Elvis Costello once sang, "I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused." One gets the feeling that it is the exact opposite with Michael Moore. In this sophomore season of his subversively funny, albeit short-lived, Bravo series "The Awful Truth", the working class hero operates under the basic-cable radar to rail against politics as usual and to expose what he calls your "basic, everyday, run of the mill evil corporations." "The Awful Truth" was anything but comfort television, as witness the episode "Compassionate Conservative Night," in which "Team Dow" and "Team Nasdaq" engage in such contests as "Dunk the Homeless" and "Pie the Poor." In another segment, Moore launches an orange day-glow wallet exchange program after a spate of shootings in which police mistook African American victims' wallets for firearms. Moore makes hay with the 2000 presidential election. In one audacious segment, he offers his support to any candidate who will jump into the "Awful Truth"'s portable mosh pit. George W. Bush's response, "Go find real work," made its way into "Fahrenheit 9/11". Only Alan Keyes is game, incurring attacks by the other candidates during a televised debate. In this series' version of a Very Special Episode, Moore presents a short film he directed, "The Choice," in which Moore runs a Ficus plant against an unopposed candidate for the New Jersey House of Representatives.
Throughout the season, Moore plants the seeds that will pollinate in his two controversial cross-over theatrical documentaries. Anticipating "Bowling for Columbine", one segment takes aim at the NRA with the introduction of a new gun mascot, Pistol Pete, a costumed weapon, who is summarily tossed out of a Las Vegas gun show, NRA headquarters, and our nation's capitol. Moore also turns up the temperature on then-Texas Governor George W. Bush in a segment that pits the man who would be president against his brother Jeb to see which of their respective states, Texas or Florida, will prevail in the number of executions. For a brief and shining moment, the revolution was televised. At 30 minutes an episode, "The Awful Truth" remains swift (or Swiftian) satire. For fans, this two-disc set will complete the Moore manifesto, and give more ammunition to his critics. "--Donald Liebenson"