Interesting documentary that explores how talk shows manipulated their viewers and guests. It offers a rare insight of the workings of Producers that are only behind the scenes. Pressuring their guests, feeding them lines, making them drunk and making up lies and more in order to get the most views. That's one of the most intriguing aspects of this documentary. You watch them doing their magic, raw and unfiltered.

There are also former guests telling their side of the story. For example, the housewife that was trying to remove her breast implants by herself and was chased by Maury and Raphael to appear on their shows. None of them were slightly concerned about the physical and mental health of this woman. Yes, it is worse than it sounds. Another part of the film is about Jonathan Schmitz, the man that killed his friend after he got humiliated on the Jenny Jones show by so called friend telling him that he's gay and has a crush on him. This was in the 90's and it's clear that Jones played a big role in humiliating this hetero sexual man on TV.

We all know that those shows are fake but it's rare to see how they operate and having the puppeteers speak freely. Witnessing producers having meltdowns because some guests are not crying or fighting before the first break. Great watch and highly recommended.

It features Geraldo Rivera, Phil Donahue, Maury Povich, Morton Downey Jr., The Geraldo Rivera Show Senior Producer Kevin McMahon, The Geraldo Rivera Show Producer Alyx Sachs, Laura Thorpe, Charles Perez, Sally Jesse Raphael, Jenny Jones, and the murder of Scott Amedure by Jonathan Schmitz.

Directed by Eames Yeates Year: 1997