New CBS reality show to feature celebrities trading places with the regular scum who share their names

Now that reality television is shying away from the sort of regular people empowerment that attracts sociopaths and murderers, the next wave seems to be stroking the egos of sadly under-stroked celebrities—shows like I Get That A Lot and Undercover Karaoke, where famous stars go out and mingle with the non-famous, then reveal to the rabble who they really are and bask in the adulation firsthand. CBS’ in-development series The Same Name follows a similar “he who walks among you” premise, but also brings in the power-shift of Undercover Boss, matching celebrities with ordinary people who share, duh, the same name and having them trade lives for a little while. Thus the regular person will get a temporary reward for always having to endure the smartassed comments, e-mails, and phone calls from folks trying to track down a celebrity and who are under the delusion that, for some reason, Justin Bieber might have a listed phone number in Jacksonville, Florida, while the famous person feigns interest in how their non-famous name doppelganger lives while still getting accorded the properly awed treatment which their status demands. (By the way, I’m fully expecting to hear from the network so I can swap places with Clarissa Explains It All actor Sean O’Neal, or maybe just punch him in the face for all the e-mails and phone calls I’ve received on his behalf over the past 19 years.)