TV-Reviewed

I don’t do many general opinion pieces anymore, but today just happened to be the day for two of them. After watching a few of these so-called “new” episodes of MythBusters, I’ve just about had it with Discovery Channel’s marketing tactics.

In case you haven’t seen these, the series is off for the summer, but Discovery has decided to take old episodes, add occasional pop-ups with relevant information, and call them new episodes. I have a problem with the last bit. These aren’t new episodes. Adding Buster animations and a few informative pop-ups don’t make for a new episode in my book.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savager

Discovery, I have a suggestion for you and I hope you give it strong consideration. These new “Buster’s Cut” episodes contain little or no new footage, despite the marketing which says otherwise. Every show contains one or two clips from the MythBusters asking fans to visit the official site to check out clips which didn’t make it into the show. Why not include these clips in the show this time around? I’ve only visited the official site twice strictly for the intent of finding this extra footage and I know I’m not alone.

I see no harm in including actual never-before-aired footage in these episodes, especially when they’re marketed as new. I’d be a much happier local viewer of MythBusters if the marketing matched the programming. MythBusters fans deserve better than what we’re getting. I know there must be some videos lying around worth including in these “Buster’s Cut” episodes.