I am surprised to find out I now like this show more than in my original review. The annoying narration grew on me once I realized they were sneaking in innuendo. The major problems still exist, though:
1. The processes that make nearly all of these products different or unique are almost always trade secrets and not shown on camera. Lots of time is wasted telling us that, usually in the form of the narrator is pestering a PR person, who says things like "I don't know" or "if I told you, then I'd have to kill you". What is silly is that many times these processes and recipes are long-since copied by off brands or so simple a five-year-old could figure them out, but the companies and the show still won't tell. Along those lines, many of the other processes that would be interesting to watch our hidden inside a machine for work or safety. How it's Made did a much better job of getting them to open those machines and shoot at high speed.
2. That godawful narration. At first, you hate it, then it makes you want to damage things. It's banal, offputting, full of unfunny asides and dad jokes, and at times intrusively annoying-(they really like screaming, and loudly saying the same thing at the same time). The dialogue sounds like it was scripted for one of those kiddie afternoon edutainment shows on local-access TV, but then the female narrator occasionally throws in some blatant adult references and sexual innuendo. Over time, that's actually made me hate it less. I've come to think it must be some Canadian cultural thing that is just lost on us Americans. But then again, How it's Made actually blurred the breasts on a plastic store mannequin, so go figure.
3. Repetition. Manufacturing has a lot of standardization, so half of each segment shows the products being boxed, shrink-wrapped, palketed/palletized, and forklifted to a warehouse. They should do away with that and get a little more involved in the actual manufacture of the products.
4. The spokespeople. Expect lots of snnoying scripted chat with some company PR rep, who usually manages to be more banal than the hosts. Some are clearly very uncomfortable being on camera, and most act like they really have better things to do than sit for this. That feeling also applies to some of the factory workers. Some undoubtedly rely on production-based bonuses to survive, so they really don't like being asked to waste their time making stupid jokes.
But that is also one of the good things about the show. It gives these hard-working people a couple minutes to stop, breathe, and disconnect. And be on TV if that's your thing.
Just for once, I would love one of these shows to show what goes into sanitizing these production lines after each run. Dough? Raw meat? Stuff gets splattered everywhere, and I bet that cleanup job is a hell of a lot more interesting than what goes into the production.
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