1000 Ways to Die

Amidst a number of shows which try so hard to be cerebral and generally expose themselves as fraudulent, 1000 Ways to Die is an odd breath of sincerity; sincerely stupid and ridiculous, but refreshing. Each show is a collection of 'shorts' wherein someone dies, usually in an unusual way. The acting is atrocious. The special effects are mediocre. The narration is often funny. And each scene concludes with a 'title' for that death, which is usually a pun. In my opinion, it's the funniest bit of the show, and you'll probably find yourself trying to guess what the death will be 'called' before it appears on screen.

The dramatizations are pure ridiculousness. In many cases, it's pretty clear that the producers and writers took great liberty with the characterizations (they wanted to make sure that for the most part, you don't feel too much sympathy for those who are going to die). Practically every other woman on the show is a stripper (as the narrator assures us) and ample screen time is given to showing us these women strutting around as sex kittens before someone else around them dies. Is it possible that death follows strippers? Maybe. I really don't know. But this is about the only 'thought candy' 1000 Ways to Die provides.

It also gets funny to see the 'experts; the show uses, to attempt a legitimization of itself. The same people keep showing up as experts, though their titles shift. The conspiracy theory expert becomes a certified 'deathologist' an episode or two later. I suspect he was really just some guy selling newspapers outside the studio, who was offered a few bucks to act official and accepted.

And the show doesn't suffer for it one bit.

It's a comedy. Enjoy it as dumb fun and it will indeed be fun. Expect more and you'll be let down. But you should have a pretty good idea of what the show is within the first five minutes.

Let's first get this out of the way - 1000 Ways to Die is like a slasher film. Except it's actually a TV series. And the deaths portrayed actually happened. Sort of.

1000 Ways to Die is exactly what the title suggests - a barrage of odd and unbelievable ways to die. These are claimed to be dramatizations of actual deaths. What they really are are loose interpretations of rumored deaths, sort of what would happen if Mythbusters cut out the mythbusting part of their show. The deaths here aren't really to be taken seriously, just enjoyed.

And boy are they enjoyable. You get some really entertaining special effects in this show. These deaths look like they were taken straight out of a campy horror flick, between the decapitated heads and severed intestines. Yes, decapitated heads and severed intestines. On prime time cable. Pretty rad, huh? And what would decapitated heads and severed intestines be without retarded men, sexy women, and flat-out neo-Con inspired racism? And boy, if you like all of the above, you'll love this show.

As for me, I'm a little appalled at what this show gets away with, and how dumb it is. But entertainment is entertainment, and I find myself oddly entranced by increasing amounts of blood and brains as this show continues (as one 'expert' put it, 7 gallons of blood, to be precise). As much as this show epitomizes the mindlessness of American television as of late, it also epitomizes the rough, tough, masculine culture that Spike claimed to embody but hadn't yet delivered. Well, this show delivers testosterone-pumped entertainment in its purist form. Sex, drugs, and guts. And really, how could you argue against THAT?

I disagree with the person who said that viewers of this show are stupid. I think that this show is a great way to show people that they need to be careful by showing how the victims died unexpectedly. On the other hand, I agree with the person who said that the producers seem more concerned with making the victims seem like idiots, jerks, or bitches than actually portraying the deaths. While I'm sure that some of the victims either weren't the most likable people or the smartest people, I highly doubt that they were all mean or stupid since anyone, no matter how nice or intelligent they are, could just drop dead at any moment, for some unknown reason. All in all, great show, but personally, I think they need to stop making generalizations like that.

The show is very unique, entertaining, and additive. It takes crazy deaths that possibly happened in real life and builds a story around it typically showing a bad person receiving what they deserve. It is not the absolute best show on TV, but myself along with a lot of people I know from different age ranges and backgrounds enjoy it. Only the type of death is based on true events, the story that is built around it is 100% made-up for entertainment value. Ron Pearlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy, Beauty and the Beast) is a perfect narrator for the show.

My main reason for posting was to respond to some of the negative reviews...

1) Trashy and Tasteless, 14 October 2010, Author: Lloyd Bowman

The show is not meant to be tasteful, it is there for entertainment purposes. If the show was bland simply going over these odd deaths, then it most likely not be on the air due to a lack of audience. It has a targeted audience and does a great job reaching them. Lastly, the show is on SPIKE TV...if you are looking for something tasteful, then you are on the wrong channel.

2) Terrible exploitation of people, no lessons learned!, 9 March 2011 Author: Kristinartist79

The show allows viewers to see possible ways that they could die that they would never dream of. In that aspect, it does serve a purpose. One example was "Water-Logged". I have personally jumped off rocks into the water along with thousands, maybe millions of other people. Did any of us think that water might actually shoot up your rectum? Now, I would think about it twice prior to doing it again. Who knows, it might of saved my life or another viewers. Also, how does it not get into how to prevent it? Simple, DO NOT DO IT! Each episode shows you exactly how the death occurs along with experts explaining it to you. So how do you not see how to prevent it? Lastly, you state it is not for kids...WOW, really? It is a show about people being killed in strange ways...why would I show that to my kids? On top of that, it is on SPIKE TV, not PBS. The fact that you even brought that up along with Sesame Street and religion shows that you are a complete idiot and you should not be allowed to watch TV.

3) Unconventional, 13 November 2011, Author: Megan Ross

When you watch a movie, do you want to see good people being killed? When you read or watch the news, do you want to hear about an innocent grandmother being shot? Not at all. On the other hand, you do want to see the enemy or bad guy being killed in the movie along with the robber, rapist, murderer getting killed in real life instead of their victims. With that being said, for the show to gain an audience and have that audience enjoy what they are watching, they have to show situations where a bad guy or someone that deserves to die. This allows us to enjoy it. I wouldn't watch it if innocent people were being killed, nor would anyone else.

This is a reality show that people are dying to appear on.

Actually, no one really wants to be on 1000 Ways To Die. But some people are just either too stupid or too unlucky not to.

If you can imagine the people who do the "Darwin Awards" website writing a horror movie, this is probably close to what they would come up with. Each death is horrific, but you find yourself feeling a little better afterward, because in most (not all) cases, you realize the gene pool just improved a little bit.

The best deaths are those that fit the way the deceased lived. There are so many of these that it is impossible to list them all. (See every show. There's at least one example in each episode).