This perspective paper challenges the workability of George Gerbner’s cultivation theory in West Africa. The theory assumes that TV viewers are susceptible to violent TV programming, and also that TV violence resonates with people who live in violent and high-crime areas and heightens their fear of the world as a mean place. The author did a semi-systematic review of evidence in the literature from West Africa, particularly urban slum areas in Nigeria and Ghana which are characterised by a high spate of insecurity, violence, and social exclusion. Using evidence from those areas, it was found that TV violence does not resonate with people in West Africa as predicted by the cultivation theory: exposure to violent TV programming in these areas is more likely to cultivate a different reality by positively inspiring the viewers. These people could see TV images as a source of fantasy escape and hope, and as a moral compass. The authors, therefore, suggest that instead of situating the cultivation hypothesis in West Africa, media researchers and educators should begin to look at the workability of a ‘reverse effect’ postulation in the sub-continent, especially in slums areas or similar settings that are characterised by violence and crime.