Although more than 23 million viewers stuck around after American Idol to witness the premiere episode of The Moment of Truth last Wednesday, the positive numbers doesn’t stand for the approval and contentment of some spectators who now regard the show as a huge let down.
Last week’s episode featured contestants who are strapped to a polygraph to determine if they are telling the truth or not, with every truthful answer earning the contestant the chance to win a big cash prize. The first round featured a personal trainer named Ty, who was forced to leave the game show when the polygraph revealed he was lying about never having touched a female client inappropriately.
The second contestant of the night was a guy named George, who admitted to a question about having sexual fantasies during Mass and being addicted to gambling.
The controversial premise of the series, along with the debut episode’s sluggish pacing, has earned much critical scorn. And while the outpouring attention may indicate a huge hit in the hands of Mike Darnell, FOX president of the Dark Alternative Programming, many are hoping that The Moment of Truth will deliver more appealing future installments.
According to Darnell, who acknowledges viewers’ complaints on the show, Moment of Truth‘s pacing will pick up, particularly once the show shifts to the 8pm timeslot in early March.
“It’s always been a semi-issue with the show because you have the pauses between the revelation and [the lie detector result],” Darnell explained. “You gotta have that to watch the reaction of the friends and family. But we’re going to try to quicken the pace a little bit.”
“We intentionally opened with a middle-of-the-road episode,” he added. “I didn’t want people from middle America to freak out coming out of American Idol.”
For those who like to see a bunch of contestant spilling out their darkest secrets on national television for money, you can catch The Moment of Truth every Wednesday at 9/8c on FOX.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Week
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
