6/21/2005: Tube: 30 Days
(now available on DVD)
That Super Size Me guy Morgan Spurlock is back with a new show on FX that is definitely in the must-see-tv category.
This time he's taking the "for a month" concept of Super Size Me and applying it to other situations in 21st century reality. In the opener, he and girlfriend Alex Jamieson (the vegan chef in the movie) left their cars, cash, credit cards, and health insurance cards at home and went to Columbus, Ohio to live on minimum wage for a month. It was an eye-opener for them, and likely for many viewers, to find out just how far their construction and food service paychecks stretched (not very), especially when each of them had a medical emergency.
Spurlock isn't so much of a masochist that he's willing to put himself into bad situations month after month: he's brought in additional people for upcoming episodes of "30 Days". They include a college girl's mom who sets out to emulate her daughter's binge drinking at school; a devout Christian who agrees to live as a Muslim in Michigan; a 24-year-old homophobe who moves to San Francisco to live within its gay culture; a 30-something former athlete who goes on anti-aging drugs and makes some lifestyle changes; and two friends who go to live in an "eco village" in Missouri for a month without oil, gas, electricity, or other fossil fuel-driven modern conveniences.
As in Super Size Me, Spurlock is more entertaining than preachy, but we'd all do well to listen to the lessons he's providing. If nothing else, the series will serve to help us all appreciate what we do have - however much or little that is.
This should have been included in my Summer reality roundup but it really deserves its own page - it's that good.
