Mythbusters **** (out of 5)

Adam and I love to watch Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. I think that we’ve seen every episode ever aired. The basic premise: the Mythbusting team takes age old adages or myths and ‘puts them to the test’ to see if they really are true. We’ve seen the Mythbusters challenge quite a few myths – from questioning if it really is possible to teach old dogs new tricks to examining if rolling stones really gather no moss. They’ve tested quite a few conventional (and even some rather unconventional) myths.

According to their website, they have aired 82 shows (though I believe that that number may be a little outdated). The early shows feature only Jamie and Adam and are, I think, a little more interesting than the later shows, for they test some of the more common myths – ones that (my) Adam and I have actually heard of. Plus in the early shows, it was fun to watch conservative and careful Jamie and erratic and crazy Adam interact with each other. In later episodes, it appears that they have rubbed off on one another, making their personalities a little less distinct and taming down the interaction between the two.

The Mythbusters team has grown since the first shows and and now includes Grant, Kari and Tory. While they are all fun to watch, I don’t think that the show would have survived without super-smart Grant who always knows how to build the exact thing that is needed. (Grant is by far the best Mythbuster on the team!).

In general, I really enjoy the show, though lately, I think that they may be stretching for material. They plug their website a ton (asking for new myths to bust) and the number of commercials per episode has steadily increased. It also appears that the myths that are being busted are more and more dangerous (well beyond the schadenfreude of Adam vacuuming his face or burning his eyebrow off or Tory trying to clear a way-too-high jump on his bike) and more and more scary stunts are taking place inside the converted warehouse/shop that the show occupies. We recently saw a show that included rather careless actions (exploding cannons in the shop!) which made me happy that I wasn’t the Mother of any on the team!!

I have learned some things from the show and I like the fact that they revisit myths when the viewers think that the team didn’t fully address the myth at hand. I think that the show may have unavoidably become a little more commercialized than ideal, but I guess that is the way that these things go.

Overall, I’d say it’s worth Tivoing (that way the commercials don’t waste your time!) – and best of all, probably provides something for most viewers.