Product Details

• Actors: Morgan Spurlock
• Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: July 11, 2006
• Run Time: 270 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000EXDRZ8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,015 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Television > Fox TV > 30 Days

• For more information about "30 Days - Season 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A reality show that's entertaining and smart? Sounds about as oxymoronic as it gets, but Morgan Spurlock has pulled it off with 30 Days. With this series (offered here on two discs containing six episodes and a variety of bonus material), Spurlock, who got a 2005 Best Documentary Oscar nomination for Super Size Me, his record of a harrowing month spent on a strict McDonald's-only diet, has effectively taken his act to the not-so-small screen. The premise: put "normal" middle-class Americans (in this case, all of them white) into situations where they are way out of their comfort zones, archetypal fish out of water who must spend 30 days experiencing how the other half lives. Thus we have tales involving a Christian from West Virginia who lives with a Muslim American couple in Dearborn, Michigan; a straight dude from rural Michigan who moves in with a homosexual roommate in San Francisco's Castro District, "the gayest place on Earth;" and a mother in Phoenix who, concerned about her daughter's excessive drinking at college, goes on her own heavy alcohol binge. Spurlock himself is the subject of an episode in which he and his fiancé try to subsist on the minimum wage, while the only one that doesn't fit the mold concerns an out-of-shape 34-year-old man trying to find the fountain of youth by embarking on a strict regimen of exercise, diet, and major doses of steroids and Human Growth Hormone pills.

The stories don't all have happy endings: the Phoenix woman's drinking has no affect whatsoever on her daughter, and the steroid guy drops out when his sperm count almost immediately drops to zero. But the discomfort felt by the others seems genuine, as do the lessons in tolerance and cultural understanding they eventually learn, even given the artificial confines of reality TV. What's more, Spurlock provides some real information along the way, telling us how many drinks it takes to be over the legal limit in Arizona (five shots ought to do it) or how many passages in the Bible are interpreted as proscribing homosexuality (six), detailing the negative side effects of "anti-aging" medicines (too many to list here), and offering insight into such Muslim customs as prayer and fasting (the Christian dresses in Muslim garb and even learns a little Arabic). Extra features include commentary (by Spurlock and others) on four of the episodes, as well as "Diary Cams" (outtakes, basically) for all six. --Sam Graham

Product Description
From Morgan Spurlock, the Academy Award nominated writer, director, and star of the hit film Supersize Me, comes Thirty Days, the intelligent and innovative TV show that dares to ask: Â"Do we really know what itÂ's like to see the world through our neighborsÂ' eyes?Â"

Explore some of AmericaÂ's most pressing social issues by following the lives of ordinary people who agree to live well-outside their comfort zones for thirty days: Spurlock and his fiancÃ(c)e try to make ends meet by working minimum wage jobs, a devout Christian immerses himself in Islamic culture, a homophobic young man goes to live and work in San FranciscoÂ's largely-gay Castro District, and more. Provocative, poignant, and hilarious, Thirty Days is a true originalÂ...often unpredictable and always eye-opening!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and eye opening :-), June 18, 2006

By	Little Miss Cutey (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This is fantastic work. It's so well done and this is what reality tv should really be about. It's an honest look at various subjects and how society views certain situations etc.
What Morgan has done should give him some kind of award. He himself and his girlfriend showed America what it would be like (and is on a day to day basis) for people to live on minimum wage for 30 days. How there is no money for anything but essentials and even then that's scarce. A visit to the hospital could wipe someone out for weeks. Not only does the hospital visit cost money, but time away from work means no pay.
He also got other people to trade lives for 30 day periods. A homophobic lives in gay San Francisco, a redneck goes to Muslim America, a mother drinks as much as her college daughter does. It really opens your eyes to people who are different to you, how other people live and things we take for granted in our lives. I really recommend that everyone should see this because there is so much to learn from it.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morgan is Brilliant-Must See TV reality show is Excellence!, July 13, 2006

By	Music Fan-atic "Glen" (Hogwarts) - See all my reviews

I must admit that I am by no means an advocate of reality television. In my own opinion, a lot of what we view as reality television, I consider "crap-TV". There seems to be no relevence or importance to any of it, besides degradation or humiliation for financial gain. Now, someone has finally come along with "expose TV" where a subject "lives the life" for 30 days. Spawned from the highly publicized, controversial documentary "Super-Size Me", this show takes a weekly stab at controversial material and brings it to the light of day. Morgan Spurlock, in my book, is a genius. His down to earth approach to expose journalism is brilliant. Some of the subjects covered are living life of minimum wage, homophobia, American views of the Muslim religion, America's obsession with Anti-Aging, Binge drinking and more. Eye opening,shocking and sad commentary on where we are in our lives, but uplifting in the thought that....it makes you think. Best of reality TV! Highly recommended!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only a bad transition to DVD could spoil this treasure, July 7, 2006

By	K. Varraso "Amazon boxes everywhere" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of those shows that gets you right in the pit of your stomach, leaving you drained and unable to think of anything else. Our nation's lawmakers would do well to watch the "living on minimum wage" episode, and hopefully they will never view the "Living Off the Grid" one. (alternate title: Better Living Through Chemicals)

You'll think seriously about your relationship with God, and if the outer trappings really mean that much once you visit Michigan, which has many immigrants who practice the Muslm faith. Then you get to wonder why these gentle, learned people are so demonized, and if the "War on Terror" is merely another Crusade, ~500 yrs late.

You will meet the most patient person on Earth, Ed, who lives in the Castro District of San Francisco, who takes in a lovable, heterosexual Caveman for a houseguest. Surprisingly, both are changed at the end of the month (Ed less than Thor, of course). This episode, like most of the others, grabs your attention and doesn't let you go until the ride has come to a complete stop. You stumble through the exit and turn off the television, thinking about what the heck you've seen.

We saw all the episodes multiple times (Thank You, TIVO), and have pre-ordered the DVDs. Our hope is that the DVDs will add loads of new material and teasers for the coming season. But even if it doesn't, just getting to watch the episodes once more without commercials will be a real treat.

This television series is best for adults and older teens; parents of younger teens will have to decide on a case by case basis.