The “Bullshit” Question: How do you classify this one?

I have been watching Penn and Teller: Bullshit! for a few years after a friend introduced me to it. Most people know these guys as magician entertainers. Maybe you have caught one of their performances in Las Vegas. When they aren’t putting on magic shows, Penn and Teller are tackling current politically driven debates. Penn takes the lead in these shows as the narrator and Teller does his usual bit— he doesn’t speak, but communicates through miming and nonverbal language. Together along with their camera and reporting crew have produced shows exposing controversial issues surrounding anything from abortion, to second hand smoke to “The Business of Love.”

My background, as some of you know, was in broadcasting. I studied in school to learn how to write for TV news packages. A lot of what Bullshit! does surrounds the same “nat pack” style of multimedia. However, their show is highly opinionated and explicit. Keep in mind they are journalistic about their approach to calling out America’s bullshit. They have well qualified people speaking on their show from both sides of the issue.

This particular episode is one of my favorites. They do such a good job in showing both sides. Really, they do. On the pro War on Drugs side, they have Bob Weiner at 5:28. He was involved with US drug strategy over the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He says interesting one liners that honestly discredit him and expose him for the insane lack of understanding he has surrounding the benefits of medical marijuana. He says that      “[medical marijuana] is just an excuse by the legalizers to get into the issue.”

To show the other side, they talk to Dr. Lester Grinspoon at 18:16, who graduated from the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Grinspoon’s advocacy for medical marijuana was established after he saw the positive affects it had for his 13 year old son who had terrible nausea and vomiting because of chemotherapy. Sadly,  his son passed away later that year. His experience lead him to began one of the first medical studies of medical marijuana.

I don’t expect you all have 30 minutes to watch this episode, but I wanted to get your opinion on what this show is classified as. Look at the episode at 27:07– 29:25 about the guy smoking a joint outside of the White House. It is outlined like a news package you would see on television (with some more cuss words, i’ll admit.) Is it reflexive because of the way Penn interjects? According to the documentary approach, is it journalistic?