Monsters Inside Me
{{Short description|American documentary television series (2009–2017)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Monsters Inside Me Logo.jpg
| caption =
| genre = Documentary
| creator =
| developer =
| writer =
| director = Kyle McCabe, Alexis Siggers, Sally Freeman, Ed Hambleton
| creative_director =
| presenter =
| starring = Dan Riskin
| judges =
| voices =
| narrated = Justin Peed
Jason Done (UK, until series 6)
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 8
| num_episodes = 75
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer = Nicola Moody
Erin Wanner
Dominic Stobart
| producer = Kyle McCabe
| editor =
| location =
| cinematography =
| camera =
| runtime = 60 minutes
| company = Optomen Productions
| channel = Animal Planet
| first_aired = {{start date|2009|7|1}}
| last_aired = {{end date|2017|12|17}}
| related = Bugs, Bites & Parasites
}}
Monsters Inside Me is an American documentary television series about parasitic infestations and infectious diseases. The series utilizes first-person interviews with medical professionals and patients telling their personal stories about contracting rare diseases, as well as dramatizations of the patients' illnesses. Interviews with contributors were shot on location across North America. Dramatizations were mostly filmed near hospitals and homes in New York City.
Summary
Each episode has dramatizations that show illnesses caused by an infectious disease or parasitic infestation. Once the agent has been identified, their life cycles and general behaviors are illustrated. Justin Peed is the narrator, and biologist Dan Riskin explains how and why each infectious agent works inside its host. Most shows start as a commonly diagnosed disease but then transform into a different life-threatening or serious disease, which will be cured most of the time at the end. Out of the 216 cases documented on the show, only 12 of those ended in the victim dying, usually from a disease with an extremely low survival rate.
The overwhelming majority of cases and their victims occur throughout the United States, but a few cases and their victims come from Canada.
The show's first two seasons focused solely on parasites and parasitic infections, but since the third season, the show has included scenarios and medical cases featuring non-parasitic illnesses and infections, particularly those caused by other pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi, as well as illnesses caused by foreign objects.
The second season premiered on Wednesday June 9, 2010 and then returned for a third season on October 5, 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/09/11/expect-the-unexpected-in-an-all-new-season-of-animal-planets-monsters-inside-me-708014/20120911animalplanet01/|title=Expect the Unexpected in an All-New Season of Animal Planet's "Monsters Inside Me"|website=The Futon Critic|date=September 11, 2012|access-date=October 12, 2012}}
As of January 7, 2011, Monsters Inside Me was broadcast in Canada by Discovery Science. It also airs on Discovery in the UK, and broadcasts in different languages on various Discovery networks across the world.
The show's final episode aired on December 17, 2017.
Episodes
{{Main|List of Monsters Inside Me episodes}}
=Series overview=
| color1 = #AE1810
| link1 =
| episodes1 = 6
| start1 = {{Start date|2009|7|1}}
| end1 = {{End date|2009|8|5}}
| color2 = #F87217
| link2 =
| episodes2 = 10
| start2 = {{Start date|2010|6|9}}
| end2 = {{End date|2010|8|25}}
| color3 = #FFDB58
| link3 =
| episodes3 = 10
| start3 = {{Start date|2012|10|5}}
| end3 = {{End date|2012|12|7}}
| color4 = #00FF00
| link4 =
| episodes4 = 10
| start4 = {{Start date|2013|9|30}}
| end4 = {{End date|2013|12|18}}
| color5 = #50EBEC
| link5 =
| episodes5 = 10
| start5 = {{Start date|2014|10|9}}
| end5 = {{End date|2014|12|18}}
| color6 = #0000A0
| link6 =
| episodes6 = 10
| start6 = {{Start date|2015|10|29}}
| end6 = {{End date|2015|12|22}}
| color7 = #7D2DB6
| link7 =
| episodes7 = 7
| start7 = {{Start date|2016|10|6}}
| end7 = {{End date|2016|12|15}}
| color8 = #F9B7FF
| link8 =
| episodes8 = 12
| start8 = {{Start date|2017|10|15}}
| end8 = {{Start date|2017|12|17}}
}}
=''Monsters Inside Me: Extra Deadly''=
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2018}}
Monsters Inside Me: Extra Deadly is a spin-off of Monsters Inside Me that airs alongside the original show. It features reruns of episodes from Seasons 6-onwards but adds extra onscreen trivia that appears when a condition, infection, or symptom is discussed. Aside from that, it also features onscreen trivia of various casual objects found in the episode, like when it was first invented. The spin-off started in 2016; the first season is composed of altered versions of all Season 6 episodes with added trivia, and would usually air before a brand new episode from Season 7 of the original show premiered. The second season, which started in 2017, is set to air altered versions of all Season 7 episodes and previously-aired episodes of Season 8 with added trivia, and will premiere before brand-new episodes of Season 8 of the original show premiere.
=Season 1 (2016)=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! # !! Title !! Original air date !! Viewers {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = There's a Fungus in My What!?! |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|10|13}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = There's Something Living in My Knee!? |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|10|20}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = My Vacation From Hell |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|10|27}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = Help! My Son is a Leper |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|11|3}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = Worms Are Eating My Lungs |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|11|10}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 6 |Title = The Eyeball Eater |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|11|17}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 7 |Title = The Backyard Killer |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|12|1}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 8 |Title = They Hijacked My Eyeball |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|12|1}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 9 |Title = An Amoeba is Eating My Brain |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|12|8}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 10 |Title = All I Got For Christmas Is Brain Surgery |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2016|12|15}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} |
=Season 2 (2017)=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! # !! Title !! Original air date !! Viewers {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = I Have a WHAT in My WHAT? |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|10|15}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = There's Something Living in My Hand! |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|10|22}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = My Wife is Rotting |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|10|29}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = My Hands Are Falling Off |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|11|5}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = My Evil Twin is Driving Me Crazy |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|11|12}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 6 |Title = My Second Brain Is Killing Me |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|11|19}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 7 |Title = Help! I'm Being Eaten Alive |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|11|26}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 8 |Title = There's a Maggot in My Head |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|12|03}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 9 |Title = Something Is Eating My Baby |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|12|10}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 10 |Title = My Brain Is Under Attack |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2017|12|17}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} |
=Season 3 (2018)=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! # !! Title !! Original air date !! Viewers {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = The Monster in My Mouth |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2018|4|5}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = Braced for Death |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2018|4|12}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = I Can't Stop Coughing Up Blood |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2018|4|19}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = The Organ Shredder |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2018|4|26}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = My Lungs Are Rotting |OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|2018|5|3}} |ShortSummary = |Viewers = N/A }} |
Reception
Mike Hale of The New York Times said that "there's science amid the frightening stories" and said that the series "really grossed him out."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/arts/television/01monsters.html?_r=1|title=The Enemy Within: Wrigglies From Hell |last=Hale|first=Mike|date=June 30, 2009|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2009-07-15}}
Anne Louise Bannon of Common Sense Media said that "parents need to know that there is a lot of gross stuff in the series and the show has good educational content except for the tips on how to protect yourself from parasites because the information is vague".{{Cite web |url=http://www.commonsensemedia.org/user/anne-louise-bannon-0 |title=Monsters Inside Me Review |access-date=2009-08-18 |last=Bannon |first=Anne Louise |work=Common Sense Media |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730115952/http://www.commonsensemedia.org/user/anne-louise-bannon-0 |archive-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead }}
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote "Forget 'American Horror Story.' For several years now the scariest show on television has been Animal Planet's 'Monsters Inside Me,' which recreates real cases of bizarre, life-threatening infections."{{cite news|last1=Genzlinger|first1=Neil|title=10 Unconventional Halloween Diversions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/theater/10-unconventional-halloween-diversions.html|work=New York Times|date=October 22, 2015 |access-date=22 October 2015}}
Spin-off
In 2013, a UK spin-off called Bugs, Bites & Parasites premiered on Discovery Channel UK.{{Cite web |title=Bugs, Bites and Parasites: Tropical Diseases Uncovered |url=https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/news-events/news/bugs-bites-and-parasites-tropical-diseases-uncovered |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=LSTM |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.animalplanet.com/show/monsters-inside-me-animal-planet}}
- {{IMDb title|1454824}}
Category:2000s American documentary television series
Category:2009 American television series debuts
Category:2010s American documentary television series