Television Review: Maximum Exposure
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this reality series features clips
of people doing often bizarre, dangerous stunts -- which
they're then mocked for, courtesy of the narrator's snarky
comments. While most of the people in the clips don't get hurt,
parents might want to remind young viewers that it's not OK to
try any of this at home.
Families can talk about taking risks. When is risk-taking a
good idea, and when should you play it safe? How do the people
doing the stunts on this show protect themselves? What are some
examples of day-to-day risks we take? What's the downside of
never taking risks at all? Families can also discuss how they
feel about humor at others' expense. Is it funny to laugh at
people when they make mistakes? Why or why not?
In MAXIMUM EXPOSURE, viewers get a close-up look at outrageous stunts and funny video clips from around the world. Each episode features video footage -- which usually looks like home movies -- of seemingly regular people doing extraordinary things. Just a few examples: a man stands in a car's roof window, trying to pry a stuck wheel from a plane flying above; a woman whose parking space was "stolen" lets the air out of the tires of the car that got the spot; a man eats live snakes in a Saudi Arabian desert; and a pair of mountain climbers performs synchronized dance moves off the side of a mountain. As each clip plays, narrator Cam "Buzz" Brainard makes sarcastic, snide remarks at the expense of the people performing the stunts, sort of like the host does on America's Funniest Home Videos (it's not all that funny here, either). For example, after the mountain climbers' segment ended, Brainard said, "We like the other kind of horizontal dancing better."
Older tweens are the audience most likely to get a kick out of Maximum Exposure, and it seems like the show is geared toward that age group. The good news is that while the segments can sometimes be gross, they're not sexual in nature, and the language doesn't really get stronger than Brainard calling the featured stuntpeople "jerk" or "creep." The bad news? Like a junior version of Jackass, this show is filled with outlandish stunts that no kids should try at home -- a fact that they may need to be reminded of.
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