After decades of news broadcasts, weather updates, game shows and late-night, producers finally leaned into the world of reality TV. Filled with a mix of scripted and unscripted moments, we got things like police bodycam footage turned into "Cops" and the rise of live streaming, including early video-forward sites like "Justin TV," which were signaling towards a new direction: blending fact with fiction.

There have been some very interesting projects that fuse reality with fiction into something that sits just in the middle — you aren't entirely sure what's a bit, and what's unscripted. The Andy Kaufman effect.

These shows range from mockumentaries to prank shows and they all share a common truthful theme, but with differing approaches to getting there. It's hard to deny any level of manipulation during filmmaking, but just how much there is is the question that keeps these shows on their toes.

'How To with John Wilson' (2020-2023)

Explaining the premise of "How To" to someone who has never seen John Wilson, or his work, is like explaining to an alien what humanity is. It's borderline impossible without seeing him in action.

Wilson's a documentarian and super lovable weirdo who walks around with a camera all the time. He films the entire day, and whatever he records gets saved, noted and logged. His non-stop footage is then stitched together, with a voiceover, questions and stories, and that's how a series of seemingly unrelated images gets turned into a TV show.

'Trigger Happy TV' (2000-2003, 2016-2017)

This might be a very tricky show to hunt down — Americans like myself only saw the reruns on Comedy Central in the early 2000s. Originally a hidden camera prank show that aired on Channel 4, it was unlike most prank shows — think "Impractical Jokers" — because you never got a peek behind the curtains. There's no rhyme or reason why the things you're seeing are happening, you don't know where the cameras are placed, or who the targets of the pranks are. There's no explanation, narration or voiceover.

It's just a guy (Dom Joly) messing with people in England, in extremely novel and hilarious ways, and there's some sad Brit rock that accompanies the whole show. It's a real trip; there's no laugh track, and sometimes the things Dom does are simply cries for help, so it can be quite the bummer if you're not in the right frame of mind. But mood aside, this is a one-of-one television show and as long as you're down to vibe with it, you'll never forget it.

'Nathan For You' (2013-2017) and 'The Rehearsal' (2022)

Our modern day avatar of Andy Kaufman is Nathan Fielder. Fielder's dedicated to being himself during all times times and everywhere, but that version of what you're seeing is quite possibly a part of a much larger bit. There's also "Nathan," the one we see doing things on a late night TV show or in interviews, and he makes you completely question what's genuine and what's not.

"Nathan For You" made him a breakout star, doing stunts like making his own "Dumb Starbucks" chain in LA and interviewing people on the street where they confess to crazy things, like drinking children's urine. Did he really find these people and they just said this stuff, or is this all a bit and these people are paid?

Fielder kept this satirical pseudo docu-reality projects ongoing with a directing and writing collaboration on Sacha Baron Cohen's "Who Is America?" and landed his second big hit "The Rehearsal," which takes things up a level.

'Review' (2014-2017)

Andy Daly's mockumentary always lived in the shadow of its main competitor "Nathan For You" during the same time slot. While this is the much more scripted show, there's still a reality show ethos that runs through Andy's character Forrest MacNeil. As a critic, he seeks to review as much of life's experiences as possible, and takes his camera crew out and about on adventures to give ratings for things like being addicted to drugs, eating pancakes, getting a divorce, going to space and getting kicked in the groin. This show is hysterical and very original, you won't see anything like it.

'Reno 911!' (2003-2009, 2020, 2022)

Unlike the other mokumentaries,"Reno 911!" is entirely improv, so what you're seeing the characters say and do is being recorded in real-time, without the regular prep. On top of that, there's a commitment to making everything visually look like shaky cam footage, parodying "Cops."

Robert Ben Garant and Tom Lennon's creation is incredibly influential despite being underrated, not a gigantic success or even memeable. But the physical comedy, the commitment to character bits, unique settings and rolodex of criminal comedians is why fans love the show. The movie was great too!

[Update 5/7: Incorrectly wrote that Emma Stone and Benny Safdie worked on "The Rehearsal."]