Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura -- An early look
Jesse Ventura has been a professional wrestler, an actor and a politician. None of these things have been as fake as the reality television show he will be hosting on truTV titled Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura (premiering December 2 at 10 PM ET).For the record, I have never met or spoken to Jesse Ventura. He would corroborate this if anybody asked. As a result, I have no idea if he actually believes the crap he says or the conspiracies he investigates on this show. From what I've read, it wouldn't surprise me.
In the series premiere, Jesse and his crew of unknowns, consisting of two young white guys and the token black British female, are investigating a U.S. government installation built in Alaska that's possibly intended to control the weather. Who makes this stuff up? Now we know where the monies saved from stopping the "bridge to nowhere" went.
By "unknowns," I mean that we are only given his assistants' first names and not told any of their qualifications for investigating conspiracies. Nothing screams "actor" quite like these qualities. So how real does that make this reality? Not very.
All that being said, I'm a fan of Jesse Ventura. He was great back in his WWF days when his character seemed over the top and quirky. Now he seems old and tired, yet still trying to remain relevant and hip.
Another problem of the show is that the music, cuts, and general cinematography are about as subtle as World War II. The show hits the viewer over the head with loosely related facts that are spliced side-by-side as if it all must logically fit. It's the video version of The National Enquirer, or possibly Fox News. If The Onion were behind this program, there likely wouldn't be that much of a difference. This program in no way could be confused with high art.
The show does the standard conspiracy routine by having interviews with people tangentially related to the weather control project. Predictably, these talking heads link horrific weather events like Hurricane Katrina to the installation. The funniest bit on the program is when Jesse and crew try to gain access to the installation by buzzing the front door and being let in. Jesse throws around his credentials as an ex-Navy Seal and former Minnesota governor in order to gain access while a television crew sits by his side. It is grandstanding as pure entertainment, reminiscent of his pro-wrestling days. As a result, it was fun to watch. If you want to find out whether it worked or not, watch the program.
I'm sure there are conspiracy nuts out there who will dig this show. A few ideas for future episodes could be discovering the basement in which they faked the moon landing or finding the time-traveling alien that shot JFK. The latter would definitely be an episode to watch. Which conspiracies would you like to see Jesse investigate?
If treated as parody or satire, then Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura might actually be good. However, the show seems to take itself seriously and that makes it into a pretty big joke.

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