HOW FAR WILL TV GO? PLUMBING SPITE FOR 'REVENGE'.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

VALENCIA - He stood you up for the high school prom, and you've spent the last 25 years daydreaming about the perfect payback.

She's the back-seat driver from hell, and has driven you to the edge.

Or maybe he's pulled one too many practical jokes and now it's his turn.

Move over ``Millionaire,'' ``Survivor'' and that Regis-meets-``Survivor'' phenomenon, ``The Weakest Link.''

America, it's time for ``Ultimate Revenge.''

``It's for all the people who can't otherwise get back at people. It could be anyone from the bully who bugged you as a kid, the guy who dumped you the night before the prom or the wife who brings new meaning to the word 'nag,' '' says David Greenfield, senior producer for Valencia-based Woody Fraser Productions Inc.

``We'll come up with very, very elaborate pranks to get them back,'' he said.

Reality TV's latest rung in its descent to see who can be the meanest, the nastiest, the most humiliating, debuts this fall on cable's The National Network. Formerly known as The Nashville Network, Viacom's TNN is working to shed its country-western image, and is joining the major broadcast networks in providing more pop-culture fare.

``Revenge'' will spotlight a parade of unsuspecting targets who fall prey to a labyrinth of hidden cameras and microphones as ``victims'' seek retaliation in elaborately orchestrated paybacks.

``How many guys have you known who love their cars more than their families?'' Greenfield said. ``(They say:) I just washed my car, don't touch it, kids, or, Honey, we're not going antiquing. I have to wax the car.

``If someone's that selfish, we might send an elephant to sit on his car. ... Our ultimate goal is for them to see how you feel.''

But it won't be the errant husband's set of wheels the pachyderm destroys, Greenfield explained, but rather an identical vehicle produced for the trick.

``The trick here, what we pride ourselves on, is that we continuously outdo ourselves,'' Greenfield said.

It's been 10 years since the first ``Revenge'' pilot aired on CBS. It didn't get picked up then - perhaps too much for a generation more in tune with the gentler antics of ``Candid Camera'' or even ``Dick Clark's Bloopers and Practical Jokes.''

But in an era where Jerry Springer is a star and voting teammates off a game show qualifies as entertainment, ``Revenge'' seems to be guaranteed an audience.

Segments will not be aired unless the star of the show signs a waiver once he realizes the joke is on him, and ``we're insured against everything'' should the butt of the joke want the last laugh, Greenfield said.

``It's a fad,'' said Robert Gustafson, director of the Entertainment Industry Institute at California State University, Northridge. ``There were the doctor shows, the Westerns, the family sitcoms, the hourlong lawyer shows.

``They come and go, so now we're in the reality programming fad.''

And people will watch, Gustafson said.

``It's because it's different, it's engaging, it's really not scripted, it's contagious,'' he said.

Both Gustafson and producer Dave Garrison compare the appeal of the show to watching sports on TV.

``Sports have the most dedicated audience - more than soap operas - because you can't know how it's going to turn out,'' Gustafson said. `It's the spontaneity. You have that with reality shows.''

And from the business end, production is cheap.

The producers are looking for story lines in and around their home base, the Santa Clarita Valley. Scenes from the pilot are familiar - local diners, Caston's Appliances in Newhall, a stretch of San Fernando Road.

A woman fed up with her husband's practical jokes instigates the first segment of the recent ``Revenge'' pilot. The day he poured a tomato juice concoction into the shower as she shaved her legs was the last straw, the viewer sees in a ``Psycho''-like re-enactment.

On the sly she sets up the payback, including driving lessons behind the wheel of a city bus.

The scam goes like this:

She gets a call she has won a TV, but must claim it quickly. A limo picks up the couple, but breaks down at a gas station where attendants (wink, wink) advise the pair to hop the city bus. Then the bus driver takes a break (more winks) and the long-suffering wife takes the wheel as her incredulous husband watches.

Phony cops whiz by, the pair abandon the bus filled with cheering ``passengers,'' grab a cab and arrive at Caston's to see a dozen TVs on display broadcasting a special bulletin about a Santa Clarita couple who have just hijacked a bus.

There are some limits - jokes won't be mean spirited and nobody will get hurt or scared witless. Also, ``Ultimate Revenge'' isn't for those in ugly relationships, Greenfield said.

The target audience is anyone who can operate a TV remote, said Garrison, who is 44 and enjoys watching ``Survivor'' with his 3-year-old.

``I think what makes reality TV fun is that it's not actors and not made up. It's people like you and me put in extreme situations. It's the same reason people watch football or baseball. You don't know how it ends.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in Valley edition only) ``Ultimate Revenge'' producers David Greenfield, left, and Rich LaRose, right, interview a man looking for help teaching a nationally televised lesson in humility or manners to someone who's slighted him or annoyed him beyond his limits.

(2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Producers David Greenfield, left, and Rich LaRose, center, interview a candidate for their TV show ``Ultimate Revenge'' at Valencia's Woody Fraser Productions.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer