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Must See TV - 30 Days
As I've said before, the F/X network has the best shows on television overall. The variety is somewhat dizzying. One of the best is a weekly documentary.
Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock rocketed to fame with his movie Supersize Me where he spent 30 days eating nothing but food from McDonald's restaurants, and tracked the effects on his body. During the course of the film, he traveled around and gathered information about the fast food industry, and some of the alternatives. If you have not seen it, go get it NOW.
Morgan Spurlock has taken this concept and expanded it. On his show, 30 Days we see someone step out of their comfort zone for 30 days, and live a life they'd never imagined. In the first episode, Spurlock and his fiance lived for 30 days on the minimum wage.
Over the next two seasons we saw:
- A conservative christian live with a muslim family
- A good ol' boy go to San Francisco to live with a gay man
- A Minuteman go to live with a family of illegal immigrants
- A man who lost his job to outsourcing go to India
- An abortion rights activist go to live with an anti-abortion activist
Those were just the highlights!
All of the shows are even handed, and while they can be tense and uncomfortable to watch, they are important. My kids love it, and it always sparks lots of thoughtful discussion, a rarity for a TV show. Seasons 1 and 2 are out on DVD, and you can catch re-runs of all of this seasons episodes so far (there are 3) at various times on F/X.
~Easy
I liked the idea behind SuperSize Me but, honestly, I found Morgan to be
really annoying to listen to. I'll give a shot to seeing about 30 Days. I
totally agree that F/X is putting out some of the best quality viewing on
the box these days.
I prefer Michael Moore over Spurlock, but Supersize Me was and interesting
concept.