Penn & Teller: Bull! (2003)
This daring original series stars postmodern bad boys of magic Penn & Teller as they question many of our culture's most cherished and widely held beliefs. From the truth about palm readings and TV psychics to the reality behind Feng Shui and Ouija boards, the archly comic masters of misdirection host this eye-opening analysis of the middle-ground between perception and reality.
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Episode 1 - Talking to the Dead
Release Date: 2003-01-24A look into the practices of popular psychics of today reveals how those who claim to be in contact with the dead are actually performing an age-old trick called "cold reading."
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Episode 2 - Alternative Medicine
Release Date: 2003-01-31A look at chiropractic medicine, reflexology, magnet therapy,and a trip to an alternative medicine fair that ends in a "sting" operation at a crowded mall.
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Episode 3 - Alien Abductions
Release Date: 2003-02-07This show features three days spent at a UFO convention and a visit to an alien abduction group therapy session. It also explores the psychological explanations, and the influences of pop culture, on the typical abduction story.
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Episode 4 - End of the World
Release Date: 2003-02-14A look at "The Sky is Falling" people from Nostradamus and his misinterpreted quatrains, to the "Left Behind" publishing phenomenon, to various crackpot rapture groups. Also featured is a survivalist who has converted 40 school buses into an elaborate underground compound that he and his friends will escape to when the bombs start dropping.
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Episode 5 - Second Hand Smoke / Baby Bullshit
Release Date: 2003-02-21We'll go to a hearing in NYC, where the dangers of second-hand smoke, and legislating human behavior, is being hotly debated and stage a hidden-camera sting that shows just how rabid people are about this topic. Also, a look at smart videos, teaching babies to read, the "Baby Whisperer," and the baby product industry that preys on guilt ridden parents with money to burn.
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Episode 6 - Sex, Sex, Sex
Release Date: 2003-02-28This show checks out penis and breast enlargement products, techniques and myths. Also aphrodisiacs: do they work? Expect some graphic and jaw-dropping visuals.
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Episode 7 - Feng Shui / Bottled Water
Release Date: 2003-03-07Penn & Teller put three Feng Shui home consultants to the test and feature a visit to a Feng Shui hairstylist. Also, the craze of bottled water is a national obsession but tap water is usually safer for you, and often better tasting too. Using a hidden camera, we'll take a look at the obsession.
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Episode 8 - Creationism
Release Date: 2003-03-14This episode takes a look into a Georgia school board debate about whether or not they should teach what's in the Bible about the creation of living things.
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Episode 9 - Self-Helpless
Release Date: 2003-03-21Motivational speakers, books, videos, relationship seminars, do they really help? We'll take a look. Also, the popular motivational activity of firewalking - which is no more dangerous than walking across hot sand at the beach - is debunked.
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Episode 10 - ESP
Release Date: 2003-03-28We'll attend a class in "remote viewing," a form of ESP that is all the rage. We'll test the teacher and the students to reveal that the "hits" they get are so vague, it's all nonsense.
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Episode 11 - Eat This!
Release Date: 2003-04-04Penn & Teller will try to prove that many diet products and diet claims are complete nonsense. Also, a look at the obsession with products that claim to be healthier for you such as organic foods, fat free foods, etc.
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Episode 12 - Ouija Boards / Near Death Experiences
Release Date: 2003-04-11There's a physiological explanation that debunks it all. We'll switch the letters around on the board and see how the "spirits" like that! Also, the "tunnel of light" and what it really is when coupled with a look at the Oklahoma centrifuge study that created NDE-like results.
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Episode 13 - Environmental Hysteria
Release Date: 2003-04-18Here Penn & Teller explore the truth behind fears about global warming, air quality, water quality, acid rain, species extinction, and take a look at Greenpeace's activities.