30 Days

Despite having little effect on your fast food dining habits, Morgan Spurlock continues his quest to reshape the way you view our country with a six-part documentary series that borrows heavily from his Super Size Me formula. Each hour-long episode of 30 Days follows a guinea pig who agrees to live a life radically different from his or her own for 30 days—and we're not talking about being a Hilton. Spurlock kicks off the premiere himself as he and his fiancée move to Columbus, Ohio, and attempt to live on minimum wage. Along the way we're treated to animated statistics about poverty, health care, and the greed of your local Congressman. But unlike Super Size Me, 30 Days lacks moments like the hilarious Big Mac–spewing performance that should have won Spurlock an Oscar. Subsequent episodes deal with serious topics like a devout Catholic living with a Muslim family, a binge-drinking mom out to teach her kids a lesson, and a former swimmer who injects himself with steroids only to kill his own little swimmers. While 30 Days takes itself a bit too seriously, there's still plenty of interesting facts and enlightening irony about the way America operates. Plus, it resists being an ego-feeding political soapbox—which is more than we can say about Michael Moore.