Official Synopsis:
Created by Morgan Spurlock, the Academy Award® nominated writer, director, and star of the hit film Supersize Me, comes Thirty Days, the intelligent and innovative TV show that dares you to "take a walk in someone else's shoes." Explore some of America’s most pressing social issues by following the lives of ordinary people who agree to live well-outside their comfort zones for thirty days: Spurlock and his fiancée try to make ends meet by working minimum wage jobs, a devout Christian immerses himself in Islamic culture, a homophobic young man goes to live and work in San Francisco’s largely-gay Castro District, and more. Provocative, poignant, and hilarious, Thirty Days is a true original…often unpredictable and always eye-opening!
Our Take:
It's a rare show that can actually make you think about your own life, attitudes, and preconceptions. It's even more unusual to find a show that can do those things while also being completely entertaining. 30 Days manages to do both.
Morgan Spurlock, the man behind the film Supersize Me, brings his unique vision to the small screen with 30 Days, a show that follows a person as they spend one month living in a situation or environment completely opposite their own. A Christian in a Muslim world, a conservative in a gay community, etc. Rather than fill a reality TV show with model-looking women trying to land a date or some such nonsense, Spurlock tackles weighty social issues. He does so, though, without ever coming across as preachy or holier-than-thou. Spurlock is front and center in the first episode, but in the remainders, he finds volunteers to act as his test subjects. The show's guinea pig goes about their somewhat-altered life for 30 days and we watch the results; there is no editorializing or proselytizing, except for in the participant’s own comments. The results are usually quite fascinating.
As a two-disc set, 30 Days comes with a pretty solid collection of extra features.
* Commentaries - Four of the episodes features commentary tracks by a group of people, including Morgan Spurlock, various producers, and sometimes the participants themselves.
* Lost Diarycams - Basically deleted footage from the participants' talking to the camera about their experiences. Each episode has a Lost Diarycam, and the segments all run between 10 and 18 minutes, with a total running time of about 80 minutes.
What's really great about 30 Days is how much fun to watch it is while being so thought provoking. With the new season just launching on the FX Network, this one definitely comes...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Show: A
DVD: B
- Mike Spring
Editor
|
|
