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30 Days
2005 · TV series · documentary · 60 min episodes · 3 seasons
Created by Morgan Spurlock
30 Days is a reality television show on the FX cable network in the United States, created and hosted by Morgan Spurlock. In each episode, Spurlock, or some other person or group of people, spend 30 days immersing themselves in a particular lifestyle with which they are unfamiliar, while discussing related social issues. As in Spurlock's film, Super Size Me, there are a number of rules unique to each situation which must be followed during each such experiment. At least one episode each season has featured Spurlock as the person spending the month in the particular lifestyle. Season one premiered on June 15, 2005, and its respective DVD set was released July 11, 2006. The second season premiered on July 26, 2006. Season 3 of 30 Days premiered on June 3, 2008. FX said on November 6 that it would not be renewing the series for a fourth season, effectively canceling the show. The show has recently been picked up for re-air by Planet Green, though no new episodes have been ordered. In the United Kingdom, the program is broadcast on More4 and Channel 4. In Australia, the program is broadcast on Network Ten and Lifestyle Channel. It currently airs in Canada on Independent Film Channel and Canal Vie. It also airs on FX in Latin America. In Norway it airs on TV 2. In Sweden it airs on TV4 and Kanal 9.
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13 comments on Hacker News
Morgan did.
There is an episode of his TV show “30 days” where exactly this is the premise.
The first episode of his TV show ‘30 days’ remains the best show I have ever seen.
He and his fiancé try to live on minimum wage in Columbus, OH. It is staggering what that life looks like in the richest country the world has ever seen.
All politicians should be forced to do it for 12 months, no exceptions.
I was in one of the 30 Days episodes. It was... very very very much reality-TV, not reality.
They made things up, planted things, and generally hammed it up to make things interesting. Still maybe interesting to watch, but not something I'd treat as accurate.
If you enjoyed Super Size Me, you should checkout the TV series the host Morgan created soon after, called 30 days [1]. He and others basically do something random for 30 days (gets locked up, goes on a fad diet, binge drinking, etc.)
The first episode where Morgan and his girlfriend try to live on minimum wage in Ohio for a month is some of the best TV I've ever seen.
All the episodes are good, the ones with Morgan are the best.
The recent Super Size Me 2 is also pretty good. Not quite the charm of the first one, but still really good.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Days_(TV_series)
30 Days Season 1 Episode 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmSGEGOVI34
You should watch the 30 Days episode about living on minimum wage. It is not a life you would want to live.
> We're all trapped in this prison of money. People forget they are fundamentally free.
I often think along those lines too, but of course, our perspective is very skewed living in very rich countries, and earning a good wage, being programmers/engineers/etc.
This really hit home for me when I worked minimum wage jobs, and became good friends with people living that life. People working in those jobs MUST go to work 40+ hours merely to have food, shelter and transport to/from work. Nothing else. If you want to have medical coverage, savings or any kind of "pleasure" money, you'll need a second or third job to make that happen.
If you have not seen it already, I highly, highly recommend the first episode of Morgan Spurlock's series "30 Days" where he and his girlfriend attempt to live on minimum wage in a poorer part of the US [1]. tldr; They cry themselves to sleep and struggle horribly. Then Morgan meets a guy working the same jobs as him who has a wife and 3 kids to support. Shocking is not nearly a strong enough word.
For tens of millions of "working class poor" the prison you speak of is the only reality they have.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_30_Days_episodes
Yep, me too. It sucked, cause moving just doesn't have enough expenses already. Apparently my great credit score is meaningless, more important was the previous tenants were deadbeats.
Morgan Spurlock also had to pay a deposit in his show 30 Days, and he commented about how it was the first time in his life he had to pay a deposit, and it must have been the address he was living in. (He was living with a minimum wage for 30 days in the episode, so he moved into a low rent apartment in Ohio.)
I highly recommend the first episode of Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" TV show called "Minimum Wage"[1]
Morgan and his girlfriend try to live on minimum wage for a month in Ohio. This is some of the best TV I have ever seen.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_30_Days_episodes#Season_1:_2005
Just to clarify: Barbara also wrote about others she met living in motels because of lack of money for a deposit. She wasn't the only one doing so.
Again, an explanation that made sense to me. At the extreme low end (using the analogy of quantum mechanical effects), effects of the lack of money will be different than the effects at a higher income level.
Just speaking for myself: if I had only $40 at the end of the night, I would check into a motel rather than go to a homeless shelter. AFAIK, there aren't an abundance of homeless shelters either, and they are populated by literally mentally ill people and I would be afraid for my safety. Not to mention the question of losing ones dignity by going to a homeless shelter. YMMV.
See also the "30 Days" episode on living on a minimum wage in America: http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70129649
If you want to see another take on the whole problem, go to Netflix and watch the 30 Days episode called Minimum Wage. It's the same guy who did Supersize Me. He and his girlfriend try to work and live on minimum wage for a month. Doesn't go much better for them than it does for players of this game.
Morgan Spurlock did an episode of his 30 Days with him and his girlfriend living on minimum wage, it also very well illustrates the same thing.
I don't know any particularly good articles/books on this subject, but Morgan Spurlock had a documentary tv series called "30 days" where he spends 30 days doing things like living on welfare, working for a minimum wage job, living in prison, etc. It's a fascinating show, and while he's the first to admit that even this level of exposure is not equivalent to what people in those situations actually feel (largely because he has a safety net, and his is only a temporary condition), it still dramatically shifts your view of what life really is like for people in very different circumstances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_Days_%28TV_series%29