movielib

Showtime, 9:00pm CDT

An episode I'm really looking forward to. I hope they take on that idiot Morgan Spurlock too.

Red Dog

That fool Spurlock is the first thing I thought of. Maybe they go after L.A.'s war on the bacon dog and preventing new fast food places from being opened in poorer areas.

movielib

Decent show which made its points but I think it would have been much better if they had done Spurlock. His film was seen by millions of people and is very well known. Many people swallowed the bullshit. I think exposing the utter stupidity of that film would have made the point better than anything else they could have done.

Red Dog

Penn was more fired up than usual in this one. Very surprised they didn't go after Spurlock.

That Manhattan women was a real ****.

I do enjoy their "Attention Citizens!" interludes this season.

extreme2700

So, Spurlock made no relevant points you're saying? I think he made some really damn good points. Mind you I don't think we should have government interference telling us what we can and can't eat, but I don't think that McDonald's (or any other fast food joint) should be defended when I say their food is shit because it essentially is.

Wish I got Showtime, I've actually missed this show. I haven't seen one on Showtime for quite some time now, I've just seen them on Netflix in the last few years.

Red Dog

I thought the only good point Spurlock made was about the food available in schools, which had nothing to do with McDonalds.

You think their food is shit. OK. You should have the right to criticize McD's if you want to. But some like it. Why shouldn't they be allowed to defend it?

Larry C.

I Dvr'd this last night. Can't wait to get back home and watch it.

Deftones

Liked it. I, too, have enjoyed the Attention Citizens cut-ins. I've seen that one Dr.'s work before. The one who does the food "experiments". The one I saw had to do with serving size and plate size, indicating that you will eat more if you have a bigger plate because there is empty space on it.

Red Dog

Yeah - I've seen the plate size tests too.

Brent L

What was that doctor's name and where could I see more of that? Pretty interesting stuff.

I really enjoyed this episode. Right when I think they are running out of ideas for shows, and ideas to present shows, they come back and make me hope they continue this for even more seasons. I didn't think there was a chance they could make me love episodes on cheerleaders and fast food, but by God they did it.

Red Dog

He was from Cornell, so you could probably google for it with that.

Brent L

Found his name using YouTube - Brian Wansink.

dick_grayson

Did it discuss hormoned-out food or anything like that?

extreme2700

I guess I shouldn't have worded it like I did. What I meant is that some guy gets called an idiot because he points out things you don't agree with. He made other good points in my opinion. How it's sad that someone wouldn't know the Pledge of Allegiance (or was it the Star Spangled Banner? Been a while since I've seen the film) but can rattle off the big mac song with ease.

I share the view that children (and adults) are bombarded constantly with food ads. It's not much of a wonder why people in general are eating more, there's alot of advertisements about it.

I'm not an advocate against fast food really, I eat it once in a while myself to be honest. That said I have no problem believing that eating fast food, whether it's McDonalds or not, every meal every day for 30 days would mess you up.

Spurlock still didn't get as messed up as the dude on 30 days who did steroids for something like 25 days. Sperm count from very healthy to ZERO in that short amount of time LOL. Needless to say, his wife was pretty pissed.

It's all good though, people need to have an opinion about things.

Red Dog

If you sit your ass during those 30 days, sure. Someone did their own Spurlock-type McD's test with exercise and was fine.

I don't call people idiots or fools when it comes to simple disagreement. I think he's an idiot for the way he conducted his well-duh test and for his premise that personal responsibility ends (leaving only corporate responsibility, thus laying the blame on McD's) at some point when it comes to diet. That's just flat out wrong. Personal responsibility never ends. It seemed rather clear to me that he had an agenda coming in before making his 'documentary.'

As for advertisements, is that really an issue? Whether there is an ad or not, I'm going to stop eating when I'm full (as P&T explained in the episode). I'm not sure how the existence of an ad is going to make me eat more. It may drive me to eat a particular food or restaurant, but I'll eat when I'm hungry.

As for knowing the Pledge rather than the Big Mac song, meh. That's the case for all sorts of things. Most people can name the 7 Dwarfs, yet next to nobody can name the SCt Justices. Does that make Disney evil and thus blame should be placed on them? That's simply people being ignorant - again on the individual.

extreme2700

You're right, personal responsibility never ends. I guess, to me, I didn't see it as some sort of personal crusade against McDonald's..they're just the biggest and most easily seen. Hard to find someone who hasn't at least heard of them. Now, if we later find out the dude's got stock in Burger King or Wendy's then we really got a personal crusade.

It's not a favorite film of mine by any means, but at least it brought about some good change I think. For instance, the McDonald's in my home town didn't have a copy of nutritional facts on the premises, like the one location in the movie and now it does. A person should at least have the facts to make an educated decision, it's possible to eat at least somewhat healthy at a fast food joint.

Whether the film was liked or not I think it raised some people's awareness that there might be a consequence if they stuff their face with that food all the time.

As far as the comment about corportate responsibility, I don't think they're entirely to blame. You seem like a pretty smart one Red Dog, but you have to understand that most people aren't...at least in my opinion. That's largely the problem I would ever have with a corporation spewing out any old crap they want and not have to answer for whatever damage it might cause.

Whatever the fast food industry is, I guess at least they're not as big of liars as the tobacco and oil industries LOL.

Deftones

as my wife and I were watching it last night, she's like "I'm surprised the CEO of Carl's Jr came on the show, considering how ruthless P&T usually are." I was slightly surprised myself, although, I'd imagine they may have let it be known that they were not going going after fast food, but rather it's opponents.

movielib

Old post of mine on Spurlock:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/...ml#post8341506

And here is a compendium of past Spurlock (in whole or in part) discussions:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/search.php?searchid=3388636

PopcornTreeCt

Damn this show was bullshit. I cannot believe the stance they took on fast food. Usually I agree with them, but I absolutely cannot believe they took the side of fast food. Ridiculous. Lost all respect for them.

Deftones

what's so bullshit about it? they said that you should eat it in moderation, but that it shouldn't be regulated so people can't eat it. it's about choice. i don't see how that is bullshit.

OscarBluth

I told Penn what you said. He drove off in his pink Mini Cooper, crying his eyes out at the thought of going home to his giant piles of money without your respect.

(Teller did not immediately return my call.)

movielib

Yes, everyone knows fast food is 100% pure, unadulterated crap. Why, it's not even food. And sometimes it's not even fast. Sometimes they get the order wrong and it's even slower. How can anyone question WHAT EVERYBODY KNOWS?!??!

PopcornTreeCt

Because I feel like it should be regulated. Of course people should eat in moderation but people are dumb. That's a whole other debate for another forum but that's how I feel and why I was upset.

Pixie Song

My problem with this episode is that it wasn't about fast food, but the regulation of fast food. In my opinion these are two different topics. You could have replaced fast food with X and it would have been the same show. I guess I was just hoping for a show focusing on fast food and not their libertarian views on the free market.

I don't believe fast food should be regulated or that soda should be taxed. However, I do think restaurants (not just fast food) should be required to make their ingrediants and nutritional information accessible to their customers. This doesn't prevent fast food from being sold; it simply allows consumers to make better informed decisions.

I understand the idea behind perception and food. They did the same thing with water and organic vegetables in previous episodes. Unfortunately that still doesn't address the nutritional concerns of the food itself. They never discuss where the food comes from, where/how it's processed and the increased serving sizes.

I also don't consider the owner of Carl's Jr to be a credible source. Of course he's going to say nice things about fast food. That's where his money comes from. He did make one good point; customers do NOT purchase healthy alternatives when they are presented with them.

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It's not typical for Penn & Teller to have a middle ground, so I wasn't expecting it here. I also don't expect them to tackle alternatives or bring out the hard, empircal data in a single show. They're openly bias and that's okay by me.

Some of the things I did appreciate about the show was the debunking of the popular "life expectancy" line that every news organization and blog likes to repeat ad nauseum:

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It also mentioned the aarogant and elitist backgrounds of those who want to regulate food for everyone else. He wasn't mentioned, but Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma) comes to mind. These people don't seem to realize that not everyone has their time, money and resources (as well as cooking knowledge) to eat the way they do.

Red Dog

Have you ever watched Bullshit before? How could you not believe that this (freedom of choice/personal freedom) is the stance they would take on fast food?