The Most Magically Awesomely Wrongest Thing Ever. EVER.

Ok. I am posting this as a blog, not a review, because I feel that basing a review on a single pilot episode of a TV show is perhaps not enough to render a real judgement.

But seriously, y'all. OMGWTF now reigns supreme.

Ok, Before I really get into this, let me say that I already know this show won't last long, and I already know that once it is inevitably, regardless of what seems likely to be a huge audience despite the near-total lack of advertising leading up to the premiere, cancelled, it will never be picked up again by anyone anywhere ever.

Know why?

It's on Fox. And see, Fox has a problem.

They're retarded.

No, seriously. They are the single broadcast network that picks - consistently - the widest 
variety of really cool shit to put on TV; yet, for some reason, despite a lot of their new programs' 
instant popularity, after a few episodes, usually in the middle of the first season, *poof* 
cancelled.

Right.

Now, the real problem with this is that - well - TV execs are stuck in the 60's. See, back in the day, when you ran a TV show, and it got cancelled, it was because NO-ONE WANTED TO WATCH IT.

They all still assume it works that way.

See, the reason this is a problem is that Fox has been known to cancel shows after a SINGLE EPISODE aired. They've also been known to cancel... oh, let me see, a sci-fi show, in its first season, whose fan base was already so widespread and possessed of such fervor that they were able to arm-twist Hollywood into making a full theatrical movie of it?

Right, so the standard "it got cancelled, it HAS to suck" model doesn't work for Fox programming.

And that's why "The Moment Of Truth" is soon to fade away, and sadly, never be seen again, I suspect.

That - if it happens - would be a goddamn shame. Because I am convinced that this is the single most awesomely wrongest TV show ever created EVER, and everyone should watch it.

Here's how it works. Before the show, the contestants are asked - on a lie detector - 50+ of the most fucked-up, embarrassing, potentially marriage- or friendship-ruining questions ever. The 21 of those questions with the MOST FUCKED UP ANSWERS become the question set for the show.

21 questions to $500,000; all you have to do is tell the truth. Sounds easy, right?

...Until you hear, in front of your wife, and one friend of each gender, "As a pro football player, have you ever sneaked a peek at other men's genitals in the shower?"

See, here's the trick that makes this show nasty: once you hear the question, you HAVE TO ANSWER or you lose all your money to that point. And since they announce whether or not you're lying, once they ask the question, the world - or at least the audience - will know the truth either way.

"Have you held back from having children because you think (your wife) might not be your lifelong partner?"

I mean, goddamn, Gus.

Plus - credit where credit's due - the host is awesome. The first contestant got busted lying about whether or not he'd ever - as a personal trainer - felt up one of his female clients, in front of his wife. (Boy, did she look pissed off, too.)

The second contestant was asked if he thought he looked better than most men his age; said he did; as an aside, the host asked how old he was, and was a bit surprised to hear the dude was like 10+ years older than he'd thought. The host asked, "How do you keep your looks so well?" The contestant said "oooo, you know, man, I got secrets." The host said, with a big used-car salesman grin, "Not for long."

In structure it's fairly simple, so here goes: the contestant has three people from their life come with them on the show. They sit on a couch together; there's a big-ass button in front of the three of them. It's a one-use-only "not that one, thanks." If any of the three of them don't want to hear the answer to a particular question, they can smack the button; that question will be withdrawn, and replaced by another question at random. (Note that that might very well make things far, far worse.)

The money is structured in tiers; $10K, $25K, $100K, $250K, and $500K. For each tier you must answer a certain number of questions; as the number of questions per tier drops, the "difficulty" of the questions goes up. A LOT. Once you hit a tier, that money is yours UNLESS you lie on a question. Although you can walk away prior to any question, and keep the money you have to that point, once you hear a question, you must answer it truthfully or lose every penny.

I will say that I cannot IMAGINE being stupid enough to go on this show, seriously.

But GODDAMN it was fun to watch. I did have a couple of technical quibbles; they gave long enough pauses between the 
answer and confirmation of its verity that they could have squeezed in at least a couple more 
commercial breaks, and that was kind of a pain, but I remain convinced that this show is the 
funniest goddamn thing I've seen in years, and I can't WAIT for more of it.

So, Wednesday night at 9PM eastern. Go watch it; you will simply be amazed, and either love it - if you're sarcastic like me - or hate it, if you, you know, have a heart full of love for your fellow man and sweetness and light, and stuff like that. Me? I'm a mean, vindictive, sarcastic, hurtful person, who revels in the misery of others, and apparently is capable of such sarcasm that comments made in passing and I THOUGHT out of the hearing range of others are sufficiently brutal that they cause innocent young fast food employees to burst into tears and abandon their aspirations towards a fried-potato domination of the planet, and instead flee for less Xeno-frequented employment.

(In case you ever read that, Emily; "My bad. Mea culpa." I'll try honestly - a good faith effort - to walk farther away from the counter before I begin badmouthing your employability and genetic heritage, or whatever the hell it was that I said that made you cry and flee the counter when we came in ever after.)

At any rate, THIS:



This is The Moment Of Truth. And it is the coolest, most awesomely wrongest game show, ever. Bet your life, your marriage, your friends, your family, versus your honesty, for $500, 000. And then wonder how different it would have been if you would simply have told them the truth in the first place.