 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
I'm Alive
- Animal Planet
- Genre: Reality TV
Common Sense Media says
Real-life survival tales are OK for kids but can be tedious.
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this reality series features real people sharing their stories about life-or-death situations. Since the survivors are telling their own tales, there’s little doubt about the outcome -- though the details of these harrowing encounters with dangerous animals can be very dramatic. The incidents are often quite intense, but the reenactments are pretty tame, and young viewers may find the stories inspiring.
What's the story?
Life can turn in an instant, and an ordinary day can suddenly become a survival situation. I’M ALIVE explains, in often harrowing detail, how regular people react when they're suddenly thrust into contact with dangerous animals, ranging from the tiny black widow spider to massive elephants. Each episode of the show includes detailed interviews with the victims, as well as reenactments of the incidents.
Is it any good?
It’s hard to beat the drama of real-world, life-threatening encounters with wild animals, but I'm Alive drains much of the excitement from the stories by stretching them out too long. Hearing someone talk about being gored by an elephant in a remote part of China is fascinating; listening to his entire life story -- including his school years, travels, marriage, and a tragic loss -- is unnecessary filler that detracts significantly from his story.
The show also sometimes exaggerates the stories' drama. For example, one reenactment shows a man trying to smuggle illegal anti-venom into the country to save his dying stepson from a poisonous spider bite. It's nail-biting adventure, but as he approaches Mexican customs, he’s suddenly accosted by security guards wielding machine guns! Did they find the contraband serum? No, he was just afraid that they would -- and the reenactment brings his fears to life. In reality, he passed through the checkpoint without incident. It feels like TV bait-and-switch, falsely creating action when nothing actually happened. This show would be better at half its length, sticking to the facts and cutting out the fluff.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about survival. How do you think you'd react in a life-or-death situation? Do you think the people in these stories acted wisely, or did they make any iffy choices?
How do the encounters described here compare to dangerous incidents in fictional movies or TV shows? Are they just as exciting? Do they seem scarier and/or more exciting because they're true?
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- Parents
- Teens & kids
Kid, 12 years old
January 21, 2011
AGE
Totally wicked!
Awesome! There are good role models because people try to help the victim,and they'll do anything to save them.Two thumbs up!
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Kid, 12 years old
April 2, 2011
AGE
Not a Good Idea to Watch
Can I just say that the is the most gruesome reality show I have ever seen? It can be scary! As far as anything, I'd consider this show to be violent but yet it has good ro-modles and positive messages as the the other people help the victim of what had happened. I'd give it two stars because it's gruesome and disgusting but other than that :I
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AGE
Very tedious
I have only seen a few episodes of this, but so far it doesn't look very good. There was this episode where an Australian guy gets attacked by a Great White Shark, and almost the whole second half of the episode was filled with the guy talking about how he saw "this fin". The show is melodramatic and lots of episodes have dozens of things that never actually happened. I am a huge fan of I Shouldn't be Alive, another Animal Planet show about survival. But that show doesn't melodramatize things, and it's VERY entertaining. But I'm Alive is a forgettable mess.
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| TV rating: | TV-PG |
| Network: | Animal Planet |
| Genre: | Reality TV |
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