Created by:
Bam Margera
Troy Miller
Starring:
Bam Margera ………. Himself
Phil Margera ………. Himself
April Margera ………. Herself
Ryan Dunn ………. Himself
Chris Raab ………. Himself (as Raab Himself)
Brandon Dicamillo ………. Himself
Rakeyohn ………. Himself (as Rake Yohn)
Vincent Margera ………. Himself (as Don Vito)
Brandon Novak ………. Himself
Tim Glomb ………. Himself
The Show
After Jackass closed production MTV was desperately trying to hold on to the ratings that generated from the show. And from that desperation came Viva La Bam and Wildboyz, two shows featuring just about every Jackass outcast. While Wildboyz found its niche audience Viva La Bam (comprised mostly of the CKY crew) was the show that really took off and garnered a viewing audience.
When the show first started the guys was still sort of settling in to their new found stardom but as the show progressed and ultimately came to these two final seasons they come off more as caricatures than the guys we first saw a few short years ago. Not that it’s their fault mind you, editing simply made the show too cartoonish and lost focus of what the show was originally about. It was the sporadic madness that gave the concept its uniqueness, now episodes are put together like a sitcom and edited together to fit a story line ultimately losing what made it fun.
To actually review the show seriously would be a joke, its Bam Margera and his close group of friends and their wild antics and constantly finding themselves up to no good. That’s it really, along with making the lives of his parents and uncle miserable that seems to be all Bam does. Thankfully he has aligned himself with a very eclectic yet entertaining group of friends who still find ways to ham it up to cameras and give viewers some laughs.
After doing just about everything in the first three seasons from making an in house skate park, to spending the night inside a mall, to convincing the entire state to not let his father eat for 24 hours it’s clear Bam and crew are running out of ideas here. Basically all 16 episodes from both seasons focus on the gang doing crazy stuff in other locations than Philly. Just about every episode has the crew on the road either abroad or some location in the good ol’ USA.
Season four starts off with a bang with a two part premiere having the crew following Phil and April (Bam’s parents) to France where they take them on a tour of Europe. Picking up food from each country they visit it ultimately ends in a food fight instigated by Don Vito, Bam’s uncle. When they get back to the states all the guys set out to get jobs to pay off a heating bill. When he’s sick and tired of getting notices from the state about all the noise coming from his house, Bam sets out to create his own state, the state of Bam. Other locations the crew see besides overseas include Louisiana, Colorado, Mexico and Punxsutawney to see Phil the groundhog on Groundhog Day.
The fifth and final season of the show is the weakest of the two (and overall), with barely a handful of things that are worth checking out. Viva La Brazil which kicked off the season has the guys head south to hang out with skater Bob Burnquist while Dicamillo brings Brazil to Phil and April at home. For the most part the season focuses on Don Vito and Bam consistently raining on his parade. That is until Vito says enough is enough and finally starts fighting fire with fire. Also in this season Raab is reunited with his wife who was a mail order bride from the first season.
The box implies that the show is “uncensored” but through out the show there are still bleeps for the more profane language which is understandable since this will more than likely be purchased by teens. Even though I’m sure they’ve heard worst. Interestingly enough it seems that the only times the censors take action is with the context in which the curse words are used. Still plenty of F-bombs get dropped which is what MTV considers to be edgy.
Viva La Bam is simply a show to sit back and have fun laughing at the mischief the boys get in to and that’s respectable. There’s always a void that needs to be filled with laughter and people have different taste in what qualifies as funny. For the most part the show is “in the moment” type comedy with nothing that will really stick in the back of your mind after viewing. Some will watch this and scoff at how moronic it is while others bust a gut from laughing so hard.
Score: 5/10
The Video
(Presented in 1.33:1 Fullscreen)
Shot using multiple forms of photography the quality ranges from good to acceptable. Most of the show was filmed using digital video and comes off looking for the most part clean. Other parts of the show use 16mm for recording and the colors seem off as either too bright or too dark never looking the way they should. Still the show is very watchable with not much to distract you from viewing.
The Audio
(English 2.0 Surround Sound)
Similar to video the audio is okay but nothing that will shake the room that’s for sure. Mics pick up audio fine on the show and when they aren’t subtitles are included, but those are used mostly for Bam’s uncle who just goes on rants and tangents while making absolutely no sense what so ever.
The Extras
Uncommon-taries – All 16 episodes are acompanied by a full length audio commentary which feature just about everybody involved on the show. They’re really fun to listen to because they don’t hold back when they see something about the show that doesn’t work. Some things they really rip apart are the shows opening credits where they all make fun of the green screen background, the editing decisions made by MTV’s editing crew and MTV itself.
Deleted Scenes – Split up in to two sections (one for each season) they run around 40 minutes each and are for the most part more enjoyable than some of the shows. Some of these are extended scenes already on the show but most are just parts that MTV couldn’t air. With these we finally get a sense of real life that the gang lives in rather than what is edited together and put on national TV.
MTV Cribs: Bam – Not sure why this was included since you get a good look at the house when simply watching the show. Still it’s a nice inclusion to complete the set.
Viva La Top 5 – Bam, his friends and family count down the top five moments of the show and everyone involved gets their own top 5 list.
Score: 7/10
