Phone Calls on the Premiere of Phowned!

First, Lindsey is at the station, and wants the crew to set up her father Mitch, a condo president on a power trip. T.J. calls Mitch, posing as a resident living in the condo. T.J. asks him to overturn his decision regarding street parking, but won't reveal his name while baiting Mitch. Mitch's daughter Danielle gets in on the call and starts cussing at T.J., then hangs up. When T.J. calls again, he reveals it's a prank and that hidden cameras were set up to get Mitch's reactions on Phowned!

Next, Stephanie wants her boyfriend Kyle to be set up since he's not paying enough attention to her and flirting with other girls. So Garrett poses as a bouncer "Justin" and tells Kyle he's trying to hook up with her after he let Stephanie and her girlfriends in the club. Kyle gets irate after he hears "Justin" talk about him and Stephanie getting together and kissing. Kyle immediately calls Stephanie about this, and he starts crying and freaking out over an apparent trust broken. When "Justin" gets back on the phone, and tells Kyle he wants to take her out on Phowned!, Kyle goes ballistic in his garage, especially when they trash talk about sex with Stephanie. That is, until Garrett of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show reveals the prank phone call.

The third prank phone call is set up by Chrissy. She wants to move, but her husband Kent doesn't want to. Danielle does the prank phone call as "Melissa", who tells Kent she's buying his house via Chrissy. Kent and "Melissa" have a heated argument over the ownership of the house, especially as "Melissa" claims she'll be homeless if she can't move in. It gets so heated that name-calling is exchanged between the two. When Chrissy and Kent talk, she's adamant about the sale of the house until Danielle breaks in and reveals the prank phone call.

Is Elvis Duran and the Morning Show's Crew Going Too Far with Prank Phone Calls on Phowned!?

Alana wants her "bridezilla" mother Sonya to get a prank phone call. So Brody calls Sonya as "Jimmy", the wedding coordinator, who tells Sonya that the previous coordinator has "lowballed" her on the price of $70 per head for the wedding guests, and that the price is now $135. This infuriates Sonya, who had been lounging in her pool. Sonya then hears "Jimmy" insult her, calling her names like "grandma" and worse. Sonya threatens to call the police and her attorney until it's finally revealed that she's been Phowned! The receiving end of the prank phone call has an initial reaction: to dis-invite her daughter to the wedding.

Lastly, Christy is tired of her husband Ron acting jealous. Ron's car has hidden cameras in them. Skeery plays the "creepy linen guy" at Christy's work, who is obsessed with her. During the drive and first call, Ron hears him talking suggestively to his wife. Ron threatens to kill him and cusses him out, and heads to Christy's work. Christy calls Ron and tells him not to come to work while the "creepy linen guy" tries to plead his case with Ron, then makes more sexually-explicit comments about Christy. When Ron arrives, he's armed with a golf club, and is ready to fight until it's revealed he's been Phowned!

It's human nature to want to get someone good with a practical joke, but how far is too far for the crew of the Elvis Duran and the Morning Show? Past television shows with prank set ups like Candid Camera could get people's goats, but it wasn't as personal or raunchy about significant others. Ron was driving angrily to his wife's work. What if he had an accident or ran someone over because he's upset due to a prank phone call? What if someone else got so upset he or she had a stroke or heart attack as a result of being Phowned!? Sometimes people do get hurt as a result of joking around. This show is a reflection of how far society has come in wanting to be titillated.

Sources:

Premiere, Phowned!, December 13, 2010, Spike