TV.com

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

Family Values

Season 3, Episode 2, Aired May 02, 2005

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

Episode Summary

EDIT

8.2

EPISODE RATING: Great

44 votes

Your Rating: 10

"Perfect"
Your Rating: 9.5

"Superb"
Your Rating: 9

"Superb"
Your Rating: 8.5

"Great"
Your Rating: 8

"Great"
Your Rating: 7.5

"Good"
Your Rating: 7

"Good"
Your Rating: 6.5

"Fair"
Your Rating: 6

"Fair"
Your Rating: 5.5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 5

"Mediocre"
Your Rating: 4.5

"Poor"
Your Rating: 4

"Poor"
Your Rating: 3.5

"Bad"
Your Rating: 3

"Bad"
Your Rating: 2.5

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 2

"Terrible"
Your Rating: 1.5

"Abysmal"
Your Rating: 1

"Abysmal"

Rate Now!

Explores the family structure that is reported on by the Media and politicians that a traditional family must be a Father, Mother, Two kids and a Dog.

WRITE A REVIEW

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Penn Jillette

Himself
Teller

Himself

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

See All

A very disappointing episode in an otherwise fine series.

3.0

"Bad"

By jkeenley, Jul 07, 2010

I have been a fan of this series since the first episode, having become hooked on Penn & Teller's unique blend of insight and humor. Some episodes/topics are stronger than others, but when they're on like the "Environmental Hysteria," "P.E.T.A.," and "Recycling" episodes it's some of the best stuff on television today. "Family Values," unfortunately, is one of the weakest episodes I've seen. Starting with the very premise of the show, they rely on faulty reasoning, specious logic, and fuzzy thinking to make their points. And the most annoying part of this episode is that it's unclear what point they are trying to make. Is the traditional concept of the family a complete sham, as they try to prove? Rather than presenting clear examples and psychological and sociological evidence based on research, they resort to their old crutch of presenting flat-out whackos to present the contrary view, and then spend their time mocking their arguments, presenting little evidence in the process. One concrete example: at one point the guy representing a Connecticut family group (the guy sitting in front of a wall of very bad religious art) states that gays and lesbians have done no professional and longitudinal studies of the effect of same sex parents on their children. A psychologist then mockingly counters this point by asserting a study of this nature has, in fact, been conducted. But then she neither names the study nor presents a single piece of date from the study. I would have loved to learn more about the study. Does it prove the points they were trying to make? Does it show that non-traditional family structures are as viable as traditional ones? We never find out. All in all, this episode was to me one of the most disappointing in the series so far. Here's hoping they get back to their normal insight and humor in episodes to come.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
3 4

Flag
Share Hide

WRITE A REVIEW

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (1)
ADD TRIVIA
- Of the things mentioned in the opening tease, Penn and Teller do discuss the Loch Ness Monster (and, by proxy though not explicitly, unicorns) in their Cryptozoology episode and technically discuss Satan in their Exorcisms episode.
  EDIT SHARE
QUOTES (2)
ADD QUOTES
- Penn: Don't touch my d*ck unless I invite you.
  EDIT SHARE
- Brian Brown: Marriage isn't a salad bar!
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (0)
ADD NOTES
- ADD NOTES from this episode.
ALLUSIONS (0)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.