The Awful Truth was a show on the Bravo channel that lasted for 2 seasons.

Hosted and produced by Michael Moore, it was similar to his earlier show, TV Nation.

The format of the show was simple, Michael Moore stands out in Times Square and talks to folks on the street and introduces segments. By segments, think of the news stories done by a show like 60 Minutes or Dateline NBC. A more apt comparison would be the correspondant pieces done on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Moore is sarcastic and funny.

Typically the segments, and there are many, call attention to something immoral going on within the US. An insurance company won't pay for a man's life-or-death pancreas transplant. Mike and the crew, with TV cameras rolling, stage a mock funeral for the man outside the insurance company's headquarters. In another episode, during Bill Clinton's scandal involving Monica Lewinsky, he had a group of people dressed up in Pilgrim costumes shrieking "Witch!" outside Kenneth Star's home, to show what a real witchhunt looks like.

It is similar to the commericals done by TheTruth.com, where they do something in front of corporate headquarters as a form of public protest, only creative instead of simple picketing. And, as always, they try to get a reaction on tape, often a security guard trying to grab the camera lens with his hand. The company in question always looks in a bad light after these segments air. In a vein similiar to the Thetruth.com ads, Moore once staged a group of carolers outside Philip Morris's corporate headquarters, but they were so ruined by smoking that they all had to use voice boxes.

Some other episodes involve Moore placing a personal ad and finding a date for Hillary Clinton. In another, BMW executives are confronted by Holocaust survivors about their failure to pay reparations to the slave laborers used in Germany during WW II. My personal favorite was when he traveled the campaign trail, offering to endorse any Presidential candidate who will jump into a mosh pit (one actually did).

Not all of his segments are funny, and some are left-wing enough to make you wince, ie. Moore opens up a sex shop in New York City, plastering Rudy Giuliani's face on all the merchandise to get around the city's anti-pornography laws.

The series is now out on VHS and DVD, and I think they're worth watching once, although it's debatable whether they are as funny as his older or newer material. I think his movies are better, however, if you liked the movies you will probably like the show.

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