Penn and Teller’s Bullshit!: Season 1
I have to admit my biases in I have to admit my biases in terms of this review. I consider myself someone who tries to debunk anti-intellectual disinformation and lies. I hesitate to call myself a skeptic, because I’m not skeptical of everything. If you tell me your mama makes a mean apple pie, I’ll take your word for it. What I am skeptical of are scam artists and frauds that attempt to hide their deceit under the guise of false science, claims and misinformation.
Real science is self-correcting: if a hypothesis is wrong, if the results cannot be replicated, the science is revised in an ever revolving process of discovery. Pseudo-science is stuck in a quagmire of uncertainty, doubtful claims and literally unbelievable evidence. Since when did we become a society so willing to accept every bit of pseudo-intellectual BS that comes our way? OK, forever. But it seems that in this day and age of scientific inquiry and discovery, and nearly instantaneous access to all information, that we’d start moving away blind belief in all things ridiculous.
Despite having scientifically proven the absence of all things too-good-to-be-true, the crazy bullshit train just keeps on chugging. No, I’m sorry to say that there’s no such things as psychics, dowsers, or reflexologists. Hell, even chiropractors have come under my scrutiny more than a few times. So it’s with my extreme delight that I finally got the chance to look at Bullshit!
Penn and Teller have been bastions of the magic / comedy community for a quarter century, and this time, they’ve turned their sharp eye and wit to the bullshit that is pseudo-science. The people featured in Bullshit! are frauds, hands down. Even people who don’t make money off it, are emotional frauds, sucking like leeches love and devotion from those too weak and uninformed to do otherwise.
I love it because Penn and Teller (ok, mostly Penn) call a spade a spade. These frauds are “bullshit motherfuckers.” There’s no way to misinterpret that. They give the victims plenty of chance for their on camera interviews, then proceed to debunk every false aspect of their claims, piece by piece. Bullshit! has a perspective, a point and a definite slant. It doesn’t pull any punches or ride any journalistic middle-ground. That’s not to say that the show is a liberal’s dream. Very much the opposite. Because along with well-deserved attacks on the religious right, they also stick it to the hippies. Thank God.
It’s not that I agree with every stance they took on every issue (that’s part of being a free-thinking individual). Although I despise the stats thrown around by the anti-tobacco lobby (Millions die from second-hand smoke every year! Not really. More like two, and those people lived with heavy smokers) and though I believe in the right to be given space to smoke (having been known to imbibe in such an activity while drinking), I don’t want to sit next to some asshole puffing away while I eat a $30 sorbet or while I’m eating with my hypothetical children at McDonald’s.
But that’s one minor disagreement within 13+ hours of material. I don’t know if I’m giving Bullshit! such a high grade because Penn and Teller’s philosophy falls so squarely within my own, or that I actually think it’s entertaining. Because every minute enthralls, is funny and disturbing all in one deft sweep. This set couldn’t come more highly recommended. Buy it if you’re curious, or are willing to have your beliefs challenged.
TV Grade: A+
Video: 3 out of 5
Full Screen TV Video. That’s it.
Audio: 3 out of 5
Same for the audio, simple simon. The 5.1 track is good, but only really kicks in during musical stuff.
Extras: 3 out of 5
There’s a nice extra segment on a ghost haunting that got debunked by the TV crew, which runs about 22 minutes. Next is about 30 minutes of deleted scenes and some very funny extended interviews (Check out Ron Jeremy’s interview about what goes through ‘actor’s’ heads while doing a ‘scene’ and trying not to ‘finish’ too fast.) Finally, my favorite extra is a short, 15 minute interview with James Randi, one of the leaders of modern skeptical thought. It’s a great, and strangely moving interview. You get to see the human-side of science, and learn that there are real people affected by these frauds.
Overall: 5 out of 5
$30 for a piece of enlightenment? I’d say that’s a fair deal. This is one disc that I’ll be sharing and showing over and over.
Year: 2003
Featuring Penn and Teller
13 Episodes on 3 Discs / Showtime Television / Unrated
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