Rising from the ashes of CKY and more recently MTV's Jackass, this latest skatepunk/reality show hybrid finds Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo and Raab Himself terrorizing Bam's mother April and father Phil in Viva La Bam!. Every week finds the grungy little skaters devising new and more sinister ways of playing pranks on Bam's family members and altering the family house in as many ways as possible. Throw in a few odd Jackass style stunts, the odd musical guest appearance, and some gratuitous skateboarding footage from time to time and you can kind of get the idea of how this show all ties together.

The whole idea behind the show should really test the patience of Bam's parents but they are good natured about all of it, presumably because MTV is covering whatever damages are done to their property and their home. If that wasn't the case, I can't see a court convicting them for throttling their offspring as he really does pull some pretty hefty stunts in this series.

While the humor isn't as insane or as disgusting as the two series Margera was known for previously, it's still pretty crass and full of fart jokes and toilet humor. Combine this with tenacity for physical bodily harm and you've got a reasonably entertaining show that, while it sometimes feels pretty forced and almost phony, at least manages to entertain in twenty-minute intervals. Getting a couple of beers into you beforehand can only improve the experience.

Episode 1: Phil's Hell Day

In this premiere episode Bam and company decide that they're going to attempt the impossible – they're going to try and make Phil angry. Seeing as no one has ever seen this happen before they figure they've got some work ahead of them. They start by installing a fireman's pole in the house, then iron hamburger pictures to each and every article of clothing he has in the house. When that doesn't work, they destroy his fan. Finally, Bam sends Phil and April to Atlantic City in a limo and when they return they find that he's installed skate ramps in the family home and turned the house into a giant skate park.

Episode 2: Bam Hosts A Concert (a.k.a. Don't Feed Phil)

Phil tells Bam that he can go twenty four hours without food but Bam doesn't believe him so he takes him up on the challenge. He takes out billboards around town and even has local radio announcers mention on the air that Phil is not allowed to have any food for the day. He chains up the cupboards and empties out the fridge so that Phil cannot eat in the house. When Bam and friends head out to see Norwegian death punk act Turbonegro play in nearby Philadelphia, Phil and Don Vito try to order a pizza. Bam retaliates by bringing Turbonegro and the rest of the audience back to the Margera home and hosting a concert that Phil will never forget.

Episode 3: The Family Reunion

When Bam finds out about a family reunion soon to be happening at his home, he decides to replace the front door with a moat and a drawbridge to make the house look more like a castle fit for his relatives. He then has a wall erected around the front lawn to protect the area where the dinner is going to happen. Bam has his friends show up in full armor to take care of the event catering while Compton Ass Terry shows up to surprise everyone by riding atop an honest to God elephant. Bam's family is understandably confused by all of this.

Episode 4: We're Going to Vegas!

Bam takes Phil and April to Las Vegas to celebrate their wedding anniversary in style. In order to really mark the occasion Bam orders a Russian mail order bride for Raab Himself, who agrees to marry her while the group are partying it up in the city of sin. Phil gets made up like Elvis and Don Vito gets his hair dyed blue while Bam and his crew destroy Raab's tux just in time for the ceremony. Phil and April renew their vows while Raab and his bride are joined in holy matrimony. The episode ends with a giant cake fight back at the hotel where the reception occurs.

Episode 5: Three-Day Weekend

When a long weekend hits the calendar, Phil and April decide to get away from it all for a few days and leave Bam at home and to his own devices. He takes advantage of the situation by having the kitchen and its entire contents painted a lovely shade of parade blue. They turn insult into injury by building an underground tunnel into Don Vito's house and turn April's PT Cruiser into a customized street rod.

Episode 6: The Christmas Episode

It's the most wonderful time of the year and Bam has decided to bring the spirit of the holiday season to his quiet suburban neighborhood by decorating the family home with all manner of festive ideas. He strings up a ton of lights, brings in some artificial snow and hangs some giant ornaments on the side of the house. He even turns the inside of the house into an ice skating rink, much to everyone's joy. Don Vito pees in his pants and Bam finds a million and one uses for duct tape.

Episode 7: April Gets Revenge

In this episode where justice is finally served, April turns the table on her punk ass kid when he and his crew plan on playing a joke on Don Vito, Phil and herself while on a boating trip. She manages to convince the crew to get off the boat and onto an island less than one hundred yards from the infamous site of Three Mile Island. She leaves them there without any real supplies for twenty-four hours and gives her kid a taste of his own medicine. Bam and his friends are able to assemble a half pipe though and manage to make the best of a bad situation until he figures out how to really get back on his mother for outsmarting him this time.

Episode 9: The Scavenger Hunt

The last episode of the set finds Bam and his crew teaming up with The Bloodhound Gang for a massive scavenger hunt. Everyone splits up into one of three teams and each team gets into a beat up old jalopy car to get themselves from point A to point B. With over fifty wacky and disgusting items to collect and stunts to attempt the crew gets into all sorts of mischief in this final episode of the first season.

Video:

The fullframe 1.33.1 image looks pretty darned good. The material that is shot with hidden cameras of course doesn't look quite as crisp or detailed as the other footage but looks very nice for what is essentially a reality show. Colors look really good and the image is consistently clean and problem free considering it's shot on video and oft times with moving or handheld cameras. There aren't any problems with compression artifacts at all and there's only a slight hint of edge enhancement and the odd shimmering effect worth noting. Flesh tones look lifelike and natural and overall these episodes look very nice.