Still, Mike Darnell, Fox's Czar of Aberrant Programming, has plenty riding on this particular venture, knowing that all it would take is one unhinged spouse and one smuggled-in handgun to really give the country something worth watching. Last night's show came as tantalizingly close as ever: In the clip above, host Mark Walberg takes approximately 17 minutes to explain just how much was at stake in a contestant's decision to move past the $100,000 point, and answer a question so shocking, so intimate, so mindblowing, the truth was all but certain to not just destroy her life, but the lives of every person in the studio audience. Enjoy.

• The Moment of Truth [FOX]

In a line of interrogation that's surfaced at least twice in three episodes, one of last night's contestants—a onetime underwear model—was grilled about whether or not he's ever succumbed to the temptation to jam a foil-wrapped cucumber into his Jockeys to get him through a chilly shoot. Sadly, the former Marine, despite responding with a confident-sounding "No!" to the accusation, was branded a liar by the Truth's polygraph; in forfeiting the $25,000 he'd worked so hard to accrue, he became the first victim (a previous contender sheepishly copped to the stuffing sin) of Fox Alternative Programming Grand Inquistor Mike Darnell's crusade to rid America of those insecure about their endowment.

• The Moment of Truth [Fox.com]
• Previously: 'Moment Of Truth' Polygraph Reveals Tyra Banks' Disturbing Oprah Envy! [Defamer]

Accordingly, Darnell dispatched host Mark Wahlberg to the Tyra Show for a star-lie-detecting test-run, where the concept finally seems to have fulfilled its promise of using the Truth to destroy lives in front on national television; now that she's admitted her petty jealousy of Oprah's success, we can expect that the daytime TV deity will soon strike down Banks for her deadly sin of Envy by ordering the immediate cancellation of Banks' show, then sending a wave of fiercely loyal minions from Wifnrey's own studio audience to mow down the former supermodel with their shiny, new, vengeance-dealing cars.

• The Tyra Banks Show [tyrashow.com]

· The producer of Broadway's Young Frankenstein answers for a string of unpopular business decisions, admitting that he may have made a teensy mistake in deciding to charge an obscene $450 for an outrage-inspiring "premier" ticket. [Variety]
· Continuing to resist the temptation to cash in on easy romantic comedy roles that once seemed part of his career trajectory, Josh Hartnett signs on for Bunraku, a live-action, martial arts adventure that "draws from a mixed bag of genres including puppets, origami, comic books, video games and German expressionism." [THR]
· The Screen Actors Guild stakes out a date for the 2009 SAGgies, which, barring a total strike disaster, will be of much less interest than '08's. [Variety]

"For every game show on television, somebody says it's too slow," Darnell says. "'Deal or No Deal,' for all its energy, can be slow. When opening those first 10 boxes, I feel like I'm gonna kill myself."

That said, Darnell says the "Moment" pace will pick up.

"It's always been a semi-issue with the show because you have the pauses between the revelation and [the lie detector result]," he says. "You gotta have that to watch the reaction of the friends and family. But we're going to try to quicken the pace a little bit."

The show's promised "end of western civilization" drama will increase as well, Darnell says, particularly once the show shifts to the 8 p.m. hour in early March.

"We intentionally opened with a middle-of-the-road episode," he says. "I didn't want people from middle America to freak out coming out of 'American Idol.'"

Thankfully, Darnell and Fox have realized that early March will seem like an eternity to viewers who've already been tortured by the agonizing months of waiting for the polygraph-enabled, civilization-eroding fun to begin, setting up a lie-along-at-home version of Truth on the network's website to keep the impatient entertained while they wait for the show to finally hit its stride. With just a few clicks of a mouse, fans can invite their co-workers, spouses and friends to answer the kinds of uncomfortably probing, provocative questions they've now seen on the show, though without the tantalizing promise of a huge pile of cash in return for destroying their romantic or professional relationships with greed-motivated honesty.

• Fox's Darnell Relieved Critics Dislike 'Moment' [TV Week]
• The Moment of Truth Game [Fox.com]

Above, the debut's anti-climax: a personal trainer caught in a lie about his too-handsy technique, a revelation that will probably win him the business of clients eager to be groped during their workouts. (Weirdly, his spouse didn't seem too troubled by the fact he was putting off starting a family because he was unsure about their relationship.) Still, we hold out hope that subsequent episodes will better fulfill the concept's soul-eroding promise; by the end of the season, it's likely that Fox will have unearthed at least one contestant willing to admit that he secretly fantasizes about his brother-in-law while making love to his wife in an effort to complete the show's $50,000 level.

• The Moment of Truth [Fox.com]
• Previously: Fox's Evil Reality TV Mastermind Salivates At Very Thought Of Controversial Lie-Detector Show [Defamer]