Underplayed Gems

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends (1998)

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends poster
Genre
documentary television program
Country
United Kingdom
Length
3 seasons, 17 episodes
Rated
18
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 41 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Louis Theroux visits unusual communities and individuals with extreme beliefs or lifestyles. He talks with them directly, often getting them to open up about their lives. The show is gentle and curious, with Theroux letting people show their own world views.

curiousengagingobservationalquirkyplayfulthoughtfulexplorativeintimate

What happens

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experience up close. In most cases, this means interviewing people with extreme beliefs of some kind, or just generally belonging to subcultures not known to exist by most or just frowned upon. It was first shown in the United Kingdom on BBC2. In 2001, Theroux was awarded the Richard Dimbleby Award as well as the Best Presenter BAFTA for his work on the series. Theroux's view on Weird Weekends: Weird Weekends sets out to discover the genuinely odd in the most ordinary setting. To me, it's almost a privilege to be welcomed into these communities and to shine a light on them and, maybe, through my enthusiasm, to get people to reveal more of themselves than they may have intended. The show is laughing at me, adrift in their world, as much as at them. I don't have to play up that stuff. I'm not a matinee idol disguised as a nerd. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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