A word that has become very loaded, especially when it comes to television. * Its basic definition is, essentially, "staging of a story." It isn't just creating a story but expressing it, presenting it to the audience in an art form. Even if the story is true it has to be presented like a fictional account, such as depicting the exact words spoken in a conversation where no one possess a transcript of it. * When a story is Ripped from the Headlines or Inspired By a true story, this word means "we changed a bunch of stuff to make it less boring." Or else it's something whose publication in gory detail can be tolerated only if the creators can say But It Really Happened!. Or both. * As a commercial disclaimer, it means, "We used special effects to make this commercial, so don't exp