| Fact Checkers Unit | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Written by |
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| Directed by | Dan Beers |
| Starring |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original languages | English French (Subtitled) German (Subtitled) Chinese (Subtitled) Korean (Subtitled) Spanish (Subtitled) |
| No. of seasons | 2 (Upcoming third season) |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer |
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| Production location | Los Angeles, California |
| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 5-6 minutes |
| Production company | SXM |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | August 17, 2010 – present |
Fact Checkers Unit (FCU) was originally a short film featured in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival starring Bill Murray, and was later turned into a branded entertainment series for Samsung Mobile.[1]
Fact Checkers Unit is a short television series where the audience follows two overzealous fact checkers, Dylan (Brian Sacca) and Russell (Peter Karinen), who travel the world and stop at nothing to check and confirm every celebrity fact—no matter how big, how small, or how obscure. During their adventures, Dylan and Russell are each assisted by their Samsung Galaxy Note, the branded product.
The series also features a number of celebrities playing characters with the same name as themselves.
Samsung aided in the co-development of the script in order to illustrate specific key elements of the Galaxy Note.
The FCU pilot episode was aired on August 17, 2010, and the first season was broadcast from August 17, 2010 to September 24, 2010. The second season aired from December 12, 2011 to May 25, 2012. Each episode is roughly four minutes long. FCU features celebrity guests including T-Pain, Moby, Zach Gilford, and James Franco.
FCU videos were originally available on-line and on mobile devices through MTV's international websites. Social media campaigning aided in the popularity of the show. Season 2 of FCU generated over 9 million global views within six weeks. The series has been shared through entertainment, tech, and music sites as well as publication such as Variety, The New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Times.
FCU has been shown in six different languages and has participated in film festivals such as SXSW, MIPTV, the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the Geneva Film Festival, and the BANFF World Media Festival. In the 2011 BANFF Television Festival, FCU won the BANFF Rockie Award for "Best Branded Entertainment" for the episode, "Fear of Flying".
Three-Pain (19 December 2011)
