Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Verminators: Boom or Bust?

Reality television is a two-headed beast that can be very ugly or very awesome. The running joke is that The Real World, the show that spawned it all, is not “real” anymore. With shows like A Shot at Love, America’s Top Model, and Nashville Star, I don’t care about reality, I just want them off the air.

Reality television took an unexpected turn when the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, A&E, etc. began to air their own programs. They cater to people that want more content and less teenage drama. I am talking about Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch, and Intervention. All great shows, I found one that might top them all. It’s called Verminators, it’s on the Discovery Channel, and it’s good.

The name says it all. Cameras follow a team of exterminators as they encounter pests in Los Angeles. In the episode that I watched, the team removed bee hives, killed rats, and fumigated a kitchen with a serious roach problem. It sounds gross, right? The catch is, you’re watching from your comfortable, presumably pest-free house. Each call is like a detective mission to find the source of the pests and take them out. At the end, you root for the exterminators and their clients.

Verdict: Boom. I recommend Verminators if you have even a mild tolerance of vermin. It’s fascinating work that makes for good television.

1 comment:

Microbru said...

Hey, I must agree. I love the show. I lived for several years with a chronic infestation of German roaches in my apt. building. You could put out a "Roach Motel" and in the morning it would be so full, there was no space left unfilled by roach bodies. But even as bad as it was, it's NOTHING compared to some of the places on the show. I mean, at least MY cockroaches had the decency to scuttle away when the lights came on.

Cheers!

Scott