TruTV - It's Not Reality, Actuality

Hey there friends. I love watching truTV. I remember when the campaign to transition Court TV to truTV circulated and the one thing that really caught my attention was the slogan. truTV - It's Not Reality, Actuality. I truly believe that this is the best slogan for a TV station. There are many "reality" shows out there now that boast it's cast as "looking for love" or "surviving" somewhere, but when word gets out about what went behind the scenes, how can you classify it as "reality TV"? The surviving shows have buffet tables for the cast and crew between takes and all these looking for love shows seem so fake and scripted that you know the "winner" will not end up with the host just so that there can be a next season. It's not "real enough" for me. I'll watch these kind of shows with little to no reaction from me. I need something that will cause me to think, something that will cause a reaction, something that is real. I need to experience the truTV effect.

What is the truTV effect? It's fairly simple. Have you ever watched a show and then squirm at the sight of a doctor cutting open a corpse? How about seeing a baseball hit a guy in the head and you jump up and go, "Wow, did you see that?" Or have you ever had the "ouch" reaction to the classic video of an object to the groin. Many squirm, many say ouch, many simply grimace. This, my friends, is the truTV effect. Why do we react this way? I'd say it's because we know that someone experienced what we saw. This is not a fictional show. We are seeing an open body, someone really got hit in the head and that person on TV is really feeling that excruciating pain of being hit in the groin. We see that and we feel that. That's why the programming on truTV has the the truTV effect on us. Here's a good example of the truTV effect in action.


These shows are real stories. Some are not for the faint of heart and if you feel that a young one should not be exposed to some of the content the shows have, then you should monitor the shows on the channel before allowing them to view. It's the only way to go when you have a channel that will show you life as it happens. For example, Operation Repo is a show where the repo man goes out and repossesses your vehicle. Think about that for a second. How can you stage that? How can you script a show like this? A person is coming, with a tow truck and camera crew, and is going to repossess your vehicle. What do you do? Do you fight him off? Do you run for it? This show captures all the crazy reactions that people will do to keep their car. Language is vulgar, punches are thrown, and tears are shed. These are actual reactions, friends!

Another great show is Forensic Files, my personal favorite, and is one of the best shows on TV, period. There's no dancing around it, a crime has been committed (or someone is accused of a crime) and investigators are out to uncover the truth. It's insane how the forensic investigators go through every nook and cranny to find evidence. How it's all pieced together to "re-enact" the situation. The projection of the bullet, the splatter of blood, the hair fibers found on a coat, shoe impressions, etc. etc. If you want to feel the truTV effect, then you need to watch this show. It will amaze you how little evidence it takes to uncover the truth. I regularly watch this show and point out to my wife the one piece of evidence that tied everything together. It's a show that talk about well after it's over.

Need more of a visual? Check out some of the videos that playing on truTV video to get a better glimpse of truTV. Experience the truTV effect for yourselves. Look for it in your guide and start seeing some real reality TV, no... Some actuality TV. Later.