Urban Legends (television)
Encyclopedia
Urban Legends is a 30 minute 2007 television documentary
-style series hosted by Michael Allcock. In each episode, three urban legend
s are dramatized and presented to the television audience; the audience is then to speculate which one or two of the three is true. Each legend has witnesses to tell the story. For the one or two fake legends, the witnesses are actors, while the true legend(s) uses real people affected by the story. Included in each episode are two quick quiz-like stories, called mini-myths, which air before the commercial breaks. Each will begin with the number of the mini myth and its name, followed by the story. After the commercial, the answer to the mini-myth is announced and the rest of the programming continues as it previously had. The show originally aired on the Biography Channel in the U.S., History Television
in Canada and FX
in the United Kingdom
where it was hosted by Mark Dolan
. It has also aired in Argentina
, New Zealand
, Sweden
, Norway
, Australia
, Finland
, Estonia
, The Netherlands, and Russia
.
The series returned to the Syfy
network as an "Original Series" with new episodes on Monday April 18, 2011, then moved to a new time, Fridays at 10. The new episodes follow the exact same format as the original but are now narrated by Stargate's David Hewlett
. The network also airs a rerun of the original version of the show following the new episode.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
-style series hosted by Michael Allcock. In each episode, three urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s are dramatized and presented to the television audience; the audience is then to speculate which one or two of the three is true. Each legend has witnesses to tell the story. For the one or two fake legends, the witnesses are actors, while the true legend(s) uses real people affected by the story. Included in each episode are two quick quiz-like stories, called mini-myths, which air before the commercial breaks. Each will begin with the number of the mini myth and its name, followed by the story. After the commercial, the answer to the mini-myth is announced and the rest of the programming continues as it previously had. The show originally aired on the Biography Channel in the U.S., History Television
History Television
History Television is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that presents programming about history and some non-historical programming of military, science and technology interest. It is owned by Shaw Media. Its French language counterpart is Historia.The channel operates two...
in Canada and FX
FX (UK)
FX is a television channel in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, owned by Fox, launched in 12 January 2004. It was originally branded as FX289 in reference to its Sky EPG number. It was rebranded to FX in May 2005 as the channel moved in the Sky EPG.FX targets a demographic between 25...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where it was hosted by Mark Dolan
Mark Dolan
Mark Dolan is an English comedian, writer and TV presenter. Dolan was born in Camden, North London, where he eventually returned and now lives with his wife and son.-Television:...
. It has also aired in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, The Netherlands, and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The series returned to the Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
network as an "Original Series" with new episodes on Monday April 18, 2011, then moved to a new time, Fridays at 10. The new episodes follow the exact same format as the original but are now narrated by Stargate's David Hewlett
David Hewlett
David Ian Hewlett is an English-born Canadian actor best known for his role as Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay on the science fiction television shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.-Early life:...
. The network also airs a rerun of the original version of the show following the new episode.
See also
- Urban legendUrban legendAn urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
- MythbustersMythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
- Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends RevealedMostly True Stories: Urban Legends RevealedMostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed is a docudrama about urban legends and re-enacting them and researching their credibility. It aired on The Learning Channel from 2002 until 2004. It ran for four seasons. Early episodes were hosted by Natasha Henstridge...
- Beyond Belief: Fact or FictionBeyond Belief: Fact or FictionBeyond Belief: Fact or Fiction is an American television anthology series created by Lynn Lehmann, presented by Dick Clark Productions, and produced and aired by the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. Each episode featured five stories, all of which appeared to defy logic, and some of which were...
(a television show of similar format)