"Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" (2003) TV series 2003-????

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Creators:

Randall Moldave
Eric Small
(more)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Release Date:

24 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Tagline:

They can smell it from miles away!

Plot:

Using a combination of set ups, descriptions, rants and film of practitioners, Penn & Teller show the Bull Shit that's everywhere...

Plot Keywords:

Profanity In Title | Punctuation In Title | Magician | Exposé | Scam

Awards:

Nominated for 13 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Teller	...	Himself (69 episodes, 2003-2009)
Penn Jillette	...	Himself (67 episodes, 2003-2009)

(more)

Series Directed by
Star Price		(53 episodes, 2003-2008)
Joshua E. Kessler		(10 episodes, 2005-2007)
Tim Rogan		(2 episodes, 2003-2007)
Tom Greenhut		(unknown episodes, 2005)
Christopher Poole		(unknown episodes)
Scott Schaefer		(unknown episodes)

Series Writing credits
Randall Moldave		(79 episodes, 2003-2009)
Eric Small		(79 episodes, 2003-2009)
Cliff Schoenberg		(14 episodes, 2006-2008)
Penn Jillette		(10 episodes, 2003-2009)
Teller		(10 episodes, 2003-2009)
David Wechter		(6 episodes, 2003-2009)
Michael Goudeau		(5 episodes, 2007-2009)
Star Price		(5 episodes, 2007-2009)
Rich Nathanson		(4 episodes, 2008-2009)
John McLaughlin		(3 episodes, 2003)
Tom Kramer		(3 episodes, 2009)
Dean Ward		(2 episodes, 2005)
Jon Hotchkiss		(2 episodes, 2007)
David Weiss		(2 episodes, 2007)
Sheryl Zohn		(2 episodes, 2007)
Steven Bortko		(unknown episodes)
John McLaughlin		(unknown episodes)
Steve Melcher		(unknown episodes)
Jonathan B. Taylor		(unknown episodes)
Emma Webster		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Penn Jillette	....	co-executive producer / executive producer (79 episodes, 2003-2009)
Teller	....	co-executive producer / executive producer (79 episodes, 2003-2009)
Aaron Yampolski	....	senior producer / producer (49 episodes, 2005-2009)
Jon Hotchkiss	....	co-executive producer / supervising producer (33 episodes, 2005-2007)
Joshua E. Kessler	....	senior producer / supervising producer / ... (28 episodes, 2004-2007)
Mitch Glazer	....	field producer (10 episodes, 2008)
Tammie Smalls	....	producer (5 episodes, 2004-2005)
Karina Fraley	....	associate producer (3 episodes, 2003)
Patti Duce	....	supervising producer (3 episodes, 2005-2008)
June Molgaard	....	producer (3 episodes, 2005)
Shari Adagio	....	supervising producer (3 episodes, 2007-2008)
Peter Adam Golden	....	co-executive producer / producer (2 episodes, 2003-2008)
Star Price	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2003-2008)
David Wechter	....	executive producer / supervising producer (2 episodes, 2003-2008)
Mark Wolper	....	executive producer (2 episodes, 2003-2008)
Katy Scanlan	....	associate producer (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Steven Uhlenberg	....	co-executive producer (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Alex Walton	....	producer (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Jeff Zoldan	....	producer (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Sheryl Zohn	....	supervising producer (2 episodes, 2008)
Steve Jones	....	segment producer (unknown episodes)
Randall Kirk	....	series producer (unknown episodes)
Maurice H. Patrykus	....	associate producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
Gary Stockdale		(52 episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Cinematography by
Kevin O'Brien		(3 episodes, 2003-2008)
Steve Jones		(unknown episodes)
Don Starnes		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Steven Uhlenberg		(14 episodes, 2003-2008)
Tim Sullivan		(13 episodes, 2008-2009)
Brian Horn		(11 episodes, 2005-2008)
Eric Wise		(6 episodes, 2003)
Mitch Rosa		(2 episodes, 2003)
Ian Sears		(2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Doug Folkerts		(unknown episodes)
Paul Frazier		(unknown episodes)
Tim Schultz		(unknown episodes)

Series Casting by
David Zimmerman		(unknown episodes)

Series Art Direction by
Rudy Matchinga		(3 episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Makeup Department
Phyllis Bond	....	hair stylist / makeup artist (3 episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Production Management
CJ	....	post-production supervisor (30 episodes, 2006-2008)
Kathleen Boyette Bramlett	....	production manager: Penn & Teller / production manager (3 episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joshua E. Kessler	....	field director (unknown episodes, 2005)

Series Art Department
Jeremy Carmone	....	props (2 episodes, 2007-2008)

Series Sound Department
Michael Dennis	....	sound mixer / sound (14 episodes, 2003-2008)
Paul S. Shapiro	....	sound mixer (5 episodes, 2003-2007)
Lenny Jones	....	sound designer (3 episodes, 2003-2008)
Bob Schuck	....	sound (3 episodes, 2003-2008)
Graham Gardner	....	sound mixer (3 episodes, 2003-2004)
Brandon Goodwin	....	sound mixer (3 episodes, 2009)
Dick Rogers	....	sound re-recording mixer (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Noah Mathers	....	sound mixer (unknown episodes)
David Weinstock	....	sound mixer (unknown episodes)

Series Special Effects by
Skip Burrows	....	special effects supervisor (unknown episodes)

Series Visual Effects by
Justin Schultz	....	animator (2 episodes, 2005)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Chuck Bejarano	....	camera operator (40 episodes, 2006-2009)
Dave Babb	....	camera operator (12 episodes, 2004-2009)
Ryan Mhor	....	assistant camera (10 episodes, 2008)
Rage Stewart	....	camera production assistant (unknown episodes)

Series Animation Department
Peter Conlon	....	animation director: title sequence (6 episodes, 2009)

Series Costume and Wardrobe Department
Kathryn Shemanek	....	wardrobe (2 episodes, 2007-2008)

Series Editorial Department
Christopher Nunn	....	assistant editor (14 episodes, 2005-2006)
Mike Krause	....	assistant editor (13 episodes, 2003)
CJ	....	post-production coordinator (11 episodes, 2005)
Ed Decker	....	assistant editor (11 episodes, 2007-2008)
Alpesh Patel	....	lead assistant editor (unknown episodes)

Series Other crew
Jeff Critelli	....	teleprompter operator (17 episodes, 2008-2009)
Franka Mavrides	....	production assistant / assistant to executive producer (13 episodes, 2003)
CJ	....	assistant to executive producer (13 episodes, 2004)
Ryan Mhor	....	production assistant (10 episodes, 2007)
Steven Solars	....	production assistant (10 episodes, 2007)
Michael Bancroft	....	production assistant (10 episodes, 2009)
Tim Rogan	....	stage manager (3 episodes, 2003-2008)
Nathan Santucci	....	director: covert activities / director of covert activities: Penn & Teller (3 episodes, 2003-2008)
Glenn S. Alai	....	assistant: Penn & Teller / publicity manager (2 episodes, 2003-2007)
Michael Buyer	....	magic team (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Randall Moldave	....	consultant (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Eric Small	....	consultant (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Ezekiel Zabrowski	....	magic team (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
Jennifer L. Goosby	....	script supervisor (unknown episodes, 2004)
Katy Scanlan	....	production coordinator (unknown episodes, 2005)
Daniel Leaderman	....	production assistant (unknown episodes, 2007)
Michelle Basterrechea	....	production assistant (unknown episodes)
Kyle Hollingsworth	....	title designer (unknown episodes)
Randall Kirk	....	segment producer (unknown episodes)
Justin Leibow	....	title designer (unknown episodes)
Pancho Mansfield	....	network executive (unknown episodes)
Cassandra Seidl	....	post accounting supervisor (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Penn & Teller
• StarPrice Productions
• Wolper Organization, The

Distributors

• Movie Network, The (TMN) (????) (Canada) (TV)
• Showtime Networks (TV)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• King Media Services  DVD design and authoring (season 3)
• Wut It Is  main title design and production

Also Known As:

Penn & Teller: BS! (USA) (promotional title)
Penn & Teller: Bullsh*t! (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA (most episodes) | USA:TV-PG (early episodes) | Australia:MA (some episodes) | Australia:R (some episodes) | USA:TV-14

Company:

Penn & Teller

Trivia:

The show was created to honor the spirit of master magician Harry Houdini, who devoted the latter part of his life to debunking some widely accepted (as he called it) "Humbug". The episode on profanity featured the title "Humbug" instead of "Bullshit!"

Quotes:

Penn Jillette: On one side there are people with relationships, and miserable. On the other side there are people out of relationships, and miserable. What's the deal? Don't they know that love is a roller coaster? You sit, you hold hands, you scream, then you get off and ride again!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Michael Moore Hates America (2004)

30 Minute Debunking

Penn and Teller's show does a wonderful job of taking a given issue and (attempting to, at least) taking it apart in 30 minutes. Usually the show is a collection of interviews with people on both sides of a given topic, with Penn adding his own comments between bits while Teller hams it up with magic tricks and the like.

The true strength of this show is the simple fact that it presents a given issue to the viewer and (hopefully) makes them think about it. They do this rather well, and also in a funny manner. They present (admittedly edited) commentary from both sides and leave the viewer to see if they agree with the conclusion Penn and Teller themselves come to.

You likely won't agree with almost half of the episodes, perhaps more if you're a conservative type, but I've not met the person yet who doesn't get a laugh and won't engage in conversation about the issue afterwards. It's a good show because it pushes people's buttons, and in rather an intelligent fashion. After all, there are only so many ways to resolve ideological differences, and polite argument has to be the most amenable way.