Extra Indians. Eric Gansworth

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      “Based on a True Story . . . or Not”

      (Associated Newspaper Syndicate Entertainment column, May 24, 2002, byline—William Donaldson, Syndicate TV Critic)

      How many times have you heard that phrase? More than you can count, most likely. From claims of Bigfoot sightings to unauthorized and thinly veiled celebrity biographies, “based on a true story” has become a catchall for a wide array of the outlandish in contemporary culture. How much would you be willing to bet on the validity of that statement, for any document you have seen invoking it? Would you be willing to wager your life away? One young woman, Nuriko Furuta, did just that. The complexity of her actions, and the actions of those who encountered her, finally gets a network treatment this evening, not one of the big three, but a network just the same.

      TZON, or the “T Zone” as the network has branded itself, has made its reputation on classic and obscure reruns combined with a parade of contemporary tabloid journalism and the boom of reality TV’s popularity. In a classic case of the right time and the right place, the network jumped from a small independent station in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to a nationwide network with affiliates around the country in less than fifteen years, with this ratings-winning formula.

      One of T Zone’s signature shows, Prime Hours, uses the structure of one part taped interview, one part reenactment, and one part live interview. Prime Hours has been accused of soliciting the desperate for their subjects. The live interview is always stacked against the interviewee, but Prime Hours representatives consistently assert that all interviewees have signed releases before going on the air. While it’s not quite the chair-throwing spectacles of other tabloid shows, a guest spot on Prime Hours is almost never a positive turn in the lives of those appearing in the hot seat. Usually, they agree for reasons of their own, believing their voices need to be heard, no matter the personal cost.

      Tonight’s television highlight is a belated postscript to one of last year’s strangest news stories. In a year that will be remembered for the worst terrorist attacks on American soil, and the subsequent deluge of media coverage, the quiet tragedy of Ms. Furuta’s passing generally got lost in the shuffle. While her name may not ring any bells for you, if you were watching news coverage late last November (and really, who in this country wasn’t?), you probably remember the unusual circumstances of her death.

      Ms. Furuta was the thirty-three-year-old Japanese woman who apparently took her life savings and set out alone from Nagasaki to Minneapolis and then into North Dakota, in search of the million-dollar ransom featured in the cult crime-drama/farce Fargo, then died of exposure, allegedly watching the Leonid meteor showers, mere yards from a group of cottages, outside Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

      When she was first discovered the day before, Ms. Furuta was wandering around a landfill behind a truck stop outside Bismarck, carrying a crudely drawn map. Authorities were unable to find anyone who could speak Japanese, and given the young woman’s minimal grasp of the English language, they were also unable to convince her that the ransom did not exist. News coverage at the time claimed she was released because she had not been engaged in any illegal activities, and already overworked authorities chose not to hold her because “fuzzy thinking is not a crime in this country.” She then took a bus to Fargo and hired a taxi to take her on an hour-long ride out to Detroit Lakes, where she died, surrounded by cottages.

      Media sources generally would have tended to eat this story up, for all of its inherently ironic nature, but last November, we were not very receptive to irony. Though a number of unsettling questions presented themselves at the time the story broke, this strange set of events received little airtime and then quietly disappeared, much like the young woman herself.

      The live segment of tonight’s episode of Prime Hours (Channel 33, 10:00 EST) is dedicated exclusively to these events, where we get the first in-depth interview with Tommy Jack McMorsey. You have not likely ever heard his name before, either, even if you had paid attention to the story as it unfolded. Mr. McMorsey is the truck driver from Lubbock, Texas, who initially reported the woman to authorities in North Dakota and who was also, later, the last person to see the young woman alive.

      Among the segments, Prime Hours will recap the original November news coverage of Ms. Furuta’s death, and the brief period in which Mr. McMorsey was considered a potential suspect in the case, before authorities ruled the young woman’s passing a “death by misadventure.” Following that, Peter Haskell interviews Mr. McMorsey, who makes the claim that the news reports from the time were inaccurate. Authorities who interacted with Ms. Furuta are also interviewed and asked to address the truck driver’s claims. The last segment includes further responses, from the news media sources local to the story, whose assertions Mr. McMorsey is refuting.

      Is this story a stinging indictment of the way in which our news sources handle the smaller tragedies of our world, further dehumanizing us, or is it merely a continuation of exploitation disguised as probing news? Either way, it should make for interesting and engaging television. Be sure to tune in.

      Annie Boans