the title of my review says it all. while jackass was funny in not just the stunts, but the perceived randomness of the stunts themselves. viva la bam, on the other hand, is reduced to the same bland stupid things rich suburban kids do on their spare time. except they get paid for it, of course. definitely not a good example for the kiddies, especially when, among other things, you have a dad who gets beat up by his son constantly, a drunk, morbidly obese, unintelligible, and just gross uncle, and you have your main character wreck his own lamborghini. it turned into your typical teen dumbass show. suddenly i want to go rent both jackass movies.

This, without any doubt, is the greatest spin off to Jackass ever made, hell, it even blows Jackass out of the water.Picture this: You have a group of guys who just didn't want to grow up, throw in a ton of money, and some seriously cool stunts, and you have Viva La Bam.This show, it's such a family-based one, and it's not just "the gang" running around being complete jerks (like in Jackass). For example: Bam's parents, April and Phil, are in every episode, with appearances of Bam's obese uncle, Don Vito to boot! The reason why the Margera family makes us laugh is simple: Somebody in our family can relate. April: The woman who wants to live life by the book and follow tradition. Phil: The guy who tries to be a good father, and finally, Bam: That son that never grew out of high school.The pranks and jokes in every episode will give you a guaranteed laugh, and buying the DVDs is definitely recommended! Another thing which is surprising to see, is how casual Margera is over the whole thing. He's said in interviews that for the majority of episodes, he isn't acting, and is just acting off instinct.What I liked the most about the whole thing, however, is the amount of influence Margera has over MTV. He wanted Slayer to play in his backyard, MTV did it. He wanted to hang with Dani Filth for a day and have a Cradle Of Filth concert in his backyard, it happened.Add to this his passion for the love-metal (and debated as emo) band H.I.M and his brother's garage band CKY, and there's a whole lot of head banging going on.If you liked Jackass, you'll fall in love with this. I borrowed Season 1 from a friend last year, and I would give up my legs to meet the Viva La Bam Crew. You will not be disappointed, and I can promise you'll be in stitches by the end of it all!

VIVA LA BAM This "Jackass" spin off focuses on the (obviously scripted) adventures of Bam Margera and his pals (Johnny Knoxville, Brandon Dicamillo, etc). This show, while it has its fair share of gross-out comedy and crazy stunts, focuses mainly on Bam's torturing of his parents.I'm sorry to say this, Bam, but... you're in no way as cool as you think you are. This ego tripped show is not only painfully unfunny (and yes, I liked Jackass), but also narcissistic beyond belief. The overly stylized intro ends with Bam coolly explaining that he's going to do "whatever the f***" he wants to. How about you do something that is actually funny? I liked "Jackass" for what it was worth. The camera-work was horrible - any idiot could have made a better show with a camcorder in their parents' garage - but at least the show moved at a steady pace and never felt boring between the crazy, dangerous or simply disgusting stunts the pals performed.Not so with "Viva la Bam". We follow our hero around as he plays pranks on his friends and tortures his relatives, but never does it feel like anything else than really lame and scripted comedy. The stunts and pranks are mildly entertaining, but presented in such a tedious and dull fashion that they can barely make you smile."Viva la Bam" is a poor spin-off of that does little good but feed Margera's already too big ego. I don't recommend this lame and unimaginative show to anyone.

Anybody who finds this to be a bad show is either A Completely out of their mind or B Doesn't have a good sense of humor. There is much more to Viva La Bam then Bam going around annoying his parents. It shows how he lives and what he does for fun. Bam happens to do a lot of nice things for his parents. People say he's mean to his parents but hello? He let them live with him! All I have to say is Viva La Bam is a good way to get someone to laugh and yes they do stupid things but guess what!? That's the whole entire point of the show! It's to show what they like to do even if it is completely ridiculous. I think this show is cool because everyone in it does things people have always wanted to try but were kind of scared to try. The show is funny because the people in it do the oddest things all the time. Once again I say if you do not like this show then I think that there is something wrong with you.