Television and Humor, Moldovan Style

After dinner/lunch my host mom and I watch television. This particular day we happened to watch a Russian knock-off of Judge Judy, except it was a man. The whole thing was blatantly made up, and unreal. The courtroom was brightly light and resembled nothing like a remotely normal courtroom. There was a "guard" with a gun standing behind the person being tried. The judge, defendant, prosecutor, guilty party, and every witness were miked. After the judge announced the next witness a man would open the door and go outside to call the person forward. Immediately, the camera would switch to outside the courtroom where people are standing around chatting and whatnot. Here you see the man calling forth the witness and they walk into the courtroom. It would all be believable if the some of the same people that were sitting in the courtroom as onlookers were not the same people standing outside with the witnesses. This case was about a murdered wife. The husband was being tried. The wife was found dead in the apartment with a bashed head. The witnesses for the case were the mother of the dead wife, an owner of a bar and also the neighbor of the wife and husband, the wife of the bar owner, and a friend of the wife and husband. The owner of the bar said that he walked into the apartment and saw the wife dead on the ground and the husband standing over here. The friend talked about the husband drinking all the time and out at the bar. The mother of the wife said the husband constantly beat his wife and was always drunk. The wife of the bar owner said a few words confirming what everyone else said. In the end, the wife of the bar owner confesses to be the mistress of the dead wife's husband. That particular day, she drugged the man because she didn't like having sex with him because he was bad in bed. After she slipped something into his drink and he was sleeping, in walks the wife. They have words and it ends in the mistress demanding money to stop seeing the married man and the wife refusing. The mistress gets mad and bashes the wife's head with a vase. She confesses it all in court. The prosecutor and defendant do not seem shocked and neither does anyone in the audience. They just all have blank stares. The guard does not run up to the killer and take her away. Instead, the prosecutor and defendant make their closing remarks and the show ends.
I think I have the details of this episode correct, as the Russian was translated into Romanian by my host mom.
During the show I attempted to make a joke saying "maybe the wife should have learned how to cook better." My host mom immediately replied, "No, the husband is a drunk." Apparently, my comment isn't funny. I laughed to myself. Moldovan humor is when someone falls down or unintentionally makes an idiot of themselves.
Oh, and my host mom was completely oblivious to the fakeness of the show. She just kept saying "God, what terrible people there are. I can't believe this, how could he do that? They have children, how awful? If he hit her, why didn't she leave?" I just had to shake my head and wonder how many other people believe this is 100% real.
Steph, one of my PCV friends said this to explain the country which we have made our home:
Moldovan is how America was 25 years ago, but they do things in a more obnoxious way.
I can't explain this, but after thinking about it, I totally agree.