Morgan Spurlock Goes "Off the Grid"
by Erin Courtenay - Madison, WI on 07.11.05
A recent TreeHugger post on the Dancing Rabbit EcoVillage kicked up a number of thought-provoking reader comments on the pros, cons and idiosyncrasies of cooperative living. Thanks to Morgan Spurlock, the creator and star of Super Size Me, we can get a closer look at life at Dancing Rabbit when the ecovillage plays host to an episode of Thirty Days, Spurlock’s latest assumption-busting media project. The hour-long TV show is set to air July 13th on the FX network.
Promo for the show describes the upcoming Off the Grid episode as follows: “two 30-year-old professionals who are friends and typical Americans - ie, ravenous consumers of fossil fuels such as gas and electricity - go "back to the future" and learn to live without the natural resources that will be depleted from our earth in the not-too-distant future. To do this they'll uproot themselves and move to an ‘eco village’ in Missouri to live 100% OFF THE GRID..."
The television series Thirty Days is a thinking person’s reality program that challenges deeply-held beliefs and prejudices among Americans from a range of backgrounds. Previous episodes featured the Spurlocks living on a minimum wage, a straight military man living with a gay roommate in San Francisco, and a southern Christian staying with a Muslim family for thirty days.
Dancing Rabbit has a nice page on their site that describes the ecovillage’s perspective on the show. It appears to have been a good experience for everyone and should offer viewers insight into sustainable practices like organic gardening and biodiesel fuel. They say that their guest’s carnivorous habit was a bit overemphasized, but that it did provide a good platform to discuss the impact of a meat-based diet. Tune in and drop in on July 13th. Thank you to Erica in Los Angeles for the tip!
I have caught every episode insofar, and it is on par with "TV Nation" as one of the best series ever produced.
Would love to see it, but I don't think we have FX in the UK. Does anybody know if there is any way I could see this show, DVD or UK showings or anything?
while I agree with some of what he says, I am very disappointed with the overall sloppiness (intentional or not, much like Michael Moore) of Morgan's fact-checking... I've found a blog recently that delineates some of the shortcomings I was noticing:
http://www.spurlockwatch.typepad.com/
I think Morgan spurlock should have a 30 days episode of a guy making minimum wage and having 65% of his gross wages takin for child support and how he survives with rent,bills,food,gas. etc.