BuzzFlash Reviews
Ira Glass's This American Life: Second Season DVD (Released 2009)
By Ira Glass for Showtime
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Glass is a spellbinding reporter who somehow, in a low-key matter-of-fact voice, knows how to tell a story. He makes the mundane seem surreal, and the bizarre seem mundane. That's quite a feat. He's got a style that inexplicably sucks you in, given that he shows so little emotion. His sense of detail is almost novelistic, but his subject matter is the real world.
Glass is the real thing when it comes to "reality TV" and radio, but it's the real reality, not the manufactured, sensationalistic kind.
There's a mesmerizing quality to the way that he unfolds a story, as if he had just dropped in on it and then takes you backward, letting "clues" drop along the way.
But it's everyday Americans who are at the heart of his stories.
From DVD Talk:
"In addition to all six episodes of the series, the single-disc release features a 77-minute cut of This American Life - Live!, the May 1, 2008 show at NYU that was simulcast to theaters across the country promoting the second season, and an audio commentary by host Ira Glass and director Christopher Wilcha for episode one.
A bit of background for the uninitiated: This American Life began on Chicago Public Radio in 1995 and is now carried on over 500 public radio stations each week, as well as being available as a free podcast. TAL made the leap to TV in 2007 with six episodes on Showtime, and completed a second run of six more episodes in 2008. Like the radio program, the TV series features true stories about real people organized around a theme."
From the producers:
"Season Two of our TV show ran in Spring 2008 and won two Emmys - for Outstanding Nonfiction Series and for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming - and scored nominations in three other categories: for writing, cinematography and editing. As proud as we all were of Season One, the stories were definitely funnier and more confident in Season Two. The series starts with one of the best episodes we've put on TV, and ends with an epic, hour-long show that tries to tell the story of a entire human life, from cradle to grave, by documenting the lives of seven people with the same name."
An online reviewer of this just released Season II Shotime DVD of "This American Life" writes:
This American Life is easily the best show on the radio, and with season 2 it can safely be said that its television adaptation joins the ranks of the best on that medium as well. While Season 1 faltered slightly, constrained too much by the differences in format and perhaps a bit too indulgent in stories that weren't as interesting as the producers thought, Season 2 is nothing short of astonishing. It's funny, it's deeply moving, and introspective about what makes us all human. The final, longer episode, "John Smith", reduces me to a sobbing mess every time I watch it. It's simply one of my favorite pieces of film ever made, ever, and I've spent the better part of my life sifting through eclectic movies and television.
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