Jesse James Is a Dead Man
Jesse James Is a Dead Man
TV-14 | 31 May 2009 (USA)

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SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    CheerupSilver

    Very Cool!!!

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    FeistyUpper

    If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

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    BallWubba

    Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

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    Marva

    It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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    itsmurph2003

    This show fails to live up to its potential because it does not respect the viewer. The premise is interesting: Jesse James takes part in dangerous activities related to his motorhead background. So far, the featured challenges have some inherent interest: the concept of motorcycling on the ice road (made famous in "Ice Road Truckers") is appealing, and I (for one) was introduced to the bizarre world of Figure 8 racing during another episode. And, to be sure, the activities are dangerous, even if the setups are controlled where possible by producers.Unfortunately, the creators of the show seem worried that the episodes are not daring or exciting enough, so the viewer has to suffer through almost-constant declarations by an annoying narrator that what Jesse is doing is VERY DANGEROUS. Remember Count Floyd on SCTV, the host of the late-night horror movie who kept insisting that things were very scary? I wonder if he is a consultant to this show, because it similarly reveals the truth by protesting too much about its own horrific atmosphere. The second, near-constant subtext is that JESSE IS A BADASS. The episodes simply work too hard to tell us that he is exceptional in all situations. This claim rings hollow in the presence of true experts featured in each episode's particular event. Some episodes also struggle to find an excuse for whatever Jesse is doing. For example, the ice road episode half-heartedly suggests that Jesse must ride the ice road so he can deliver life-saving medicine to remote villagers (apparently the camera crew in the helicopter cannot help with this task). We know he's doing it to challenge himself and provide entertainment, so let's not pretend he's on a humanitarian mission. Finally, I must single out to the police-car-chase episode as an especially bad example of my points, as well as an absurdly staged and edited series of events, accented by a ridiculously fake "real time" play-by-play from a helicopter pilot.All of this is unfortunate since Jesse James is clearly an accomplished, daring, and talented person, and his various pursuits could be compelling in themselves. I doubt this show will be re-tooled but I hope his next product is a little more honest with itself and the viewer.

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    Alex Sava

    I've watched the first episode of this show trying hard to like it. I like Jesse James so I was looking forward to watching the premiere of his new show. It was okay, but nothing spectacular. I was keen on giving it a second chance though.The second episode, however, was so scripted and fake to the point of being absolutely ridiculous. Jesse was supposed to escape police officers in a car chase. It was obviously done on an abandoned facility, probably used for training, but they never mentioned it. They had a couple of well placed vehicles and claimed Jesse "almost" hit them. The cops pretended to be outraged by what was going on, and so forth. But then, how come they didn't arrest him? If he's recklessly driving on a public road, putting others at risk, why would they just continue playing the game? At the end, Jesse was having a laugh with them about it and all was fine... But what about the "near misses" with civilians? So you can just challenge police officers to chases around public roads and then laugh it up with them? This show is insulting the viewer's intelligence with the scripted plots. I've seen more realistic car chases in 24.

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    enosshenk

    I'll be honest, this show is entertaining in a mindless Spike TV sort of way. It IS fun to watch Jesse James drive something fast and probably wreck it, but...To anyone with half a brain, the show is staged. Or at least the police chase episode was obviously staged, and to me, that ends it right there. Look, you either bill a show as reality, or you bill it as fiction. Billing a show as having real events and then letting the audience see the rigging and scripting makes this no different than any other "reality" show.Regarding the police chase episode:If Jesse James and the police had an agreement to have a chase-off, obviously they would use a controlled course. Obviously during the show, you can see the neighborhood being used as a course is abandoned. However the show never mentions this, it neglects to mention this fact to falsely raise tension.Also obviously, Jesse James is no idiot or criminal. He would NOT take a dangerous stunt onto a public golf course as was portrayed. If he did, the participating police would instantly go "real" and arrest him on the spot after the first chase.In the second chase, he "barely misses" a "civilian" vehicle. See the last comment, there is NO WAY Jesse or the police involved or the producers of the show or their lawyers would allow him to endanger any real public. This is a fact so obvious that it instantly calls into question every other aspect of this show.And finally, when Jesse is eventually spun out and trapped via the PIT maneuver, are you seriously going to tell me a cameraman on foot just HAPPENED to be at the exact place where Jesse's car was spun out and disabled? On a chase that covered an entire abandoned town? Sorry, no.Finally, the "commander" in the helicopter was so obviously reading scripted lines it made my brain hurt.I rate this show a 3/10 solely for mindless "Wooooo, burnout!" value. Obviously staged, and it insults the viewers intelligence by trying to pull one over on them in such a poorly done way. Bring back Monster Garage, that was Jesse James in a REAL show.

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    mm-39

    I will give the producers some time with this show. Not bad for the first episode. However Jesse James is a dead man got bogged down in the middle of this episode. I believe Ultimate Warrior is better, but hey the show is a bit older. I want to watch next weeks show with the Police car chase. So far I give the show a four out of ten. The preview of the show is great. I want to watch some of the stunts which will come on latter shows. At least this is better Reality TV where Jessie does some incredible non human feats unlike other mind numbing reality TV. I hate watching reality TV where some fool who ate too much beans at the camp fire so everyone voted him or her of the Island, bus, boat, house, motor home etc. At least Jesse would jump the motor home over West Edmonton Mall. Hey, that grabs my short attention span. Jesse James is a dead man has the potential to be a show I would give a nine out of ten. Let us see what feats are up for the future.

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