Morgan Spurlock's '30 Days' on FX: anybody watch it?

[yellowbismark]

I see ads for it all the time when watching King of the Hill, but always forget to check it out.

Has anyone seen it? What are your thoughts and opinions about it?

Is it an extension of the fine pseudo-muckraking, pop-social commentary of Super Size Me, or is it moreso a watered-down attempt to remain relevant in the the eye of the television viewer?

[Footix]

I see ads for it all the time when watching King of the Hill, but always forget to check it out.

Has anyone seen it? What are your thoughts and opinions about it?

Is it an extension of the fine pseudo-muckraking, pop-social commentary of Super Size Me, or is it moreso a watered-down attempt to remain relevant in the the eye of the television viewer?

I'll avoid the loaded wording of your question and say that I love the show, always learn something, and wished everyone watched it, because it is a fantastic conversation starter.

[Deuteriumoxide]

thumbs up for this show.

[Dyvel]

thumbs up for this show.

Agreed, it's great television. Spurlock could probaly get a movie out of each show. An hour is not enough.

[scaryice]

It's one of the best shows on tv. Just watch it already.

[Dante]

Excellent show, I'm a little miffed I missed a couple episodes, but I finally caught last weeks.

[fiddlestick]

I tune in every week. Seems like it either hits a home run, like the premier this season with the Minute Man guy staying with the illegals or really falls flat.

Last week's episode where the software programmer who lost his job went to live in India just didn't do anything for me. The guy didn't really seem emotionally vested in the situation.

This week could have been great. Fantastic premise, but the athiest lady was a little too milquetoast and really didn't articulate well and she appeared fairly easily intimidated by the husband.

[yellowbismark]

five consecutive endorsements, sounds like a winner. Very well, I'll have to make it a point to check it out then. :)

I did like Super Size Me, btw. I just didn't like his wife. She kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Although, as an unintended consequence of watching that documentary, I began making regular visits to McDonalds again. I forgot how much I love Big Macs.

[fiddlestick]

five consecutive endorsements, sounds like a winner. Very well, I'll have to make it a point to check it out then. :)

I did like Super Size Me, btw. I just didn't like his wife. She kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Although, as an unintended consequence of watching that documentary, I began making regular visits to McDonalds again. I forgot how much I love Big Macs.
If you hate his wife, rent the first season DVD's of 30 Days. The first episode, he and his wife go to Columbus OH to live on minimum wage for a month. She wasn't enjoying it.

[yellowbismark]

If you hate his wife, rent the first season DVD's of 30 Days. The first episode, he and his wife go to Columbus OH to live on minimum wage for a month. She wasn't enjoying it.

Nice. I'm amused already. That's surprising she couldn't hack it on minimum wage considering it looks like her diet consists of grass and water.

[quentinc]

I watched this week's, mainly because I saw an ad for it somewhere else and was intrigued by the subject matter. Pretty good.

[yellowbismark]

Okay, I finally caught an episode (the last episode in the Saturday FX marathon) which was about the Minuteman.

I was moved, it was very powerful to me. I don't know if the other subjects of the show would make me feel that way, but the immigration theme definitely hit me. If all the 30 Days episodes were like this one, this show is incredible. The immigration topic hits close to home, as my family has had some sticky immigration issues to deal with...

The family was very likable, and the teenage girl smart as a whip. The Minuteman was very hypocritical having immigrated from Cuba. He seemed to base his stance on the 'legality' of the matter of immigration (legal vs illegal) and yet when they showed the parts where the Congress was debating making reforms to immigration or the social movements to influence immigration reform, he was automatically against it in the sense that it was about 'them' taking over the country. If his deal was about legality, he wouldn't be bothered about amendments to change the law or the people protesting to get the laws changed.

And also I noticed the Cuban Minuteman said something along the lines of 'if you don't like the way your old country is run, make changes/revolution over there', that's rich coming from a Cuban with their legions of people fleeing the 'persecution' of communism. Maybe he should have stayed back to fight against Castro if he felt that way. He was also against asylum, even though from what I understand, Cubans who make Florida shore receive it automatically. Would he be in favor of turning back a Cuban rafter for escaping the same thing his family escaped?

To me, he seemed like a curmudgeon who forgot about his roots.

Nevertheless, the episode had me very choked up, something I was not expecting...

[ForeverRed]

Guess what...all episodes are just as great.


Each will have you identify and/or sympathize with someone's situation and circumstances...its a really really smart and educational show.

I loved the episode you are describing.....

In the end, Frank sure came away learning something...

[Dyvel]

This week could have been great. Fantastic premise, but the athiest lady was a little too milquetoast and really didn't articulate well and she appeared fairly easily intimidated by the husband.

Did you notice that the Atheist and the Christian family were all Catholics at one point in there lives? I would have liked to have seen that topic explored.

[billreeves]

Last week's episode where the software programmer who lost his job went to live in India just didn't do anything for me. The guy didn't really seem emotionally vested in the situation.

I actually enjoyed that one quite a bit. Of course, I work for a software company, and 80% of my co-workers here in the US are immigrants from India, and we have recently been hiring some engineers in Bangalore, so it was interesting to see some scenes of the kind of training they get. I found it fascinating to see that they were training people in India to know the 50 US states and their capitals -- probably most adults in the US don't know all 50 capitals.

[Dante]

There's a free ep on iTunes, it's the immigration episode.