PENN & TELLER'S BULLSHIT, SEASON ONE -- Scott Schaefer, Tim Rogan, Scott Firestone, Christopher Poole, Tom Greenhut, dirs

©2003
studio: Showtime Entertainment
directors: Scott Schaefer, Tim Rogan, Scott Firestone, Christopher Poole, Tom Greenhut
cast: Penn Jillette, Teller


Using a combination of set ups, descriptions, rants and film of practitioners, Penn & Teller show the Bullshit that's everywhere. The initial show covers mediums or Talkers to the Dead. Penn Jillette explains in the first program that while calling someone a liar or a con man could be considered slander, "Bullshit" is safe. Each show has a topic such as Mediums, Fenn Shui, Medical devices or Penis Enlargement. Using humor and experts, they debunk the bullshit.

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For the most part, I really enjoyed this first season of this series, and I look forward to watching more of it.

I like when they go straight for the big bucks money men in the charlatan business specifically the John Edwards in the communing with the dead episode), but didn't respect their picking out some of the wackiest people in some areas (the wacked out people in the UFO episode were certainly not people that most of the nation would take seriously on ANY topic). The Feng Shui episode was really entertaining, and the set-up was fantastic (take three Feng Shui experts into the same house with the same set-up at different times, and since it's a "science" the results should be the same, but of course the results were completely different, with one expert trying to sell things on the side.

The extreme nature lovers episode left me feeling not so good. Although the made reference to the fact that these people we were seeing were "extremists," and they were interviewing environmental activists for pro and con, I felt that their focus was off. Were they bashing environmental extremists? People who jump on the band wagon no matter what the cause? Were they saying that the environmental issue are not issues to be concerned about at all? The episode never clicked and I never felt like Penn nor Teller had their heart in it.

A fun series. If I subscribed to cable, I'd be watching it now. Thanks for Netflix, though!