Cheating spouses get caught on TV

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The very best time to reflect on love gone wrong in America now maybe at 2 am on a Thursday night in New York, where you could switch to Channel 9 to watch <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Cheaters</span>, a nightmare version of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Candid Camera</span> in which private detectives armed with video gear burst in on unsuspecting men and women who are cheating on their significant others.<br />Bobby Goldstein, the show’s creator and executive producer, claims to receive roughly 4,000 inquiries each month from cheatees who are willing to swap their privacy for the prospect of exposing their errant lovers.<br />Unlikely as it may sound, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Cheaters</span> appears to be the “real reality television.� According to Goldstein, a Texas lawyer turned independent producer, the show never stoops to using actors or re-enactments. “They may not be so willing in the beginning,� he explained by telephone from Dallas. “But in order for them to be able to give us a follow-up interview, which we do as often as possible, they have to give us a release so that they can tell their side of the story.� <br />Goldstein said that <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Cheaters</span> doesn’t go beyond a preliminary investigation unless it seems likely that the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Cheaters</span> are in fact cheating. Segments are broadcast only if all parties sign release forms. <br />Adultery is usually a complicated business, but <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Cheaters</span> presents it in a starkly simple way. We start by meeting the Complainant, who sketches the situation in a few terse, unrevealing sentences, after which hidden cameras stalk the Cheater. <br />It may take weeks, but sooner or later the Cheater is caught in a compromising situation, and the resulting video is shown to the Complainant, who writhes and moans as an unseen narrator describes the on-screen action in unctuous tones reminiscent of Rip Torn at his smarmiest. (“Their behavior is improper and shameless, made even more repugnant by Cari’s open deceit of Robert on the phone that same night!�) Next comes the Confrontation, in which the Complainant, escorted by a phalanx of private eyes and cameramen, crashes in on the Cheater, catching him or her in flagrante delicto. <br />After the obligatory commercial, a “Dragnet�-like epilogue tells us how it all ended, and it’s off to the next case. (NYT News Service) </div> </div>