Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t! - The Complete Fifth Season

entertainment with a mission

Penn & Teller charge areas Houdini would, were he with us today. Deception and hubris are so much the fabric it's unlikely they'll run short of material anytime soon.

As much as any television production can be a public service, this series is. Past Houdini, antecessors would include Baukunin (never mentioned) and Groucho Marx.

Occasionally I miss proportion and equilibrium: in one 30-minute episode dismiss Gandhi, Mother Teresa and the Dali Lami, with another full episode devoted solely to colon irrigation? [different series]

Guys, give us the hinted show on Jungians. Talk openly about your commitment to positivism. Penn, reference your need to be Gen-X.

But push on--you're renewing the medium. October 19, 2008

can't lose purchase

These guys have not run out of great stuff to talk about. Though I cannot agree with 100% of the things they believe, they bring a great argument to the table. Just when I didn't think there were any topics left to talk about, they find them. October 15, 2008

Disappointing.

My particular criticsm of this product is a little different from the other reviews I have read. I dont have any problem with topics, politics, and complaints covered in the episodes, nor am I bothered by the language or nudity. What bothered me is the lack of content. Unlike previous seasons of B.S. this one is quite short (at only 10 episodes), and each episode is only about 25 minutes long. For the topics covered, 25 minutes is barely enough time to introduce the topic, let alone discuss it thoroughly and talk to supporters and detracters. Despite this, many episodes also feature a great deal of filler. Such as the Fat Guy Olympics in an episode about the diet industry, and a blind date sequence in an episode about alternative energy. Gone is the in-depth analysis of supporter`s positions and criticisms of why they are wrong. Instead you get a position, a statement that its wrong, maybe an expert`s input, some filler, and the episodes over just as it is starting to get interesting. Related to the lack of content, there are also two episodes that have summarys on the packaging and on the discs that list things covered in the episode THAT ARE NOT EVEN IN THE EPISODE. In addition, there arent even any extras in the set, none. All this makes me wonder if the episodes got shortened for the DVD release, or if they intended to add additional content but ran out of time. Overall I gave this title 3 stars, but the 1st disc really only deserves 2. I cant really recommend this DVD, even to fans of the show, which is sad because the episodes about the ADA, and Anger Management are pretty good. Rent it, watch it all in one night (quite easy to do), and hope that next season is better. September 27, 2008

BS Season 5

More great entertainment from the thought-provoking mad geniuses. By now, you know what you're going to get from this series. Some insight, some over the top opinions, and a few good laughs. While I think the series is not as consistently great as it was in the beginning, I'll keep buying as long as they're producing. September 6, 2008

Some good stuff, but...

I have enjoyed most episodes of the Penn and Teller series, especially those where they take on nonsense like the paranormal and the tarot card readers out there bilking our less than smart friends. The last few seasons though, more and more of their libertarian politics have been creeping, muscling out the commonsense they built the series on. With season five, I found most the episodes to be suffering from the same bulls**t that they claim their targets are full of.

Come on, when you're consulting a conservative BS 'think' tank like the Competitive Institute to add 'balance' to a sympathetic story about Wal-Mart, you're not even trying to be serious. P&T set up straw men, go to 'experts' on the other side that most have never heard of, and then knock them over by making them look foolish rather than answer most of their arguments. In the Wal-Mart episode, they promised to answer the charges make in 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Living', they even had the director of the film on, but barely talked to him, prefering to run man on the street interviews and a couple of amateur protesters who P&T could edit so they come off looking like crazy hippies.

Really guys, you're the ones looking like cranky old guys worrying about your lawns. I'm a fan, and I've watched every episode, but if you're running out of ideas and surviving on bluster and political indignation, it's time to pack it in. August 12, 2008

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