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Penn and Teller: Bullshit! - Season 8

post #1 of 33
7/13/10 at 7:09pm
Thread Starter 
I'm getting Showtime for free the next couple of months, and although it doesn't take away the pain of having Time Warner I am fortunate enough to catch this in the middle of its eighth season. I've been a big fan of P&T and have caught this show on and off for a while now through Netflix Instant and on DVD, and it's good for some cheap laughs/gratuitous nudity/gore as well as making me think about some things in ways I ordinarily would not.

My question is, is anyone else still watching this? The show seems to be treading some water as they have kind of run out of big fish to fry (the Easy Money episode was a little obvious...) and it's easy to see the editing tricks and how they get you on their side, but I do still enjoy it.

Thoughts on this season? Is this thing totally over the shark?
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post #2 of 33
7/13/10 at 7:46pm
If I ever meet them, I'm giving them a piece of my mind. See the ADA episode for why.
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post #3 of 33
7/14/10 at 4:35pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, you couldn't be the first person to do that. It'd be interesting to see how they react.
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post #4 of 33
7/14/10 at 4:39pm
Yeah, this show is ironically total fucking Bullshit.

They ran out of big fish back in Season 2 or so.

The show now seems like little more than an excuse for Penn & Teller to pay women to be naked around/on them. It's more than a little disturbing.
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post #5 of 33
7/14/10 at 4:56pm
I get the sense that Lewis Black heading a show like this would actually be good. I try to catch it when I can, but I agree with Joeypants....they got nothing major to talk about. And I don't understand that, as there are dozens of great stories/ideas they could break down and look at.
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post #6 of 33
7/14/10 at 5:02pm
They should have ended the show after Season 3. Honestly, they really haven't tackled a compelling topic in years.

Best episode: Bottled Water/Feng Shui.
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post #7 of 33
7/14/10 at 6:20pm
Thread Starter 
The "Teen Sex" episode from this season was almost identical to the "Abstinence" one from a couple seasons ago. The show still has a little sparkle for me but it is seriously the same thing over and over again.

Caught their live act for the first time at the Rio a few months back and it was fucking incredible, though.
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post #8 of 33
7/14/10 at 6:25pm
i saw a chunk of season 1 and then nothing until this series and it seems like it's struggling but I'm just pleased that they are still on TV and still doing stuff - of the new series I liked the Martial arts one, the teen sex one was OK although a bit fish in a barrel (and not as many chicks in bikinis as one would expect).
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post #9 of 33
7/14/10 at 6:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
of the new series I liked the Martial arts one,
Since I cannot fucking STAND Penn Jillete screaming at me anymore, could you enlighten me as to what, exactly, they "expose" about Martial Arts?
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post #10 of 33
7/14/10 at 6:49pm
Season 8 was the first season I was truly let down by. All of the other ones were entertaining even when I wasn't into the topic but 8 was lame. Seems like they have run out of ideas. They should take an extended break before Season 9.
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post #11 of 33
7/14/10 at 6:53pm
Wake me up when they tackle their own show. Now THAT would be something I could applaud.
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post #12 of 33
7/14/10 at 8:45pm
Thread Starter 
They almost did in the "Easy Money" one.
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post #13 of 33
7/14/10 at 9:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeypants View Post
Since I cannot fucking STAND Penn Jillete screaming at me anymore, could you enlighten me as to what, exactly, they "expose" about Martial Arts?
They missed the mark, but there's a fuckload of bullshit in Martial Arts. A LOT. And they mostly missed it.
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post #14 of 33
7/15/10 at 9:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeypants View Post
Since I cannot fucking STAND Penn Jillete screaming at me anymore, could you enlighten me as to what, exactly, they "expose" about Martial Arts?
I hope it was something about how the Ninja is not honor bound like in TV/movies (that goes to the Samurai). Either that or if you stand on one leg in a karate tornament, your opponent will probably not be dumb enough to just run straight at you.
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post #15 of 33
7/15/10 at 9:49am
It's a beginner's guide to thinking for yourself in the face of regular cultural/media "narratives". No really big revelations.

There was a recent episode that got way too into Penn's Libertarianism Happy Place and I just switched off (there's a few each season). But the others have been fun.

The Martial Arts "revelation" that any twit can break a wooden board "with the grain" is Common Sense 101, but they do show that people still fall for it.

The Lie Detector one from last year was good in that it showed the post test info-mining process. A practiced/pathological liar just wouldn't be touched, only a regular "honest" person would get caught out and I think that's what they wanted to show.
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post #16 of 33
7/15/10 at 10:04am
What season was it when they went after PETA? that was all kinds of awesome.
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post #17 of 33
7/15/10 at 1:38pm
the other martial arts stuff was about how to get a black belt you have to do hours of unpaid work at the dojo but the big one was that if someone pulled a gun on you that you should just hand over your stuff rather than trying to go all chuck norris, and how if you did use your skills to fuck someone up (even in defense) the law could mean you went to jail for using too much force, so if you're prepared to injure or kill in self-defense, use a gun. There was also a lot of foot-fist way type senseis interviewed.

Plus they laughed at an old lady doing qi gong.

Had its moments.
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post #18 of 33
7/15/10 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
so if you're prepared to injure or kill in self-defense, use a gun.
Which is utterly fucking retarded because in most places, the mere presence of a gun can up your sentencing times.
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post #19 of 33
7/15/10 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nardo View Post

The Lie Detector one from last year was good in that it showed the post test info-mining process. A practiced/pathological liar just wouldn't be touched, only a regular "honest" person would get caught out and I think that's what they wanted to show.
Yeah, for all that the show has been pretty hit and miss for several seasons (and Penn does get on the nerves FAST), that one, with the douchebag "expert" who did his best to shit on a couple's relationship, was pretty compelling.

Granted, the specifics were staged to some degree, but the story it told rang sadly true.

I saw them live in San Francsico many years ago, and after the show, they hung out in the lobby for a good half-hour, chatting with fans (they autographed my "Mojo the Psychic Gorilla" t-shirt), and were both completely charming and fun.
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post #20 of 33
7/15/10 at 5:21pm
The premiere on school cheerleading I thought was good. They made a strong argument that it should be classified a sport and the girls who participate should have just as much protection as any other male or female school athlete. But after that it's been all spinning wheels and Penn screaming.
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post #21 of 33
7/15/10 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
The Sensei talking about dropping down right when he wakes up and busting out 300 knuckle push-ups killed me.
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post #22 of 33
7/15/10 at 5:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruikshank View Post
The premiere on school cheerleading I thought was good. They made a strong argument that it should be classified a sport and the girls who participate should have just as much protection as any other male or female school athlete.
I thought that episode was really going to suck just on the title alone but I ended up really liking it. Apparently what they said about Varsity having such a monopoly is pretty true, and the Title 9 lady calling cheerleading "performance art" was a little disturbing. She seemed pretty behind the times and I can't understand why someone so blatently for equality and women's rights would not be all about cheerleading.

I had no idea that having an activity officially classified as a "sport" was so important and carried so much weight.
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post #23 of 33
7/15/10 at 7:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeb View Post

I saw them live in San Francsico many years ago, and after the show, they hung out in the lobby for a good half-hour, chatting with fans (they autographed my "Mojo the Psychic Gorilla" t-shirt), and were both completely charming and fun.
I'd still like to see their actual act. And that's part of what sucks, is they seem like genuinely cool people. Just their soapbox has gotten way, way tired.
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post #24 of 33
7/15/10 at 7:19pm
D'oh! That's "Mo-Fo the Psychic Gorilla." Not the friggin monkey from Powerpuff Girls.

Do yourselves a favor, guys-- don't get old.
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post #25 of 33
7/15/10 at 7:20pm
Oh, good grief, double posting now?... see what I mean?
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post #26 of 33
7/15/10 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenndawg View Post
and the Title 9 lady calling cheerleading "performance art" was a little disturbing. She seemed pretty behind the times and I can't understand why someone so blatently for equality and women's rights would not be all about cheerleading.
Because they're "Cheering the Men"/In Service of the Male or something. But it's obviously progressed well beyond that into it's own thing.

Someone in the Silence of the Lambs thread went into "2nd Wave Feminism vs 3rd Wave Feminism" and that seems to match with the idea that there was a time and place for a certain type of "no prisoners" approach to sexual equality and now you just have these left-over/obsolete activists drifting around looking for a fight, even if it means screwing over the modern sisterhood for not being militant.

Some of those injuries were fucking toe curling. Make it a fucking sport already.

Foot Fist Way:
Some people really have a giant hate-on for this movie, but it just nails that sort of character so perfectly. Were they expecting a movie like Dodge Ball rather than something more akin to The Office?
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post #27 of 33
7/15/10 at 8:42pm
I saw their show in Vegas when i was on my honeymoon - fucking great, after the show finished they sprinted up the aisles and waited in the lobby to thank and talk to everyone in the audience signing and taking photos, class acts (so weird to hear teller talking normally). If you get the chance don't hesitate to see them.
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post #28 of 33
7/15/10 at 9:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nardo View Post

Foot Fist Way:
Some people really have a giant hate-on for this movie, but it just nails that sort of character so perfectly. Were they expecting a movie like Dodge Ball rather than something more akin to The Office?
It blunted people's expectation. Jody Hill/McBride have their own brand of humour, which is a love/hate style.

People indeed I've met so many retarded "masters" like McBride's that I couldn't stop giggling. During the trailer. The movie then proceeded to kill me.
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post #29 of 33
7/16/10 at 1:47am
I really enjoyed the organic foods and new age healing ones from a past season.

I liked the Cheerleaders one, martial arts, and the Fast Foods one from this season. I think they could've gone a lot farther in the martial arts one though. I liked the study in the Fast Food one where people were fucking praising this food as so good when in reality it was fast food, while people who were told it really was fast food said all kinds of shitty comments about it.
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post #30 of 33
7/16/10 at 11:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Radb707 View Post
I liked the study in the Fast Food one where people were fucking praising this food as so good when in reality it was fast food, while people who were told it really was fast food said all kinds of shitty comments about it.
I liked that one too, as it reminded me of a similar study done of wine tasters. What it mostly boils down to is that a lot of people's taste buds are not nearly as sophisticated as they'd like to believe.
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post #31 of 33
7/16/10 at 11:46am
I still wish they could had gone all out and tackle Scientology; sure, them backing down gave us South Park's "Trapped in the closet", but still.
Show is hit and miss with me, but the one when they take on mediums and John Edwards is freaking great.
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post #32 of 33
7/16/10 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Radb707 View Post
I liked the study in the Fast Food one where people were fucking praising this food as so good when in reality it was fast food, while people who were told it really was fast food said all kinds of shitty comments about it.
It's hilarious. The one where they do basically the same thing with "organic" food is similarly entertaining/frustrating.

Last night's episode about Area 51 was a little boring.
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post #33 of 33
7/16/10 at 3:48pm
Yes I also thought it was a little boring. I pretty much knew how it was all going to go down.

UFOlogists = Nut tards

Area 51 = Just a regular secret testing site with probably no aliens whatsoever. It just has flares and prototype aircraft with crazy designs that look "alien".

I loved that bit at the end. "There are rumors there's another secret site called Area 52" Penn: Oh FUCK
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