John Davidson

Question: I loved That's Incredible when I was little, but my dad always used to say that they faked everything. Did they?

Answer: Now, "fake" is a very strong word, Sam. Let's just say that the producers of the show, one of the pioneers of the reality genre, liked to make sure segments played well visually — and didn't ask their guests too many questions about how things were done.

TV Guide looked into the issue in 1982 and found all sorts of examples of exaggeration and a bit of skimping on the skepticism. In the former category, for instance, there was Oregon lumberjack Earl Ford, who was lauded for his "incredible" accuracy in felling trees. "It's something that not many lumberjacks could even dream of doing," cohost John Davidson said when Ford dropped a 90-foot fir tree on target. Contacted by a reporter, however, a self-effacing Ford read more