July 27, 2001

10:23 AM

Who did it?Probably the only reality show with a bit of a brain, Murder in Small Town X has a group of "investigators" who must find a murderer by way of searching for clues and interviewing the townspeople. The first episode comes on again Sunday.
posted by owillis (8 comments total)

i caught the premier and thought it would be ten times better if the process of elimination was based on how much or how little the investigaters have figured out about the suspects, similar to the mole.
posted by phooey at 10:26 AM on July 27, 2001

True, but then not the whole team interviews the suspects so it may not be fair. I kind of like the whole aspect of not knowing if the person you backstabbed could be coming back or not...
posted by owillis at 11:18 AM on July 27, 2001

You know, I am quick to mock these types of shows, but this was actually pretty good. The interaction between the "players" is hokey (too much "Real World"-ish house drama), but it was fairly well written.

My favorite part of the premier? The first contestant, right before she's "killed" off, says goodbye to her kids. Did this woman really think she was going to DIE? We laughed and laughed...
posted by ColdChef at 11:19 AM on July 27, 2001

Funny how we call them "reality" shows when in fact they are a fantasy of a real situation. This kind of escapism is a hallmark of American culture going back to Barnum and Baily in NYC in the early 19thC to the Wild West that never was ..

Id like to see a reality show where the contestents actually get killed Id watch that. How about a Drug Pusher show where contestents get points for how much money they make in the Bronx selling smack. Anyone remember that early DOS text based game? Jet on over.
posted by stbalbach at 11:49 AM on July 27, 2001

i think a Congressional Deathmatch would be much more appealing.
posted by tolkhan at 12:42 PM on July 27, 2001

I thought we just went through a Democrat-Republican Survivor two years ago.
posted by dhartung at 1:55 PM on July 27, 2001

Anyone remember that early DOS text based game?

Alive and kicking for Windows as Dope Wars
posted by Mrmuhnrmuh at 2:41 PM on July 27, 2001

The title for this show is just terrible. It's like they couldn't even come up with a ficticious town name. "Murder in Brownsville" or something would have been a much better name.
posted by kindall at 9:36 AM on July 28, 2001