Still, when relieved of long-winded pontificating by host Mark Walberg and its stammer-afflicted Truth Bot—as in the promo montage above—what we get is nothing short of mesmerizing television, as "party girl Leanne Patrovsky" is forced to face-up to the one-night-stand she accidentally ran over during one of her messier benders before an audibly appalled, yet visibly delighted America.

• The Moment of Truth

Q: You're known for creating catchy titles. What do you look for?

Mike Darnell: Something simple that grabs you. In the best cases, the title itself is enough to drive you to view the show with no footage and no promo...Length doesn't matter — I used to get in arguments about that all the time. All that matters is that it says what it is. [...]

Q: You've had some controversial content over the years. Is there anything that you regret airing?

Darnell: "Regret" is a big word. I suppose I regret putting on "Who's Your Daddy?" (in which an adult adoptee tried to pick her biological father from a group of men). Because like "Kid Nation," it was enormously controversial but with the controversy outside of the program — so it doesn't translate into ratings. The show was pretty good, but what was driving people was this outside controversy. [...]

Q: What's the worst reality show idea you've ever heard?

Darnell: I was pitched "'Big Brother' with puppets" — so that half the "Big Brother" people are human and they're competing against puppets. Week after week, the audience either votes a human out or a puppet.

We'll assume that Darnell misinterpreted the last question to mean "what was the least technically feasible idea you've ever heard," because as reality shows go, Big Muppet is in our estimation the single greatest idea for a series, like, ever—if only for the sequence in which a robot camera zooms in to focus on Janice, sunning herself on a chaise lounge as she confides in her Jesus-freak ally that she can "always tell a New York Jew from their noses. They're totally not groovy!"

[Photo: WireImage]

• Q&A: Hits keep coming for reality guru Darnell [THR/Reuters]

There are certainly more than enough shows on the air right now depicting women as gold-diggers (The Bachelor), alcoholic sluts (Rock Of Love), and vapid brats (The Hills). But is counteracting the derogatory portrayal of fame-hungry women by featuring dozens of selfish, uncaring absentee fathers really the logical next step? As THR puts it, the series will "depict the sacrifice and heartache" of wounded women. We never thought we'd say this, but we're kinda missing the era of Mary Tyler Moore and Murphy Brown at this point.

• FOX ZEROES IN ON 'BAD DADS' [THR]

In a line of interrogation that's surfaced at least twice in three episodes, one of last night's contestants—a onetime underwear model—was grilled about whether or not he's ever succumbed to the temptation to jam a foil-wrapped cucumber into his Jockeys to get him through a chilly shoot. Sadly, the former Marine, despite responding with a confident-sounding "No!" to the accusation, was branded a liar by the Truth's polygraph; in forfeiting the $25,000 he'd worked so hard to accrue, he became the first victim (a previous contender sheepishly copped to the stuffing sin) of Fox Alternative Programming Grand Inquistor Mike Darnell's crusade to rid America of those insecure about their endowment.

• The Moment of Truth [Fox.com]
• Previously: 'Moment Of Truth' Polygraph Reveals Tyra Banks' Disturbing Oprah Envy! [Defamer]

"Last time I felt like this was before 'Joe Millionaire,'" said Mike Darnell, sitting in his office wearing his trademark cowboy boots.

"This is going to be the talk of the town and knocked out of the park. You're either going to love it, or think it's the end of Western civilization. And that's the stuff that works." [...]

Fox's version works like this: Before the show is taped, a contestant is given a polygraph test and asked 75 questions. Samples include: "Do you really care about the starving children in Africa?" "Are you sexually attracted to one of your wife's friends?" "Do fat people repulse you?" and "Do you think you'll still be with your husband five years from now?" Unlike the Colombian version, the show avoids asking about felony-level activities and sticks to revealing family secrets and unearthing private opinions. [...]

"Quite frankly, if you hear the question and say you're not going to answer it, everybody knows what the answer is anyway," Mr. Darnell said. "So you might as well answer."

Mr. Darnell screened a "Truth" preview for a small group of reporters and staff in his office, which is decorated with leather furniture and animal-skin rugs. The clips showed anxious contestants looking as if they're seconds away from cardiac arrest.

Should the series fail to be an immediate hit, Darnell has a surefire plan for creating watercooler moments that would surpass the ones generated by his beloved Joe Millionaire at its Nielsen-dominating peak: by simply pressing a button on his desk as he watches a taping on a monitor in his office, the envelope-pushing executive can actually induce the cardiac arrest seemingly moments away in those teasers, raising the contestant's stakes from mere nationwide humiliation to the kind of life-or-death struggle with the Truth that will make for Must See Snuff-TV.

• Darnell in Defense of the 'Truth' [TV Week]

• Nut Shot Japanese Show [YouTube]

"I don't know that a strike is going to be a gold mine for reality producers," says one network vet, who, like most people interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified by name.

"We're going to go to reality, I'm sure," the exec says. "But I'm not sure we'll be able to get away with doing that much more than we're already doing." [...]

"If someone said to us, 'We need a show in five weeks,' we'd be ready," one producer asserts.

What worries some insiders is the prospect of bad reality shows getting rushed into production.

"A bunch of crap is probably going to end up on the air," one wag says. "It's not like there are so many good new ideas we can come up with."

Indeed, if the "good new ideas" include punking weddings, famous people driving fast, and giant bingo drums, the "bunch of crap" produced out of work-stoppage desperation should be truly breathtaking, with poorly thought out offerings like Are You Man Enough To Shave This Homeless Man's Genitals? rushed onto the schedule by evil Fox altenative-programming mastermind Mike Darnell. It would undoubtedly be less painful just to drown yourself in a bathroom sink full of bleach now than to endure the aftermath of a prolonged strike.

• WGA stoppage to spur demand for reality [Var]
• Previously: Hollywood StrikeWatch: A Little Saber-Rattling In Your Christmas Stocking [Defamer]