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Satirical television show by Michael Moore
The Awful Truth
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Directed by
| Tom Gianas
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Starring
| Michael Moore
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Original language
| English
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No.
of seasons
| 2
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No.
of episodes
| 24
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Running time
| 30 minutes
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Network
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Release
| 11 April 1999
(
1999-04-11
)
?
5 July 2000
(
2000-07-05
)
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|
TV Nation
|
The Awful Truth
(1999?2000) is a
satirical
television show
that was directed, written, and hosted by filmmaker
Michael Moore
, and funded by the British broadcaster
Channel 4
.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Format
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]
The show emulated television newsmagazine shows (such as
60 Minutes
, or Moore's own previous show,
TV Nation
) in that it comprised a series of
documentary
segments.
[6]
[7]
For the first season the format involved presenting them to a studio audience (the second season moved to
Times Square
), often accompanied by a
coda
and commentary by Moore as to what happened after the segment was first filmed. The show focused on exposing problems in
American government
, business, and society. It often used outlandish sketches and stunts to point out the inherent absurdity of a situation and hint at potential solutions. At times, the show's sometimes humiliating tactics drew enough attention to cause corporations involved to rethink their policies. For example, after initially denying a man coverage for a pancreas transplant,
Humana
agreed to pay for it.
[8]
Episodes
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]
Season 1 (1999)
[
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]
Season 2 (2000)
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]
Notable scenes
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]
- After legislation to display the
Ten Commandments
in public schools, Moore interviews the bill's co-signers and asks them what the eighth commandment is; most cannot answer the question correctly.
Dave Weldon
does suggest "
thou shalt not steal
," which is
correct for most Protestants
, but Michael was using the Roman Catholic/Lutheran list, as he is Catholic. (Moore was looking for "
thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
".)
- Moore creates an "African American Wallet Exchange" in Harlem, in response to four
NYPD
officers who fired on and killed
Amadou Diallo
, because they thought his wallet was a gun. Once all the wallets are exchanged, Moore deposited them in front of the NYPD headquarters.
- Staging a mock funeral outside of
Humana
's corporate headquarters when a health care policyholder is denied a claim to fund a potentially life-saving
pancreas
transplant
. This segment became the inspiration for Moore's sixth feature film,
Sicko
, released by
The Weinstein Company
on 29 June 2007. Moore's original plan for
Sicko
was to stage ten 'stunts' like the mock funeral in front of health-care agencies, but eventually decided to scrap the idea.
[9]
- A group clad in
Colonial
clothing behaving in a manner reminiscent of the Salem Witch Trials in protest of
Kenneth Starr
, and his tactics during President
Bill Clinton
's impeachment trial, with the idea that colonials know how to conduct an economical
witch trial
. They also read parts of Starr's report on Clinton while Starr was head of the
Office of the Independent Counsel
, and also highlight certain high-profile politicians own 'anti-moralistic' behavior (in particular
Newt Gingrich
's affair and subsequent divorce).
- Crackers the Corporate Crime Fighting Chicken
(a character first introduced in
TV Nation
), played by producer Gideon Evans traveling to
Disney World
to confront
Mickey Mouse
about unfair labor practices.
- The Iowa Caucuses
Mosh Pit
, in which
Alan Keyes
dived onto a portable mosh pit and
crowd-surfed
to
Rage Against the Machine
to win the endorsement of
The Awful Truth
for the
2000 presidential election
.
- The Sodomobile, a pink van loaded with homosexual men and women, traveling across the country to U.S. states that have on-the-books sodomy laws, to fight for
gay rights
. At one point they encounter Pastor
Fred Phelps
, infamous for picketing during funerals of homosexual men.
- An election special where a
Ficus
tree was run against the otherwise unopposed
Republican
incumbent
Rodney Frelinghuysen
for a seat in
Congress
. In total 23 plants ran as write-in candidates for
House
seats. The Ficus write-in votes were later refused to be counted by the election committee, but the ones that were showed the Ficus having a 4-1 lead over Frelinghuysen.
- A visit to Philip Morris (now
Altria
) headquarters, where a group of lung and throat cancer victims used their electronic voice boxes to sing Christmas tunes.
Location filming and DVD release
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The first season of the series was filmed in
Chicago
,
Illinois
, and aired on the
Bravo
cable network in the US and on
Channel 4
in the UK. The second season was filmed in
New York City
. Both seasons were released on DVD on April 29, 2003.
[10]
[11]
Season one had 12 episodes and premiered 11 April 1999 ending 27 June 1999.
[12]
Season two had 12 episodes, and premiered 17 May 2000 and ended 5 July 2000.
[13]
See also
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References
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External links
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Films
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Television
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Books
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Related
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Current
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Former
| 1990s debuts
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2000s debuts
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2010s debuts
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2020s debuts
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