Television Louis Theroux

[Solius]

Second of a two part thing starting now on BBC2.

Anybody watched it? I find his programmes quite interesting even though Theroux himself has something annoying about him.

There was one in Phillideplhia and this week Johannesburg, got to give it to him he's got balls to go in some of the areas he does.

 

[Eyepopper]

Same, I like his programmes but I'm not actually too keen on him.. havent watched this series.

 

[Marching]

Saw the Philly episode and it looked like a war zone...hope that Barbara Charles doesn't live anywhere near the 24th District.

Jo'burg looks like it's ruled by thugs....scary stuff.

 

[I_live_cement]

His shows are always worth a watch, not laugh out loud funny himself but he can be amusing at times.

I especially liked the Swingers and the Black Supremists episodes.

 

[Solius]

The private police are incredibly brutal.

Looks like a very corrupt place, feel sorry for the people who have to live there.

 

[The Red Baron!!!]

That guy was sick. He was talking about cutting throats as if it were as normal as eating his breakfast.

 

[Spammy]

That guy was sick. He was talking about cutting throats as if it were as normal as eating his breakfast.

He was fecked on something. 'I put your baby in a microwave', not before I break your skinny, brittle little neck you shit eater.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

That was a pretty terrifying watch. I won't be going to South Africa anytime soon.

 

[Biscuit1871]

Same, I like his programmes but I'm not actually too keen on him.. havent watched this series.

Agree with this. The way he points out the obvious and ask's the most obvious questions, with a dead pan face, annoys me.

His shows are very good though.

 

[dumbo]

Some of it was interesting but much was pretty standard, last week's show was particularly unrevealing.

He's better suited the more frivolous material. The weird weekends stuff was more revealing and interesting and you got better portraits of the characters involved, including Louis. He's becoming a poor man's Nick Broomfield. I thought the prison and hunting shows were particularly poor.

Louis' brother Marcel did a couple, more serious documentaries on Russia, they were good too.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

His shows/docco's are fantasic.

 

[Scholesgoals]

That guy last night talking about the golf clubs was fecking hilarious though... obviously didnt understand that someone from SA would be watching.

 

[horselesspaul]

He's becoming a poor man's Nick Broomfield. I thought the prison and hunting shows were particularly poor.

For gritty subjects, Nick Broomfield's carefully calculated style works much better than Louis' faux wide eyed innocence imo.

 

[Ole_Gunnar]

Agree with this. The way he points out the obvious and ask's the most obvious questions, with a dead pan face, annoys me.

His shows are very good though.

[To homeboy on Philadelphia street corner]

LT: So what would you do to someone who had 'snitched' on one of your friends?

HoPSC: What kind of a question is that?


What's wrong with you Louis? Don't you know he would invite him for a game of mini-golf?

 

[Fitzjames]

I think his style is as much mockumentary as documentary.
The wide eyed innocence thing gets results.
He pretty much stitched up Paul Daniels, Jimmy Saville and the money grabbing Tory Hamiltons into revealing more about themselves than they would have done to Jeremy Paxman. They would have been more guarded.

The Swingers programme was a TV classic.
Why are all "swingers" over 50 and ugly as sin?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Some of it was interesting but much was pretty standard, last week's show was particularly unrevealing.

He's better suited the more frivolous material. The weird weekends stuff was more revealing and interesting and you got better portraits of the characters involved, including Louis. He's becoming a poor man's Nick Broomfield. I thought the prison and hunting shows were particularly poor.

Louis' brother Marcel did a couple, more serious documentaries on Russia, they were good too.

Agreed. The faux naif shtick doesn't work at all, when he's trying to win the confidence of streetwise criminals. They either see through him immediately or think he's borderline retarded.

Works brilliantly with softer targets though.

 

[gaffs]

I dint like the SA one - it was more like a Ross Kemp on Gangs.

He should stick to doing documentaries that send up the subject.

 

[Biscuit1871]

[To homeboy on Philadelphia street corner]

LT: So what would you do to someone who had 'snitched' on one of your friends?

HoPSC: What kind of a question is that?


What's wrong with you Louis? Don't you know he would invite him for a game of mini-golf?

The precise incident i was thinking of.

 

[Broo]

I don't know how anyone can say anything bad about Louis Theroux. He asks intelligent, very loaded questions, he is very polite and manages to explain his moral objections to some people's activities in a sensitive way, he doesn't take himself too seriously and he has the balls and confidence to go to dodgy areas and chat to nutters.

 

[Solius]

Watching the Meth one at the moment.

A meth addict is training to be a drug counsellor bloody hell.

 

[Biscuit1871]

Was a good episode. Some of it was unbelievable, like the guy and woman who seemed relatively normal, but apparently smoked Crystal meth before they went to work each day. Some very sad stories, but extremely well documented.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I thought it was terrible actually.

I really like Louis Theroux especially when he's using his faux-naive shtick to encourage malevolent gimps to expose themselves as morons. I also warm to him as a person and I he's clearly a bright, articulate bloke.

All of which made this documentary a massive disappointment. All he did was walk around filming a load of train-wreck lives, in an incredibly poor and depressing part of America. No real insight or analysis was provided other than concluding "drugs are bad mmmmkay"

Who'd have thunk it?

Must do better, Louis, 4/10.

 

[FranklyVulgar]

I like Louis Theroux.

 

[Member 39557]

I thought it was terrible actually.

I really like Louis Theroux especially when he's using his faux-naive shtick to encourage malevolent gimps to expose themselves as morons. I also warm to him as a person and I he's clearly a bright, articulate bloke.

All of which made this documentary a massive disappointment. All he did was walk around filming a load of train-wreck lives, in an incredibly poor and depressing part of America. No real insight or analysis was provided other than concluding "drugs are bad mmmmkay"

Who'd have thunk it?

Must do better, Louis, 4/10.

I would probably agree with that, although It was interesting to see the crap these people were putting themselves through and the way it wrecked their lives. They all seemed powerless to stop the cycle which was quite saddening.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I would probably agree with that, although It was interesting to see the crap these people were putting themselves through and the way it wrecked their lives. They all seemed powerless to stop the cycle which was quite saddening.

Yeah, I suppose so. I've worked with addicts in the past - from a really run-down part of Dublin - so I guess the whole cycle of despair was nothing new to me. If you haven't seen that shite close up already it was probably a bit more interesting. The press is so desperate to demonise junkies it can be surprising to see how normal they actually are and how everyone is just a few bad decisions away from ending up a hollow-eyed wreck of a human being.

The most interesting thing for me about that documentary was the approach of the police. They were using fairly heavy-handed tactics to catch addicts with a couple of grams of meth here and there. It just seemed completely pointless and I wanted to find out what they were hoping to achieve. Louis Theroux didn't make any attempt to analyse the tactics of the police or the chain of supply. Watching a couple of episodes of the Wire would have been more informative than his documentary, which is why I found it so disappointing.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Anyone else waiting for him to be drilled in the mouth?

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Watched several of his Documentaries, including some of his earliest ones. I have to say I've liked them all.

I wouldn't say any of it was really hard-hitting, but still it was insightful.

There was the ones about - aliens (that specific alien-crazy area in America)
- a specific religious fanatic-cult/ family
- evangelists
- living at a Brothel

 

[Lance Uppercut]

The one about female bodybuilders and the assholes who find them attractive was good, if a little worrying.

 

[dumbo]

Yep. He's always been a passive observer. which can work well and has been revealing when he has spent time with a subject; The lonely old guy in the Thai Bride episode, ...meets Jimmy, the swingers, etc.

But here he's just walking around gawping at unfortunates, not focusing long enough to even get a human portrait. I didn't even learn about what it felt like to be high on meth or the hold it had on people. Other than it's highly addictive and destructive I didn't get anything from the show really.

 

[dumbo]

Watched several of his Documentaries, including some of his earliest ones. I have to say I've liked them all.

I wouldn't say any of it was really hard-hitting, but still it was insightful.

There was the ones about - aliens (that specific alien-crazy area in America)
- a specific religious fanatic-cult/ family
- evangelists
- living at a Brothel

Check out:
- Wrestling
- Thai Brides
- Swingers
- UFOs
- Boer survivalists

They're some of his best episodes.

 

[Xander45]

Check out:
- Wrestling
- Thai Brides
- Swingers
- UFOs
- Boer survivalists

They're some of his best episodes.

I remember that one, it was at the old WCW camp. Him running until he threw up is my main memory of it.

 

[Melbourne Red]

His old man's a great writer.

Everyone ought to read 'Saint Jack', his novel about an American pimp in 60s/70s Singapore. One of the better books I've ever read.

 

[I_live_cement]

His old man's one of the best writers to come out of Australia.

Everyone ought to read 'Saint Jack', his novel about an American pimp in 60s/70s Singapore. One of the better books I've ever read.

I though his dad was American?

 

[Biscuit1871]

Yeah, I suppose so. I've worked with addicts in the past - from a really run-down part of Dublin - so I guess the whole cycle of despair was nothing new to me. If you haven't seen that shite close up already it was probably a bit more interesting. The press is so desperate to demonise junkies it can be surprising to see how normal they actually are and how everyone is just a few bad decisions away from ending up a hollow-eyed wreck of a human being.

This is it Pogue. Most people have no idea what a genuine junkie looks like. They just see the demonised portrayal the media convey. The fact that they were so normal was the shocking part. Clearly you've had past experience with hardcore drug addicts, so you are going to be somewhat softened to the picture.

 

[Member 39557]

Yeah, I suppose so. I've worked with addicts in the past - from a really run-down part of Dublin - so I guess the whole cycle of despair was nothing new to me. If you haven't seen that shite close up already it was probably a bit more interesting. The press is so desperate to demonise junkies it can be surprising to see how normal they actually are and how everyone is just a few bad decisions away from ending up a hollow-eyed wreck of a human being.

The most interesting thing for me about that documentary was the approach of the police. They were using fairly heavy-handed tactics to catch addicts with a couple of grams of meth here and there. It just seemed completely pointless and I wanted to find out what they were hoping to achieve. Louis Theroux didn't make any attempt to analyse the tactics of the police or the chain of supply. Watching a couple of episodes of the Wire would have been more informative than his documentary, which is why I found it so disappointing.

I also noticed this but In my experience of Louis, he usually concentrates on the "human" element of the story/issue so I don't expect anything too in-depth. It would have been nice to get a deeper insight into the police tactics though.

 

[Melbourne Red]

I though his dad was American?

Aye, he is. I got confused with someone else.

 

[Diver]

He's my favourite TV journo.

Actually probably one of the few i like.

 

[Biscuit1871]

New episode - Louis Theroux: America's Medicated Kids.

Should be interesting.

 

[Biscuit1871]

Anyone watch tonight's episode? I don't know how genuine nor accurate a portrayal it was, but it made the issue of the west bank appear to be a petty, ritualistic game of cat and mouse. Once a week a guy walks up to a check point, throws a smoke grenade, the IDF then retaliate with their own smoke grenades, followed by a Palestine retreat, then an IDF retreat, then start once more and follow until bored. Obviously that's just one isolated example, but it seems to be a general theme. Also was surprised to see how much kids, who looked as young as 4, were involved in throwing stones at passing Jewish vehicles. Goes to show that nothing is going to change in the near future.

 

[holdsteady]

God I just wanted to punch that odious businessman cnut in the face.