The Aisle Seat continues it’s ‘Home Edition’ series. A reminder that you’re welcome to make suggestions for reviews of streaming material, just email me….jason.armstrong@jpbg.ca. Today’s suggestion comes from a member of the Beach Radio Kelowna team, afternoon announcer Corey Fischer, who recommended that I check out the Netflix comedic science series, ‘The 100’. So I did. And here’s the review..
Here’s the concept behind ‘100 Humans’; a group of one hundred nameless individuals are subjected to various experiments that attempt to derive some answers on human behavior. So think, like ‘Mythbusters’, only throw in PEOPLE to pull off the list of ‘what if’ interactive trials.
Interesting in theory. And sometimes, fascinating in execution….just not consistently.
Hosts Alie Ward, Zainab Johnson and Sammy Obeid – supposedly stand-up comedians, though I not one of them, at least based on THIS material, are worth the effort of busting a gut over – conduct each experiment, provide predictable snarky commentary, and bring in experts that break down why the results play out like they do.
Again, it’s an intriguing set-up, and well worth a watch…..depending on the experiment. For instance, the first episode explores what we as humans find attractive. The first experiment tries to prove the theory that the best dancers are the most fertile (not a theory I was overly familiar with, but hey…). That means – you guessed it….they get a group of men within the crowd to give a sperm sample, then dance away. I’d put this definitely in the ‘let’s-see-what-happens’ category.
Next up, an experiment to figure out if people in uniform are more attractive than people out of uniform. To me, this totally depends on the uniform…and sure enough (not to give away any spoilers), those who are cops and soldiers fare a wee bit better than the fast food workers when dressed for action. So this would veer towards the ‘should-we-even-bother’ folder.
And it goes on and on. As a casual fan of programs in which scientific theories are examined, I’m willing to check out all eight episodes of ‘100 Humans’ currently available. But again, depending on WHAT they’re putting to the test will ultimately determine whether this is must-see TV. (And not to peek TOO far ahead….the final episode braves the timeless battle of should toilet paper rolls go over or under. Now THAT’S something I want an answer to!)
