BBC's best journalist in brilliant show (Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends
Date:	04/02/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Louis Louis Louis

Disadvantages: Not enough Louis on TV

WHAT IS IT ABOUT:
Oddball journalist Louis Theroux spends a weekend with an intriguing personality, making a documentary along the way. The show airs sporadically on the BBC.

IS IT ANY GOOD:
This is one of my favourite shows and it works for two simple reasons:

1) The host - Louis Theroux (son of travel writer Paul Theroux) is a disarmingly awkward man; he looks like a geek, which means he is able to get under most people's protective barriers, and expose the real person. He is a master at asking pointed questions, and ridiculing the oddity of what is being said without making it obvious. His dry wit and sarcasm, combined with his looks, pull people into a false sense of security from where he pulls them apart and exposes their idiocy. His craft is a joy to behold.

2) The guests - the guests are always interesting, but the particular highlights would have to be Paul Daniels and Jimmy Saville, both of whom live in a kind of outdated land that time never forgot. Louis manages to pull out great vulnerability on the show. For example, when Jimmy Saville showed the camera how he still keeps all of his dead mother's clothes, it was a very brave thing to do. The guests all have the same characteristics in that they are odd, bizarre, and both annoying and likeable at different times.

IF YOU LIKED IT:
Louis has odd one off shows on the BBC every now and again, so keep your eyes open! The most recent ones saw him in an American high security prison, and in the vigilante slum towns of South Africa. Both were equally terrifying, but again Theroux's calm persona was the perfect guide to the dangerous and complex topics.

IN CONCLUSION:
An expert host reveals the oddity behind some of the country's most eccentric celebrities. It's a real shame that the BBC doesn't pin him down to more steady work.

Summary: watch it!