“Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction” Offered a Unique Anthology With Viewer Participation [TV Terrors]

Horror and science fiction have always been a part of the television canvas, and constant attempts have been made over the years to produce classic entertainment. Some have fallen by the wayside, while others became mainstream phenomena. With “TV Terrors,” we take a look back at the many genre efforts from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s, exploring some shows that became cult classics, and others that sank in to obscurity.

This month we enter a world of truth and deception with “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.”

• Aired from 1997 – 2002
• Aired on FOX Network

“Tonight your challenge is to separate what is true from what is false. Five stories, some real, some fake. Can you judge which are fact and which are fiction? To find out, you must enter a world of both truth and deception, a world that is beyond belief.”

With the end of “Tales from the Crypt” in 1996 came the death of the anthology television show for a long while. FOX, however, took some stabs at re-inventing the formula with their introduction of the mystery anthology show “Beyond Belief” in 1997. Rather than offering fictional segments every week, this new series offered a gimmick that was so much fun and actually allowed audiences to participate. 

Every week the host of the show, Jonathan Frakes (of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fame), would introduce five filmed segments that featured stories and situations often too incredible to be true. Often times, the segments involved short stories about karma, revenge, murder, hauntings, fate, extraordinary coincidences, and miracles. Frakes would then ask the audience if the story we’d just seen was Fact (based on a true event, often), or Fiction (by some damn good writers). At the end of every episode, Frakes would run down the list of segments and let us know which of the segments we’d just seen were fabricated, and which were based on fact. 

Often we were completely stunned, and left to our devices to discuss what we’d just learned. In a time before the internet became commonplace in our lives, it was especially maddening that we couldn’t go online and discuss the show with other fans and speculate. That was part of the fun, though, as it inspired us to play the skeptic, while also reveling in how weird and spectacular the world and reality could be. The results were frequently quite surprising, while other times the keen audience member could figure out which stories were completely bogus. 

As you might guess, FOX aired the series in the middle of the summer on Friday nights when almost no one would be home to watch. I watched it every single week and anxiously awaited its return every year. FOX would air the series every summer, and then after a whole year bring it back again the next summer for only a few months with unannounced premieres and finales. Even still, the series garnered a cult following that kept the struggling show on the air in spite of FOX’s best efforts to bury it in ratings hell. And why wouldn’t it garner an audience? “Beyond Belief” was a mixture of clever and scary, with segments that really hit home, whether they were based on fact or not. 

Sometimes the segments were pretty scary and other times the stories were just flat out heartbreaking. In one segment, a young girl is stuck in a cave under her house after a huge earthquake and is kept alive by the soothing voice of her dead grandfather, only for us to discover it was the family’s parrot mimicking him. Another segment involved a divorced couple re-uniting after years apart thanks to a mysterious DJ playing a song they both loved, only to find out neither of them made the song request. There’s the segment of a blind man’s dog that howls every time someone is about to die, and the tale of a family haunted by spooky glowing red eyes in their house. There’s also the segment of an abusive husband who is mysteriously strangled to death by, what witnesses insist to authorities, was an actual giant.

“Beyond Belief” had an addictive quality to it, especially if you loved mysteries and stories about fantastic tales from around the world. My favorite segment of the series involves a naive old woman whose troubled grandson is in constant trouble with local gangs. Due to the fact she lives in a crime infested neighborhood, he hires a mysterious locksmith to install a secure lock on the front door. He ensures her that it’ll keep only “bad people” out and is virtually impenetrable. Much to the old ladies’ surprise, her overly trusting heart is saved when the door lock won’t open for anyone that is intent on breaking in and or threatening her life. Lo and behold, it only opens for people she can trust. The ending offers a memorable twist that is great and kind of sad.

While original host James Brolin was fine, once Jonathan Frakes came aboard, the show really hit its stride. Frakes, with his theatrical presence and ability to build suspense, was a great addition to the series (the really creepy announcing from Don LaFontaine didn’t hurt, either). “Beyond Belief” was often a mix of Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “Unsolved Mysteries,” where the host would introduce an element to the audience that was in some way connected to the stories in the episode. Frakes would often introduce an illusion for the audience, and discuss how the night’s stories would be about seeing more than meets the eye. 

Thankfully “Beyond Belief” managed to air on FOX for four seasons from 1997 to 2002, before it was finally cancelled. It managed to flourish in syndication on cable television for years after on various channels like Syfy, and the now defunct Chiller, and has built a rather devoted fan base. “Beyond Belief” is a series that warrants a re-introduction, especially in a time where anthology horror has gained a huge resurgence. That’s a Fact.

Is It On DVD/Blu-ray? Personally, I wouldn’t mind a decent Blu-ray release somewhere down the road, as it’s still as addictive as ever, but on the bright side, the series is available in full on Amazon Prime Video, while most episodes can also be seen uncut on YouTube.