The Diets That Time Forgot (2008/Acorn DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Mini-Series: B-
Leave it
to the British to put an odd twist on the Reality TV cycle. Sir Roy Strong believes that maybe the way to
lose weight was shuffled away in old turn-of-the-century quackery as the 20th
Century arrived among other things.
There are three diets he wants to try and revive: a calorie-limited diet
(Roaring 20’s), an all-you-can-eat diet where you chew and chew your food (The
Edwardians) and a third (The Victorians) that is meat-based. The
Diets That Time Forgot (2008) is a 6-episode show that has nine people
splitting into groups of three.
Each
group goes for a different one and the idea is to see if any of them work,
which one works best and are any of them frauds. The contestants are all there to loose weight
and we do learn about them, but because this is not a series meant to last for
years on end, the show is not as exploitive as such shows usually are. I still was not thrilled overall with the
show, but it was not condescending and stupid like the other shows are in 99%
of the cases.
But the
best part of this is that it is not as tired as the diet versions of these
shows have been and we get a heaping of nostalgia as well, so The Diets That Time Forgot is worth a
look and your time if you are interested.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on High Definition and has its
share of motion blur and detail flaws, but it is not bad looking overall and
the location they stay at is at least as old as the diets revived. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is also fine for
a new production as such, but you get some location audio issues as
expected. There are no extras.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
