We are likely mid-way into the latest installment of Man vs. Wild and I thought I’d give my thoughts. The important aspect of this particular season is that it really is the first real season after the debacle of everyone finding out just how fake the show was. The news was out before the previous season, but I had the feeling that they were caught with their pants down. The show seemed very much like a series of how to clips that weren’t entertaining nor interesting.
This problem became fixed for the most part in the new season. The shows has largely gone back to their old format of Bear wandering around aimlessly pretending to be trying to survive. He now talks to the camera man and has the camera man help him at times, I think this is their way of ensuring us that it is all just a show and not real survival. I still think there is more going on than they are even letting on, but honestly it doesn’t matter anymore. It is an entertaining show even if it is completely fake. There are a few remaining clips, but they are few and far between now.
Now there are new issues with the show. The main one being the show is all about Bear eating disgusting things over and over. What used to be something that occured 1 time a show is now there every few minutes, about 4 or 5 times a show. I also think he has started to eat things in a way so that the guts are purposely bursting out of his mouth and hitting the camera. It is like an episode of Fear Factor meets a disturbing porno movie.
I think they are generally running out of ideas too. A lot of this season seems to be doing other seasons all over again. A new version of Castaway was done, perhaps due to the last one being discovered that he spent the time in a hotel. I don’t know but it seemed old this time around.
Still, I gotta say that it is far more interesting than the previous season. I think the main issue now facing the show is that it is long in the tooth and to counter this they have to try to make it more disgusting than it had before, so that people hopefully won’t notice that they are doing the same episode they’ve done a couple years prior. It is still worth watching, but not what it once was.