Welcome to Michael Moore’s world. A man in a chicken costume fights corporate crime and Mickey Mouse; a professional “Teen Sniper School” teaches kids how to commit mass murder; a ficus runs for Congress.

It’s a bizarre, frustrating universe that can only be glimpsed in Moore’s series “The Awful Truth.”

The show, which aired on Bravo from 1999-2000, took a look at scandals in the United States that regular networks and the more restrained political satirists/commentators would never touch.

But Moore, who made a name for himself with the GE wrongdoing documentary “Roger and Me” and the short-lived series “TV Nation,” jumped at the chance to bring “The Awful Truth” to the air. At the Oscars, he once again made headlines for denouncing the “fictitious” election of George W. Bush. Love him or hate him, many Americans can’t help but talk about him.

In “The Awful Truth,” he focused on the plight of the common man, and worked on fixing the problems of average Americans. In the first season, he confronted UPS, Disney, Lucianne Goldberg, executives at Philip Morris and people, led by “Pastor Fred,” who protest the funerals of victims of gay hate crimes with shouts of, “You’re in hell now!” Lovely, isn’t it?

In the second season, Moore took on a more in-depth approach. Each episode became devoted to one issue, with time that provided even more detail for each of Moore’s interests. The second season featured the campaign of the aforementioned ficus. In this segment, a ficus ran against an unopposed congressman in New Jersey. The ficus got more write-in votes than the Republican it was running against, but in an amazing violation of constitutional rights, county officials refused to count the votes for the plant, the candidate that got the majority of the votes. The second season also featured gleeful, enthusiastic Wall Street employees dunking a homeless man into water in Times Square, in a disheartening show of undeserved power.

The segments in both seasons are excellent. Corporations are forced to face down their own mistakes, and the powerful have their dirty secrets televised to the nation. The second season is slightly better simply because rather than tackling several injustices in each episode, Moore focuses on one issue, which gives him more time to get his ideas out in the open.

In the special features of the DVDs, Moore gives the viewer insight into his thoughts with insightful commentaries in which he rather calmly conveys his disgust and disbelief for the more infuriating injustices in the United States. Unfortunately, these commentaries are only available for four of the 24 episodes . A biography is also included.

The unorthodox protagonist is brave and triumphant; he enthusiastically takes on tasks that others wouldn’t dream of approaching, lest they be ostracized in the media, especially in this era, when patriotism is valued above all else. As Moore says in a commentary, his show “bring(s) up these issues that people don’t want to talk about,” but need to know about.

Sadly, accusations that he stages his confrontations cloud the praise viewers are bound to heap upon him. Despite the criticism, none of his protestors can provide evidence that these situations are staged. But some situations seem to show his desperation for the downfall of the powerful.

In the Goldberg series, he placed a web cam across the street from her apartment, symbolizing the privacy she took from Monica Lewinsky when she encouraged Linda Tripp to tape the infamous intern’s conversations. Moore, in need for a climactic ending, calls Goldberg, who just seems annoyed and not at all ashamed. This situation just shows to what lengths Moore will go to get the effect that he wants.

While some of his segments may be tasteless, they have to be if people will ever get the idea that the world isn’t necessarily perfect and that corporations don’t always tell the truth or care about the well-being of Americans. This kind of knowledge is at the forefront in Moore’s hectic, heroic world. And what a world it is.