Louis Theroux

[d000hg]

I liked his adventures in America but the two recent programs were really interesting if a little scary. If nothing else, the man sure has balls.

What do you guys think? Is it staged to look more extreme, or are they really more like war correspondants in the midst of real life?

[OwlHoot]

He comes over as rather a smug unctious weirdo though. I really don't much like the guy, for some reason I can't put my finger on.

[GreenerGrass]

He comes over as rather a smug unctious weirdo though. I really don't much like the guy, for some reason I can't put my finger on.

He's well into Ross Kemp territory with this series, his willingness and ability to get these bad guys to talk on camera is impressive (presuming they are not being paid).
But is he is clearly out of his depth in suggesting alternatives in how to deal with these people and problems, based on the child-like naivety of a Guardian reader (who lets face it would turn the whole of Britain into Jo'burg if they were given a totally free rein to **** everything up).

[oracleslave]

I liked his adventures in America but the two recent programs were really interesting if a little scary. If nothing else, the man sure has balls.

What do you guys think? Is it staged to look more extreme, or are they really more like war correspondants in the midst of real life?

Not watched any of his previous stuff before, last nights was the first and I only watched because I lived in Jhb for five years. In fact I lived about 10 min drive from Diepsloot where he spent much of his time.

Didn't think he did anything particularly brave on the show myself. He annoyed me with his interview type questions as they displayed such naivety of the situation in Jhb. Violence in that society has become so much part of the way of life and culture to the extent that he couldn't seem to comprehend. To then tell the perpetrator that it is morally wrong and he shouldn't do it as it's bad is not going to get him very far.

Theroux would have done well to have read this and then he would have had more of a clue about the psyche of the people he was surrounded by.

[NotAllThere]

It's Theroux style to (appear to) be naive. It's worked on his other series in getting people to open up.

[d000hg]

It's Theroux style to (appear to) be naive. It's worked on his other series in getting people to open up.

Exactly. Also, since most people in the UK probably know nothing about the situation there, he would otherwise have to explain things first. This way, he gets them to explain it which I think removes some bias compared to doing a long voice-over.
It's actually quite surprising how little commentary there is in these 2 programs. Apart from saying where he is going virtually everything is dialog which I found quite unusual. Especially in the one last week, I was slightly jarred by the lack of a 'story'.