TELEVISION REVIEW

“Look at that idiot” -- those words pretty much account for the phenomenon that is “Jackass,” the former MTV stunt show that has continued to live through big-screen sequels and assorted spinoffs and self-referential video documents. The latest of these is the unexpectedly serious, and seriously moving, “Steve-O: Demise and Rise,” which follows cast member Stephen “Steve-O” Glover down into a maelstrom of drugs, alcohol and bad, bad craziness, and back up out of it. There is more to the idiot than you might have imagined.

The chance of getting hurt was what made the daredevils of old -- the barnstormers, the barrel jumpers -- exciting. But getting hurt is where “Jackass” begins. Pain and damage are givens; survival, not skill, is the point. Among Steve-O’s stunts: stapling his scrotum to his thigh, getting branded, bobbing for jellyfish, going through a carwash (outside the car). In a different context, this might be labeled performance art, but in this one it is basically an extreme version of the unpleasant or dangerous -- or unpleasant and dangerous -- things small boys and frat boys dare one another to do. It is only supposed to be amazing and funny.

Most recently known -- and known for the first time by many -- as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars,” the sober-for-a-year Steve-O is a likable guy, articulate and intelligent, with a goofy laugh and a toothy smile. Even as he goes completely off the rails, it is hard not to root for him. “He was either going to end up incarcerated, dead or famous, and we didn’t really know what,” says sister Cindy.

Not every person willing to risk his neck for a laugh, or for the love of the crowd, is a case for treatment, of course. (“Jackass” colleagues Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville, who finally threw a suicidal Steve-O into the hospital, seem quite balanced here.) But Steve-O is hooked not only on cocaine and nitrous oxide, which he runs through in frightening amounts, but also to the stunts and the camera.

It’s like the old joke about the man who cleans up after the elephants in the circus: When it’s suggested he might want to look for other work, he replies, “What, and leave show business?”

You can look at “Demise and Rise” as a cautionary tale or as exploitation, and likely it’s a little of both. But either way, it’s an impressive, effective piece, and even somewhat formally restrained as MTV documentaries go -- the footage needs no help. Happily, it ends happily (though Steve-O cautions he is not “cured,” only sober day to day), with the 34-year-old lost boy hosting a skate party for kids on the occasion of his first sober birthday since he turned 16. It’s beautiful to see, and nobody gets hurt.

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‘Steve-O: Demiseand Rise’

Where: MTV

When: 10 p.m. Sunday

Rating: Not rated