If there’s one cable TV channel I instinctively choose to partner with our couch, it would be The Discovery Channel. Over the years I’ve come to love the programs it has been showing. I can endure its re-runs played the nth time and still get awed and surprised every time I see it. I don’t call it short memory retention, I just consider it both an entertaining and a learning experience.
Discovery has been like a drive-thru movie (which we Filipinos here in Pinas see only in films) that my wife and I love whenever we’re home. It’s like a subliminal message has been planted over our brains that whatever mood we’re in, we just appreciate the fact that we’re in front of the boob tube absorbing whatever show it feeds us. Discovery has made us love the mood swings of the Teutuls of the Orange County Choppers; learned the art of survival with Bear Gryll’s Man vs. Wild; realized why the king crabs are such pricey meals after watching Deadliest Catch; understand how ordinary things take shape in How It’s Made; and of course, how can I forget the Mythbusters.
Considering me as a fan of conspiracy theories, urban legends and of any myths around, the Mythbusters has been like a How-To book to me. It is TV’s version of howstuffworks. You watch it when you want to know if one myth is plausible or busted. I once told my wife that I’d prefer it as my background while at home over FM radio stations. Mythbusters is music to my ears.
This week another seemingly promising show debuts–Smash Lab. Despite coming from a graveyard shift together with the cool rainy weather outside, I was able to resist the call of our comfy bed. I glued myself in front of the TV to welcome the show Smash Lab. I was full of anticipation.
But like any myths in Mythbusters, I was soon like Adam calling it busted just as the myth is told. I was nowhere in the middle of Smash Lab premier when I saw myself in the mirror yawning not because of the lack of sleep but because of sudden realization that the show is a total bore. Other similarly predictable boring series began playing in my head.
So that’s how I got lost in Smash Lab. It now belongs to my list of most hated shows like Lost and Sex and the City. This one is a total waste of production money and talent. The premier episode is about stopping cars using aerated concrete added to existing barriers and lane dividers in which all of the experiments end in a pathetic and pretentious shout of success. The show falls short of convincing Mythbusters fans (like me) to pack up and let Adam, Jamie, Grant, Kari and Tory be a thing of the past. As for first impressions, which could last, this show is BUSTED.
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Why also avoid these shows:
- Lost. Lost people who get to wear new set of clothes every episode? No thanks.
- Prison Break. Want a clue what this show is all about? Duh!
- Numbers. I hate this show just as I hate math. I would even kneel wherever I am if one day I would read in the papers that an FBI/NBI investigator plotting complex mathematical calculations to pin point a criminal. Until that time comes, this show for me is Zero.
- Sex and the City – It’s nothing but promiscuity. But frankly, I get turned on just at the sight of Sarah Jessica Parker.
Marcus Can Blog 