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(More customer reviews)After a slightly messy third season, I was a little wary of whether magicians Penn and Teller would be able to keep my interest going for much longer. The first two seasons of their show were amazing and dealt with great topics like Profanity, the truth of the Bible, PETA, talking to the dead, and creationism. However, the third season just couldn't compare. While there were a few very good episodes (family values, signs from Heaven), most dealt with topics that I see as harmless, and the jokes seemed to be falling flat. So I was pleasantly surprised when the fourth season began and the quality had been restored. The episodes once again dealt with controversial issues and the humor seemed to work again.
Nearly every episode this season dealt with its topic in an interesting way; if the topic was controversial, Penn and Teller didn't back down from remaining edgy, and if it wasn't, the duo exposed a new side of the topic. The best example is the Manners episode; in it, they criticize people who take good manners way too seriously. One of their guests is a guy from Chicago who gets annoyed to the extent of anger by even the tiniest of impolite gestures. Their look at the Boy Scouts was intriguing to me due to my feelings for the organization; a lot of the Scouts' policies are pretty discriminatory, and though they have received some heat in the past few years, there are some things that they do that haven't been brought to light.
Some of the episodes were really fun and allowed us to have a slight laugh as well as think about certain issues. Cryptozoology, the "study" of mystical creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, was hilarious due to the so-called "proof" used by some people to show the existence of certain animals, while the Pet Love episode taught us something that I have been saying for years: snakes do not make good pets! However, other episodes were very serious and heart-wrenching, and none more than the one on Ground Zero. Penn and Teller talk about how the events after the 9/11 attack have been terribly mismanaged and that we should have had construction on at least SOMETHING started in at least 2003, whether it be a memorial or new towers. The Death Penalty episode was also emotional; Penn and Teller argued against it, but when some of their guests gave arguments in favor of it, the duo handled their rebuttle very eloquently. Most of the guests they had who were pro-death penalty had suffered losses in their families, and Penn and Teller were able to skillfully present their argument while respecting the way the grieving family members felt.
My favorite episode was the one on Abstinence; in fact, it is one of the few episodes to rival the Profanity episode's spot as my favorite. The arguments used by abstinence-only educators were silly and trivial, and Penn and Teller were masterfully able to point out the fallacies and hypocrisy.
Hopefully the level of quality shown in this season will continue on in Season 5 (I'm pretty sure there will be one). The topics were well-chosen and argued, and Penn and Teller were able to keep things funny (when the situation called for it).
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Penn & Teller - Bullsh*t - The Complete Fourth Season (2003)The fourth season of this award-winning series featuring master showmen Penn & Teller, delivers viewers an aggressive, humorous exposé of taboo topics, using the duo’s trademark humor, knowledge of carnival tricks as well as hidden cameras and blatant confrontation. Winner of the prestigious 2004 and 2005 Writer’s Guild Award for Best Comedy/Variety Series and nominated the last three years for the Emmy® for Outstanding Reality Program and Outstanding Writing for Non Fiction Programming, Penn & Teller: Bullshit! continues its controversial muckraking throughout season three by confronting many of the institutions society holds dear.
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