Factual – Desperately looking for answers!

As 2008 ended up with crisis, 2009 is beginning in the uncertainty. Indeed, at a time when the financial crisis makes individuals worry, television is trying to answer individuals' anguishes by dissecting society's pains. More and more programs are investigating social and economical matters with the hope of better understanding it. To put viewers face to face with their responsibilities, especially the youngest, to make them better understand our society, to make them react, factual programs are sometimes less academic and show a certain brutality. They show everything and they're proud of it.

Investigation is the motto of most of factual programs launched since last September. Each and every subject is an excuse to investigate. The best example is that of the monetary system. If the financial mechanics used to be boring subjects, they are now largely discussed, as in "The Ascent of Money" (UK – Channel4). The origins of the financial crisis are deeply detailed. This program is meant to reveal the straight truth about the financial systems.

Other shows investigate society in general. And the best way to discover an unknown territory is often the infiltration. Openly or undercover, magazines investigates various social and economical themes. For instance, the French magazine "Les Infiltres" (France 2) sends journalists undercover to reveal situations morally questionable. This magazine (featuring a film, an investigation and then a debate in the studio) aims to discuss some of the flaws of our system.

Cooking magazines have also been revised under the spectrum of investigations. Apart from teaching recipes, some magazines also examine the origin of the products. They sometimes show the most shocking images to dissect the process of production of some food. In "Jamie's Fowl Dinner", Jamie hosts a gala dinner to dramatically demonstrate the reality of how chickens live and die to put food on our plates while in "Eet Smakelijk" (Netherlands, Ned3), chef Leon Mazairac invites a celebrity and his friend to make a fresh dinner. The program shows where the food comes from, and how it ends up on a plate. But first, they have to collect all the ingredients: vegetables, but also meat. They pick an animal out of a field and send it to the butcher, where they see how it gets killed and processed.

Jamie's Fowl Dinner (Fremantle Media)

Nevertheless, after questions come actions. Always in a search of methods to fight against adversity, TV programs showed ingenuity and the solutions are taken into consideration with frenzy. Coaching programs centered on money problems are flourishing. In Spain, "La Fabrica de Ideas" (La2) is a new project arisen from the ideas contest promoted by the director of TVE among the proper channel's professionals. Along four different sections, the aim of "The Ideas Factory" is to be a reference for Spanish entrepreneurs, offering opinions and advice from business experts and established professionals.

As for "Twiggy's Frock exchange", the reality show offers to 100 fashion addicts the chance to swap their clothes for new ones, without spending one cent. Each of the women in this series has chosen five items from her wardrobe to be displayed in a huge purpose-built retail space where all the clothes cost nothing. There is a customizing corner to accommodate all shapes and sizes, and a team of hair and make-up stylists offering all the women the chance of a glamorous makeover.

Source: Eurodata TV