'Twenty-One' producers presented fabricated narratives as reality

Claims about 'Twenty-One' weren't taken seriously until other quiz shows were exposed

Contestant Herb Stempel alleged that “Twenty-One” was fixed after his loss to Charles Van Doren, saying that everything on the show was “carefully choreographed,” though his claims were dismissed as mere bitterness. In truth, Stempel had been promised a network job if he went along with the con and became outspoken when it didn’t materialize. Van Doren, meanwhile, became a celebrity, donning the cover of Time magazine.

Revelations about quiz show ‘Dotto’ led to a larger scandal across the industry

The show, which aired on both CBS and NBC in slightly different iterations in 1958, followed a fairly standard question-and-answer format, with correct answers slowly revealing an image that contestants needed to solve. Despite its popularity, the show was canceled after it was revealed that one contestant had been provided with answers to the questions. That revelation led to similar scandals with four more shows over the next few months.

The American 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' redefined the quiz show

The show was already a success in the United Kingdom when it was adapted for the US to boost ratings during 1999’s “sweeps week,” a pivotal time for television ratings. The show worked, thanks to a charismatic host in Regis Philbin and the high stakes of a big cash prize. That combination would be replicated with great success in reality competition shows, such as “American Idol,” which would follow.

One contestant allegedly used well-timed coughs to con 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'

Charles Ingram won the show’s top prize in 2002, though producers found his performance, which featured several strange responses, suspicious. After reviewing the footage, the producers discovered several coughs that aligned with the correct answers and theorized that Ingram’s wife and another contestant were using the coughs to convey the correct answers to him. Ingram maintained his innocence, yet he was tried and convicted of fraud.

The host of ‘The Dating Game’ claimed it was a CIA front

In his 1984 autobiography, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” “Dating Game” host Chuck Barris claimed the show was a front concealing his true job as a contract assassin for the CIA. Despite skeptical responses and a lack of evidence, Barris continued to say the story was true. In 2002, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman adapted the book for the screen.

A TV show put 1 unsuspecting man on a fake jury surrounded entirely by actors for 3 weeks

In the Amazon comedy "Jury Duty," Ronald Gladden believed he was participating in a documentary about the judicial process, unaware that everyone involved with the entire trial was an actor. In this podcast, Gladden and director Jake Szymanski reflect on the experience.

Relive the millennial panic with 'Surviving Y2K'

This multi-episode series follows host Dan Taberski as he interviews coders, survivalists, conspiracy believers, and others who lived the Y2K scare firsthand—while weaving in his own personal story from 1999, providing a more intimate view of the crisis.

'Jeopardy!' super fans use a specific method to calculate a player's score

In its many decades on the air, “Jeopardy!” has developed a fervent fanbase that likes to play along at home. The Coryat score was developed by Karl Coryat, who appeared on the show in 1996. The equation ignores forced responses on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy! Correct responses for Daily Doubles are scored as their natural value.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' was marketed as memoir but revealed as fiction

The addiction book became a huge success after being added to Oprah Winfrey's book club. After it was revealed to be fiction in 2005, Oprah invited Frey on her show and criticized him for deceiving her and his readers.

The show follows a frantic production schedule

The show is pitched, written, and designed in a week. Tuesdays feature infamously long writing sessions that usually stretch into Wednesday mornings. Fridays include shooting for digital shorts and an initial run-through of live material. Before Saturday's live show, there's an extended dress rehearsal.

Actors on 'All the President's Men' immersed themselves in real-world reporting

Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford spent months shadowing the real Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward—working at The Washington Post, living with Bernstein's family, and studying their mannerisms—to bring authentic nuance to their portrayals of Watergate's investigative journalists.

The first cast members were relatively unknown 'enlightened amateurs'

“SNL” producers aimed to cast relative newcomers for the show’s first season, convinced that amateurs would infuse the show with the countercultural spirit Lorne Michaels envisioned.

How March Madness bracketology became a national obsession

An estimated 60 million people fill out March Madness brackets yearly, despite a one in 9.2 quintillion chance of filling it out perfectly. This Smithsonian magazine article explores how UCLA's dominance in the 1960s and '70s made brackets boring and predictable, and how the expansion to 64 teams and putting games on TV played a huge role in popularizing March Madness brackets.

‘Oz’ was cable’s first hour-long drama

When the dark prison story debuted in 1997, it was HBO’s only drama and followed a principle that would come to define the network’s shows for decades: “‘I don’t care if they’re likable as long as they’re interesting,’” show creator Tom Fontana told Vice. “That was my mantra.”

One podcast professional believes the format needs a new name

In the past few years, the podcast has moved from a purely audio-driven medium to one that doesn’t appear all that different from a television talkshow. Audio engineer Dennis Funk proposes renaming the classic podcast—an artful audio documentary—to distinguish it from the junk posing as the genuine article.

How presidential candidates prepare for TV debates

One of the most significant performances of a politician's life is the televised debate, which requires the kind of preparation only an actor would be familiar with. This article dives into some of the recent history around debate prep norms, including how every campaign chooses someone to act like the opponent in mock debates—often to comical effect.

How the Discovery Channel was originally built for lifetime learners

Founder John Hendricks envisioned Discovery as a launchpad for educational content that was both informative and engaging. Since, the channel has spawned dozens of other channels, merged with major studios, and launched its own streaming platforms.

See an analysis of the similarities between the characters in 'Silicon Valley' and the real people who inspired them

The HBO show "Silicon Valley" follows the story of an engineer who is trying to get his startup to take off in Silicon Valley. While one tech CEO said the show is like a documentary, many speculate the show is based on real life tech figures like Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel.

The drama of the car dealership quota

Car salespersons are often under a ton of pressure to meet quotas at their dealership, at least partly explaining why they are known to stoop to such lows to sell cars. In this now legendary podcast episode, "This American Life" host Ira Glass and...

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Play food science trivia along with a former state trivia champion

From limitations in panda taste receptors and a surprising food that has been forged into diamonds to the origins of chili pepper heat and the Maillard reaction, test your knowledge during a game of Super Food Science Excellence Trivia Blowout.

How soap operas are being reimagined for the smartphone

Apps like ReelShort, FlickReels, and DramaBox purport to offer "micro dramas," but they strongly resemble soap operas, with serial melodramas about romance and murder. This NPR piece unpacks the trend, highlighting why this new format appeals to demographics that never connected with daytime soaps.

Wearing a 'schizophrenia simulator,' designed to build empathy for patients, CNN's Anderson Cooper finds he struggles to function

Donning headphones that play a track mimicking the auditory hallucinations common in schizophrenia, Cooper finds he is very distracted, disconcerted, and frustrated. The auditory track aims to help listeners build empathy with patient populations by understanding the challenges they face in daily life.

Who is wellness scammer Belle Gibson?

A new Netflix drama series called “Apple Cider Vinegar” tells a story inspired by the real-life scandal of Belle Gibson. Gibson falsely claimed to have healed herself of terminal brain cancer through healthy eating. She built a successful wellness empire without any medical background until journalists eventually found inaccuracies in her story. Discover more about the woman who founded a business on deception, how she got caught, and where she is now.

Meet the real-life 'Marty Supreme,' table tennis champ Marty Reisman

The hit 2025 film starring Timothée Chalamet is loosely based on the 1950s Manhattan ping-pong bad boy known for his decadent lifestyle and showmanship. Known as a hustler, Reisman would win 20 major titles representing the US around the world.

The story of the 1945 Minnesota Starvation Experiment

Amid the severe conditions of World War II, researchers were eager to learn the effects of starvation in a controlled study. This podcast dives into a yearlong study of 36 men at a Minneapolis college who endured a six-month period of semi-starvation, where their caloric intake was halved. Results from the experiment became a landmark study in human starvation.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.