For those of you who enjoyed “Supersize Me” and, hopefully, decreased your fast food consumption as a result, you’ll be happy to know that Morgan Spurlock is at it again. His new(er) show, “30 Days” is aimed at examining new viewpoints and does so in an unconventional way. Participants in this challenge agree to live a lifestyle they oppose for 30 days. A straight mom spent 30 days with a homosexual couple raising children. Spurlock and his fiancee traveled to Columbus, Ohio to work at minimum wage jobs for 30 days. A gun-toting hunter lived a vegan lifestyle with a PETA activist and her family – for a whole month!
I keep watching as the episodes are posted on Hulu (unhook your cable now, it’s too expensive when so much is free online!), and I’ve been waiting for one person to come out of his/her thirty days unchanged. It has yet to happen.
More interestingly, the show is actually educational. It’s as if Mr. Rogers came back with some sass. We get to watch as the participants spend a final night in their hometowns and vow to never change their minds. Then, there is the obligatory annoyance, followed by some combination of fear, anger, and sadness as the hunter learns what it is to torture an animal and the Spurlock duo hits the ER at 4 AM. Yes, there is some repetition, but it’s somewhat cleansing to see that people can change their minds.
Plus, what do you know about working a minimum wage job? How about coal mining? Same sex parenting? Animal activism? The list goes on and on. Plus, Spurlock doesn’t just recruit ordinary people who kind of dislike something. He finds a person whose friend was killed by a gun and asks that person to be pro-firearms for a month. He takes a person whose identity is hunting and asks him to consider that chickens have rights.
Siskel and Ebert can say what they like, I’m giving this one two thumbs up. And you, reader? What have you learned from television lately?
Hi Peti,
I thought you and your readers would probably like to know that Inside Media at The Paley Center has a show about 30 Days now available on iTunes.
Here is the link: http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?i=286584556&id=285977384&s=143441
About Inside Media at the Paley Center’s 30 Days:
The 30 Days executive producers discuss the making of the entertaining—and enlightening—documentary series. Using the time construct from his hit documentary Super Size Me, creator/executive producer Morgan Spurlock asks Americans to spend a month experiencing something for which they have no tolerance or knowledge. Spurlock, along with executive producer R. J. Cutler, spent an evening at The Paley Center for Media discussing the sometimes controversial show. Rebecca Faez (director of administration, The Paley Center for Media, Los Angeles) welcomes the audience and introduces Daily Variety’s Stuart Levine, who moderates. Contains Explicit Language.
Or, you can add the iTunes Button linking to the film with the HTML generated here: http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStoreServices.woa/wa/itmsLinkMaker
Enter “Paley Center” and select TV Shows
(For larger, customizable Apple iTunes Buttons, download these: http://www.docurama.com/digitalassets/ituneslogo.zip)
FYI, you can also become an iTunes affiliate to earn a 5% commission on this and other refered sales: http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/
Thank you for considering sharing the news with your readers!
Best,
Marinell Montales
New Video Digital
902 Broadway, 9th Fl
New York, NY 10010