Teen Mom - Season 1

One show I enjoyed last year was MTV's 16 and Pregnant, a documentary series that followed the lives of several girls who were...well, sixteen and pregnant. Despite not being in the target gender demographic, I was intrigued by the hardships that the girls were going through and was shocked that MTV didn't try to sugarcoat any of it and instead offered the cold hard truth about teenage pregnancies. Teen Mom is the follow-up series, focus on who I assume were the four most popular girls: Maci, Amber, Catelynn and Farrah. The series gives us a continued look into the lives of these now-teen parents and the events are narrated by each girl first hand as they must balance their personal life while taking care of their new baby.

Out the four girls, the most interesting one is Catelynn, who gave her baby up for adoption. At first I wasn't too invested in her and her boyfriend Tyler because they didn't have a child with them. But how the adoption effects them is truly an engaging story. This was clearly a difficult choice for them, and they are very supportive of each other as they deal with the pain of not having their baby in their lives. Their parents are not as supportive as Tyler’s dad refuses to forgive his son for putting Carly up for adoption and the same goes for Catelynn's mom. Maci and Amber are similar girls as their stories largely deal with the stress that their boyfriends give them and the difficulties that they have trying to continue their education. Both girls try to work things out with their boyfriends for the sake of their children with varying results. Farrah is, without a doubt, the worst of the girls. She's the only one of the group that doesn't have a significant other and as a result spends most of her time dating and trying to keep her social life exactly the same as was before she got pregnant. Her mother is overbearing as hell, but she basically has put of with a spoiled brat as she dumps her child on her to go out with her friends. Farrah does get her priorities straight by the end of her story, but its quite an annoying tale to watch.

Like 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom doesn’t sugar-coat the reality of being a mother. It shows each girl rising to the challenge of having to grow up before they are ready, and there were some cringe-worthy moments that demonstrated certain levels of immaturity...mostly coming from Farrah. The show's never pretty, it’s just an intriguing look into the life of four teenage girls, who will have to learn to take care of a new baby. The seemingly genuine stories and situations make for a both captivating and entertaining look into life-after teenage pregnancy. 16 and Pregnant is coming back for a second season and it looks be just as captivating as this was.

Penn & Teller: Bullshit (Review)

I've always enjoyed the work of the Las Vegas based performers Penn & Teller. The illusions and comedy that they preform have always been incredibly entertaining. I've also come to respect them as advocates of science over superstition and acceptance of facts over wishful thinking. Their television show, Penn & Teller: Bullshit is a documentary series that has run on Showtime for 7 seasons (it's the network's longest running show). Penn and Teller are known for revealing the secrets to their magic acts on stage and in this show they basically do the same thing to hot button topics like gun control, paranormal research, or even the Bible. Every episode has them trying to debunk some common misconception or expose the truth of a well known organization. The camera crew interview people who support the different sides of the arguments and Penn and Teller tape linking studio segments that provide commentary to what was filmed in the field. Penn usually expresses his opinions in a loud, brash, and extremely abrasive manner, the irony being that his arguments are more specific, reasoned and sensible than most of those on the opposing side.

I find the show to be entertaining, informative and able to display a refreshing amount of critical thinking for a television show. I was genuinely surprised that they actually got me to think about some of the issues that were brought up. The guys research is extremely well done and they show an appropriate amount of respect for the topics and still get their arguments across eloquently even with all the profanity they use. The slight downside is that the show's arguments are always one-sided, though, as Penn and Teller get to edit the interview segments however they like and provide plenty of snarky voice-over, while the opposing side never gets a proper chance at a rebuttal. Also as the show has gone on over the years, they seem to have inevitability started running out of topics to debunk as a lot of the recent episodes feature a few subjects that seem an awful lot like those covered on past episodes. Having said all that, I think Bullshit is still an entertaining watch. Whether you agree with their opinions or they outrage you, they'll certainly make you laugh and think, and maybe take a fresh look at what you know.