BeigeJournal

The Outdoor Life Network’s show Outdoor Outtakes is yet another example of the very inexpensive type of TV show that consists of video (often home video) of people hurting themselves. The focus is primarily on athletes hurting themselves, or in some cases not hurting themselves but still doing something that seems TV-worthy to the producers.

Outdoor Outtakes takes the humorous approach, complete with a laugh track. We are left to ponder whether it is sleazier to openly laugh at skateboarders smacking their heads on the pavement or to affect a faux-serious tone, as though you had a serious educational or cultural purpose in showing rollerbladers impacting railings crotch-first.

On one the one hand, laughing at people who just landed on a rock seems cruel, on the other hand, if said people deliberately put skis on in the summer and slid down a dirt pile with jagged rocks all around while being videotaped, well, you have to figure they signed up for it. Some of the people getting smacked, however, are spectators, who presumably just wanted to see the nutbars slide down the ski slope in kayaks and were not planning on getting involved in the action. In that respect, I suppose there is an educational purpose to the show: while anyone with more cognitive function than concrete realizes that going down stairs on a skateboard might be hazardous, it may not be obvious to some just how distant a safe distance for observation may be. Maybe you ought to just watch the TV show.

The other popular topic is people doing athletic stuff while nude. They don’t actually show the nudity of course. Apparently we’re supposed to be titillated by the mere knowledge that, out there, somewhere, there are naked people who we can’t see. (Most of the programming on E! is of this nature.) Frankly, that doesn’t do it for me. If you want nude rock climbers, I recommend the Stone Nudes calendar. Beautiful black and white photography, no pixelation, and you can keep track time with the handy calendar. [2004-01-16: I do like the 2004 Stone Nudes calender, in case you wondered.]

Having just trashed the show as tacky, stupid, and occasionally not-very-titillating in that bizarre prudish-sleazy American fashion, I’ll confess that I for some reason never tire of seeing our extreme sports enthusiasts discovering the hard way that, as Dirty Harry said, “A man has got to know his limitations.” It is hard to be happy with this particular show, though.

Update 2003/12-12 23:30 UTC:

Responding to Harold Freely’s comment, I had seen only one or two episodes when I wrote this. I’ve since seen some more, and although I don’t think occasional fictional stories or dialog are new, doing an entire show around made up stories or events is different. I’d say the stories range from hilarious to the lame, but they do on the whole add to the humor. I’m still undecided whether a comedic approach to this subject matter is good or bad. As I’ve said, most of the (human) participants voluntarily did things that anyone could have told them would probably hurt, so I can’t feel too sorry for them. The animal segments do tend to be pretty funny, thanks in part to the goofy stories. The nudity I’m less happy with, not because I’m opposed to nudity but because I’m in favor of it. I do find it just amazing that in this country playing a laugh track while someone falls and hits his head is OK but showing human buttocks is simply unthinkable.

I still have mixed feelings about the show, but it is generally quite funny.

2004-01-04: More comments at That character would get on Outdoor Outtakes.