Review: 'Fat Guys In The Woods'

Even learning basic survival skills is difficult and maybe that's part of the reason that I enjoyed watching the first episode of the new Weather Channel series "Fat Guys In The Woods." Aside from the show having the best name since "Sex Sent Me To The E.R.," it also turns out to be both entertaining and informative.

In each episode, survival expert Creek Stewart takes three people out in the woods and tries to teach them enough survival skills in a week so they can survive a day in the woods with nothing much more than a knife and a smile.

Stewart is a patient guy, with a touch of that goofy survival expert vibe that you seem to see in anyone who spends a lot of time by themselves. In this case, he takes three friends from California and shows them how to do everything from building a fire to constructing a rabbit-catching trap.

What makes the show work is that he is really trying to teach them basic skills. At the end of the challenge, they aren't necessarily going to ever spend another night out in the woods for any reason. But if they do, they'll know enough to survive until help arrives.

"Fat Guys In The Woods" is part of the network's new "Survival Sunday" and the show is paired up with the new series "So You Think You'd Survive?" Both shows try to walk the line between being an entertainment show but also providing useful information that would be a fit for the network's regular viewers.

At least in the case of this show (I haven't seen "So You Think You'd Survive?"), it's a good fit for the network. It's restrained, yet still entertaining and I might even have learned a few survival tips. So I suppose I'll be ready if they're ever casting "Fat TV Critics In the Woods."

"Fat Guys In The Woods" premieres on the Weather Channel on Sunday, August 10th at 10:00 p.m.