Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

Did You Know?

• During its final Fox run, the series was picked up for reruns by the Sci-fi Channel from July 8, 2002 to September 6, 2005, and later aired on Chiller from 2009 to 2016.
• Season One was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 28, 2007.
• In 2018, FilmRise obtained the rights and made the series available for streaming via Amazon Prime and other services, including their YouTube channel.

Format

The stories in the program involve supernatural, ghostly, psychic, coincidental, or other unusual occurrences. Each episode and story is introduced with a pun or witticism related to the tale, and the show carries the moral that truth and falsehood are not always easily separated. From season two onward, Jonathan Frakes ended each story with a pun, while James Brolin retold a story instead of showing a clip. Episodes typically contain five stories, with at least one supposedly true and at least one completely fabricated. Most true stories are based on research by Robert Tralins but often perpetuate hearsay or urban legends; many false stories are either wholly fictional or modern retellings of untrue urban legends.

Popularity, cancellation and revivals

The series had a sporadic airing schedule on Fox, sometimes going weeks or months between episodes. A two-year gap between Don LaFontaine and Campbell Lane as narrators led many to believe the show was cancelled, but it returned for a summer 2002 season before being cancelled after that year. In Germany, where it is known as X-Factor: Das Unfassbare, the show developed a cult following and spawned spin-offs such as X-Factor: Die fünfte Dimension, X-Factor: Wahre Lügen, and X-Factor: Die wahre Dimension der Angst. On November 4, 2018, RTL II produced two special episodes hosted by Detlef Bothe, which were poorly received due to lower production quality; the revival continued with six episodes by 2020, later receiving slightly better reviews. In 2019, Frakes reprised his role for a sketch on the Fox NFL pregame show. In October 2021, RTL II began a new revival with Frakes hosting, the first episode airing on Halloween 2021 in German-speaking countries. Unlike earlier seasons, the segments were produced in Germany while Frakes' introductions were recorded in Los Angeles. Another two episodes aired on October 30, 2022, filmed in and around Los Angeles and dubbed for German television.