When FOX first announced that it picked up new game show The Moment of Truth, I had my doubts about the show. It seemed too intrusive and risky. When reading Kristin's article about her time in one of the show's promo booths, I got confirmation that the show was mostly heading towards sensationalism. Even if I had my doubts about the show, I had to tune in at least once to see how crappy and creepy the show would turn out to be and how low contestants would agree to go in order to win money.

Like most people, I had to tell a white lie here and there. I think I was pretty good at controlling my facial expressions and body language so not to have people discover that I just told a lie. However, I doubt I would be able to control myself enough when trying to lie in front of cameras and a few million viewers.

The idea of a game show requiring contestants to lie is nothing original. Nonetheless, NBC decided to get its own "lie detector" game show. Yep, it seems we, the viewers, will want to watch this type of TV quiz/games in the coming months since FOX and ABC will also have their own "lie or bluffing" game show titled Nothing But The Truth and Duel respectively.

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Chris Rock: Who knew the secret for a guy getting girls was for a guy to get a girl?

I have a friend who came up with the somewhat gauche term "girlfriend stink" to describe that air of confidence a guy has when he's in a relationship that suddenly makes him attractive to women who normally would want nothing to do with him. Chris finds out what that's all about when rumors start to circulate around the neighborhood that he and Tasha, the new girl next door, are dating. Chris figures as long as he responds to every query with "hey, well, you know..." he's safe, since it's a noncommittal answer, but really he just doesn't want anyone to think he's a loser who can't get any girls. Apparently he doesn't realize he's the star of a sitcom about how much it sucks to be a teenager.

The A&E folks over at the San Jose Mercury News sound pretty convinced that Dancing with the Stars frontrunner Mario Lopez has more dancing experience than he claims. On last week's premiere, Mario apparently suggested that he's had no formal dance training. The Dancing message boards lit up, claiming that he had dancing training before he was on Kids, Incorporated and his IMDB bio says that he worked as a dancer before he got the gig on Saved by the Bell. Another commenter even claims to have taken dance lessons with Lopez when they were both kids. (As if anonymous comments can be taken as the God's honest truth.)

Why would Mario lie? Does he think a win will do to his career what it did to John O'Hurley's career? I think he just needs to look at Drew Lachey for his answer.

Anyone with an eye for detail knows that the Internet Movie Database isn't always accurate in its bio or trivia sections. This isn't so much the fault of the site as it the fault of people who submit information, but in the case of My Name is Earl creator Gregory Thomas Garcia, he has only himself to blame. It seems that Garcia actually submitted some information about himself for his IMDb page which stated he was the grandson of Cantinflas, a Mexican comedian who passed away over ten years ago. The thing is, it's not true. Garcia was just having a bit of fun, but that little tidbit has made it's way into a few news stories about him. I've always found the truth to be overrated, anyway.

[via TV Barn]

There's been a lot of talk lately about James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces, how factual it really is, whether Oprah should be defending the author, and whatever other assorted complaints there have been. While we may be spewing vitriol at Frey, it also makes sense to step back and remember that literary history is rife with scribes who weren't above the occasional embellishment, as explained in a very insightful essay from Jim over at Encyclopedia Hanasiana. Until today I had no idea Thoreau actually paid interns to live on Walden Pond and write about, nor did I realize Emily Dickenson was really a man. I would also add something Jim left out, which is that the original title of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird was actually Tequila, Mockingbird and was not about racism in the Depression era, but instead described a really strange meal she had while traveling through southern Arkansas.