Who else is a fan of Louis Theroux?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Nov 2007, 02:32

I just re-watched his documentary on Thai brides on Google Video, truly shocking and I know Thai culture pretty well.

He's such a brilliant and clearly intelligent journalist.

I love how he's always so calm no matter what people say to him or he sees. It makes it possible for Louis to say things other people wouldn't get away with.

His documentary on "The most hated family in America" earlier this year was excellent. His documentary on Plastic Surgery was also good. I do wish he'd create documentaries not solely about America but that's only a minor gripe. As far as I know except for one show in South Africa all his TV work (except when he's met a particular British personality) has been in America.

I'm watching his Best of Box set on eBay. Sadly it's not all the episodes, just a mixture from his two previous series.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 15 Nov 2007, 02:36

He's done a series in the UK though hasn't he? I never watched it, but I recall his programs on the Hamiltons and Paul Daniels/Debbie Mcgee made a fuss. IIRC he was shooting the docu with the hamiltons when they had that crazy rape charge brought against them.

I like Theroux though, but can't say i've seen any of his shows past Weird Weekend's first 2 seasons.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 15 Nov 2007, 04:28

Weird Weekends rocks.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 Nov 2007, 15:09

Agreed.

As is his "When Louis met" series, which is the one Shingster is referring to. His latest series doesn't have an overall name but so far we've had 3 shows over the year. I missed the first (Las Vegas Gambling).

Shingster wrote:He's done a series in the UK though hasn't he?

I don't think that was a series as such but some one off episodes. Which I mentioned

Most of his TV work is definitely State side.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Nov 2007, 18:06

The Porno episode was best, hilarious stuff!

Gay for Pay

and the little porn guy who loves Godzilla and doesnt mind catching aids as long as he gets to do porn.

What a bunch of inbred fools porn people seem to come off as, greedy and freaky.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Feb 2008, 02:31

According to last weeks Nuts magazine (I don't normally buy it but it had a "feature" on Big Boobs 8) ) Louis has a new box set coming out.

I cannot find anything about it other than it will be called "The Louis Theroux Collection", which is nice and confusing as that's what the last box set was also called. I presume it will be a box set featuring his recent documentaries.

Is anyone else watching any of the Dawn Porter documentaries on BBC3? Not only is she hot (real woman hot) but she's like a female Louis Theroux (although not as good). The one she did on Lesbians had me in fits.

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 27 Feb 2008, 08:00

I would never admit to watching BBC3, and I don't watch it in the first place so I will never have to.

Louis is good, he's so poor at his job but at the same time it's excellent.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Feb 2008, 12:20

They showed some of his recent ones over here. I caught the Fred Phelps, Las Vegas, plastic surgery and prison ones.

The Phelps doco was pretty damn good, the facts were mostly already threaded ground - but actually getting to know the cult members/insight into their lives was what made the doco. The power that gambling had over those people left me in awe, by the far the best of the lot that I saw. Plastic surgery and prison though were average, not much I already didn't know.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Feb 2008, 15:27

EvaUnit02 wrote:They showed some of his recent ones over here. I caught the Fred Phelps, Las Vegas, plastic surgery and prison ones.p

That's all of them. I missed the Las Vegas one which aired here first.

EvaUnit02 wrote:The Phelps doco was pretty damn good, the facts were mostly already threaded ground - but actually getting to know the cult members/insight into their lives was what made the doco.

Agreed. It was probably his best yet.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Plastic surgery and prison though were average, not much I already didn't know.

The Plastic Surgery was no more than okay. The prison one was pretty good.

Lourdes wrote:I would never admit to watching BBC3

How pompous. Are you more a Nuts TV fan?

Lourdes wrote:and I don't watch it in the first place so I will never have to.

Is that supposed to make sense?

Lourdes wrote:Louis is good, he's so poor at his job but at the same time it's excellent.

I think he's a fantastic journalist. The interviewee is always so comfortable with him they're prepared to say the most honest things.

His laid back approach is what makes him so good, he's clearly also very intelligent too.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Apr 2008, 13:20

Heads up:

Louis Theroux Hunting in Africa this Sunday at 9pm on BBC2.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 02 Apr 2008, 14:28

Thanks, will torrent.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 07 Apr 2008, 20:42

bradavon wrote:Heads up:

Louis Theroux Hunting in Africa this Sunday at 9pm on BBC2.

Watched it. Louis was barking up the wrong tree with this one, the hunting of these animals saved the species and this is the way things will have to be. I think Louis was a twat in some of his questioning too.

Speccy fud!!

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Apr 2008, 20:46

I was going to watch it the next day or so. I usually find myself agreeing with Louis.

I'll reserve judgement to reply to your comments Tiger until I've seen it

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 08 Apr 2008, 20:44

bradavon wrote:I was going to watch it the next day or so. I usually find myself agreeing with Louis.

I'll reserve judgement to reply to your comments Tiger until I've seen it

The hunters & gamekeepers/farmers arguement was simple, without hunting some of the species would be extinct by now. Species facing extinction are now thriving off the back of this business, i just feel he sold out on a few points and was trying to paint not entirely accurate or true reflection of the business and the people.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 Apr 2008, 03:37

Good doco, which did present both sides of the coin. Although I would agree with Tiger that it was slightly skewed away from the "for" argument.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Apr 2008, 10:07

Hunting near extinct species repopulates them? How does that work?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 10 Apr 2008, 10:55

grim_tales wrote:Hunting near extinct species repopulates them? How does that work?

They are bred and raised on farms to be hunted. TBH, JUST WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Apr 2008, 14:16

I plan to watch it hence why I've so far reserved from commenting on that policy but I don't buy it. Nature has a perfectly suitable way of controlling it's species without man's involvement.

But like I said I've not seen the documentary so don't want to jump to conclusions. I will be over the next day or so.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 10 Apr 2008, 20:34

bradavon wrote: Nature has a perfectly suitable way of controlling it's species without man's involvement.

grimtales wrote:Hunting near extinct species repopulates them? How does that work?

The very concept of it sounds bonkers right?

Basically you have an endangered species and unless they are protected they will become extinct. These farmers/vets breed, protect and care for these animals to the point they no longer become endangered and let some of them be killed by hunters in order to fund this business.

There is very little or no waste, all meat is either consumed or sold and more importantly (to me anyway) the kills are regulated and controlled to be as humane as possible. The concern on the groundskeepers faces when an animal was shot and had run off into the night, they tracked and canvassed for ages to ensure it was not lying injured or wounded.

I guess i could see alot of good in some of the people and thier actions and i felt Louis was very predictable and quite un-objective. The real sickener for me being such a fan of his work was when he said he would go on the hunt and try to kill the boar. He was never going to do it and if i was him i would not either but its the fact he had no intention of killing the animal and it all felt staged.......well it did for me anyway.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 10 Apr 2008, 20:39

Thoughts from someone else on another forum which matches my feelings

I expected to be totally appalled and I was, for about the first ten minutes. Then I started to think that this was no worse than free range farming. Sure, they are exploiting rich people who have nothing better to spend a thousand pounds on than a dead gazelle, but there was no undue suffering involved and the animals were very responsibly cultivated.

Louis' attitude actually frustrated me. I could understand that he couldn't kill the warthog, as I couldn't either. However, to say 'I can eat animals, but I'd rather leave the experts to it' then walk away appearing morally superior was totally wrong. Some of Louis's questions seemed especially naive and pointless- "could we go and film the lions again?". No, because we've already spent hours filming them! The farmers were not upset with Louis, they were frustrated because they could see this man obviously trying to portray their livelihood in a negative way. Besides, Louis' argument never got any further than "is it wrong to shoot animals?" and "do you love your animals?" This became evident when the same man expressed something very close to love for his animals...when he wasn't being bombarded with questions by someone certain to depict him as a ruthless idiot.

And besides...is a vet caring for animals he is going to allow to be shot any worse than a British farm vet healing animals only for them to be killed days or weeks later?

Lourdes · Post by **Lourdes** » 13 Apr 2008, 11:52

Finally got round to watching this. Louis is just so poor at his job, sometimes his approach brings out interesting results but so often than not he just frustrates or pisses off everybody including the viewer. I suppose that is the more honest approach but it often makes him come across as a complete idiot especially since most of the time his opinions never change.

As for this episode. Well at first it did seem quite terrible but when you hear the farmers take on the situation it makes perfect sense. Without this they would all be poached to extinction as they have no purpose in a starving country. Although I didn't like that it wasn't always so natural, selective breeding and actually feeding them for example.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Apr 2008, 16:30

Lourdes wrote:Finally got round to watching this. Louis is just so poor at his job, sometimes his approach brings out interesting results but so often than not he just frustrates or pisses off everybody including the viewer. I suppose that is the more honest approach but it often makes him come across as a complete idiot especially since most of the time his opinions never change.

I couldn't disagree more.

I've always thought Louis comes across as not only intelligent but his relaxed approach to film-making means he gets the person he's interviewing on side before he asks the more in-depth questions he'd never get away with asking before they feel comfortable with him.

Sure they may feel uncomfortable at times answering such questions but he never forces the subject so they can easily walk away. Like you say his approach (often in my opinion) can give some very interesting results. He manages to draw out information they'd never normally give away. I've never seen anyone pissed off at him. He's also very popular with audiences so I think people who're pissed off at him are in the minority.

Most documentarians views don't change per say. They have an opinion on a subject and go out to find more about it. As long as we're given the facts so we can make our own minds up I see nothing wrong with the documentarians also giving their opinion too.

Louis's documentary on those religious nutters in America last year was excellent.

I think he's fantastic at his job. I always look forward to checking out one of his documentaries and even own one of his box sets (the best one), when I normally never buy box sets.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 13 Apr 2008, 16:32

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 14 Apr 2008, 16:59

Brad, have you watched the show yet? The hunting/farming one in Africa. Id be keen to hear your thoughts on it and Loius after watching it.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 Apr 2008, 00:41

Thank Tiger.

I watched this about an hour ago and thought it was up to the usual Louis Theroux standard. I didn't think much of the one he did on plastic surgery for example.

His best documentaries lay down the facts then lets the viewer decide. The opening shot of the little South African girl (who looked about eight) was shocking indeed. Guns should be kept well away from children, they should be taught how lethal they are, not actively encouraged to use a one, especially at such a young age.

I equally thought how wrong it was of the Americans to be so elated at killing these defenceless animals. I saw no sport in sitting in a box and shooting an animal at such a close range, the animal had no chance of surviving at all. They kept calling it hunting but I actually saw NO hunting whatsoever. At least if there was actual hunting I could see some purpose to it, kind of.

I also found it interesting that the majority of the clients are American. For whatever reason Americans in particular have a REALLY unhealthy attitude to firearms.

On the other hand one game keeper made two very good points:

1. In Zimbabwe there was no controls over hunting so now certain wildlife has been brought to extinction. At least rather perversely the animals in South Africa were being saved from extinction.
2. I've said it before and I'll said it again. Where is the difference in killing an animal through so called hunting and eating it at a dinner table? At least these hunters appreciated how frankly "messy" killing an animal is. You have to respect that.

That said I cannot help thinking it's not a good enough reason to breed animals to then gutlessly (sp?) kill them, just because perhaps they'd be extinct otherwise. That to me strikes as a cop out from those who want a valid excuse to do what they're doing. The solution should be to "properly" fight poachers and make it illegal for the animals to be killed. Sure this would possibly mean more animals die but at least they'd be doing the morally right thing. The trouble with most prevention schemes in Africa, is they always seem half cocked, so are doomed to failure.

I do appreciate the probable reality is that if these places didn't exist the animals would eventually be extinct. Which if I had to choose between hunting or extinction, it's an easy call to keep the hunting outfits. You do raise some good points Tiger, that at least making it legal it can be controlled and you don't have animals slowly dyeing in pain. As is probably the case in other parts of Africa.

However, to say 'I can eat animals, but I'd rather leave the experts to it' then walk away appearing morally superior was totally wrong.

I didn't get that impression. He was merely echoing what the vast majority of people (who eat meat) are thinking. I didn't think he was trying to be superior.

To be fair he did attempt to try hunting himself but his own morals wouldn't let him do it. I think he genuinely wanted to attempt to fire that bow, but in the end he couldn't. You also have to respect that.

The farmers were not upset with Louis, they were frustrated because they could see this man obviously trying to portray their livelihood in a negative way.

Maybe, but the simple fact is no matter how they try and dress it up they are actively encouraging the killing of animals for pleasure.

I was definitely pleased to see the animals were eaten afterwards though, but that doesn't change the fact that the purpose of them being killed is for a gutless sport not to eat them. That's gutless because their is no sport or hunting in it. Not the actual act itself.

Besides, Louis' argument never got any further than "is it wrong to shoot animals?"

I personally think that's a massive question of right or wrong in it's own right. It's a strong enough point as it is.

Tigercage wrote:And besides...is a vet caring for animals he is going to allow to be shot any worse than a British farm vet healing animals only for them to be killed days or weeks later?

As far as I am concerned there is no difference. I couldn't agree more.

Most people are incredibly hypocritical when it comes to killing and eating animals. I suspect Louis was thinking the same. The absurdity is, if you asked anyone, they'd probably agree but they certainly wouldn't then go to an abitware (sp?), to see for themselves how cattle are killed.

Incidentally when I have children and they're old enough I plan to properly educate them about where meat comes from, so they make an informed decision whether to eat meat or be a vegetarian for themselves. I never plan to eat it again but I wouldn't prevent my children from doing so.

Lourdes wrote:Without this they would all be poached to extinction as they have no purpose in a starving country.

Being a realist, in reality I'd have to agree. I still cannot help but thinking that's not really the point though. The government should be spending the time to education it's people, feed it's people so they realise there are better ways to do things.

That's just my views anyway.