Starring Penn & Teller
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: Showtime Entertainment
Buy on Amazon.com

I started to watch this TV series when I was down in Florida and I luckily got Showtime and watched a few episodes and that was it. I was hooked! This show is something entirely different than what you usually see on TV and each week is something great to see. And it’s surprising to see a show this entertaining and funny coming from Vegas magicians. But then again, that’s what they do for a living, entertain.

If you don’t know the premise of the show, I’ll go over it with you. Each week, Penn and Teller pick a topic that they think is, well BULLSHIT! They use the word bullshit because if they say something is fake, or call someone a fraud or liar; they can get sued for slander. So they call the people they are attacking assholes, shitheads, fuckers, etc. etc. Plus it makes it even funnier when they do call someone those names. So anyway, each week they cover topics like: Talking to the Dead, Alien Abduction, End of the World, Ouija Boards, Creationism, Second Hand Smoke, Bottle Water, Self Help and Environmental Hysteria. Each show I found to be intriguing, and entertaining at the same time. I used to hate skeptics when it came to UFOs and stuff like that but now I look at both sides and question everything. I guess it comes with getting older and being more mature. Penn and Teller are kind of like Michael Moore, but even they don’t like him since they made fun of him in Season 2. They are out for the truth and want to stop people making money off rubes and defenseless, weak people who are looking for answers to things.

I think as the seasons progress, it’s gonna be harder to find people to interview and make fun of because people will start to realize what kind of show this is. Some people might complain that the show uses editing tricks and makes them look dumb, but Penn and Teller sometimes let the people talk the whole way through and it just makes them sound even stupider. I think they did that in Season 2 with the Bible episode. Whenver someone bashes hippies, the government and religious people, I’m a happy guy haha. I really feel Penn and Teller make a convincing and credible case with each topic they attack. They present both sides of the story or topic, and they tell the audience why they are on this side, plus some of the shit they say or do is just hilarious.

My favorite episode of the series is probably the last one, Environmental Hysteria. I just never got into veganism, and saving the rainforest and recycling and all that crap that greenpeace supports. I hate recycling and think it’s a waste of time. I have recycle so much crap in New York now, it’s unbelievable. Next I’ll probably have to recycle toilet paper. They attack recycling in Season 2 by the way. Ok back to Greenpeace, it’s great how they had the person that started Greenpeace say he left because people were getting too politically motivated, and too many people jumping on a bandwagon cause and not knowing the overall picture or what they are supporting. It just became this antigovernment movement and the guy left the organization because of that. When watching this episode, it just made me think of the causeheads from PCU. They pick a cause and stick with it for a week haha. And the interviews in this episode are hilarious. Some spokesperson for one of the environmental organizations couldn’t think of anything to say in response to the questions she was being asked. Plus a series of dimwit hippies couldn’t think of anything smart to say either. All they do is go to these things and dance around like a bunch of idiots. Another thing Penn and Teller do so well is make up fake settings and situations and get people into trying the thing they are trying to make them do.

Some examples of this is like having a fake restaurant and giving people bottled water from all these eclectic places in the world, and each bottle contained water from the garden hose in the back haha. Other great situations include putting snails on people’s faces at a demonstration at a mall because it’s a new way of getting better or to cure stress. Another is having a girl go around at the environmental fairs, saying if they want to stop the production of water, but worded it differently and everyone signed up for it haha. Without reading anything about it, they just signed it. Truly funny and entertaining, to me anyway. To hippies, no haha.

Extras included on here are a bonus episode “The Ghost Segment”, which doesn’t have Penn doing a voice-over, so it kind of sounds weird, and it was sort of interesting to watch. It didn’t really feel they solved anything. The segment was about this Auto wreck place having a supposed ghost on video and just either video looked weird. They were trying to re-create the ghost image. There’s a candid interview with James Randi with Penn & Teller, well Penn. I think the reason why Penn & Teller started this show was because of seeing James Randi at one of his classes or seminars or something along those lines. There’s some funny outtakes of Penn screwing up his lines and falling over the place. Outtakes are fun. There’s over 20 minutes of extended interviews with people they interviewed over the course of the season. The interviews make the people look like even bigger idiots haha. Plus there’s Bios on Penn and Teller, Wraparounds and Behind the Scenes footage. I’m glad they included some great extras on this set. Some TV shows don’t put forth the effort in that area.

I’m sure some of you will hate this show and just not find it amusing but I certainly loved the concept and the show. It has quickly become one of my favorite shows this year to watch, among the group are Family Guy, Coupling, The Office, the Shield and of course 24. If you like a bit of skepticism, and done in a funny way and want to be entertained, I STRONGLY suggest this DVD boxset of the first season. Also check out the 2nd season on Showtime now.

Features:
– Naked Promo
– Bonus Episode
– The Ghost Segment
– More Bullshit!
– Deleted Scenes
– Bullshitting Around
– Outtakes
– Wraparounds
– Penn & Teller Bios

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Talking to the Dead, Alien Abductions, Second Hand Smoke, Feng Shui/Bottle Water, ESP, Environmental Hysteria
Rating: –Select–
Running Time: 364 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: