- 1 Touching Death
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Profiling individuals whose jobs entail handling human remains in Manila; Los Angeles; and Bangkok.
Air Date: 2008-08-06
- 2 Extreme Kids
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"Extreme Kids" explores child kickboxing matches in Thailand and a self-mutilation ritual for Shi'a Muslims in India.
Air Date: 2008-08-06
- 3 Supreme Devotion
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A look at religions that measure devotion by physical suffering.
Air Date: 2008-08-13
- 4 Body Extremes
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A thriving black market for human organs is examined in the Philippines. Also: a look at an intimate bond between humans and pigs in Papua New Guinea; an Australian health therapist who uses urine as a topical medicine is profiled.
Air Date: 2008-08-20
- 5 Extreme Healing
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Exploring cultures where people entrust their health to faith rather than modern medicine in Venezuela, Arizona and the Philippines.
Air Date: 2008-08-27
- 6 Trial by Fire
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Dangerous initiation rituals are spotlighted. Included: a fire dance in Papua New Guinea; riding untamed bulls in India.
Air Date: 2008-09-03
- 7 Extreme Eats
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Spotlighting extreme cuisine, from duck embryos to spiders.
Air Date: 2008-09-10
- 8 Outsiders
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Profiling outcast individuals in different societies. Included: rat catchers in India; leprosy sufferers in Nepal; scavengers in Australia.
Air Date: 2008-09-17
- 9 Drugs
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Exploring societies that recognize more than two genders in India, Indonesia and Albania.
Air Date: 2008-10-15
- 10 The Third Sex
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Exploring societies that recognize more than two genders in India, Indonesia and Albania.
Air Date: 2008-10-22
- 11 Extreme Punishment
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When laws are broken, human society demands justice. But who decides which punishment best fits the crime? Taboo travels the globe to discover what lengths some societies go to to punish a crime.
Air Date: 2008-10-29
- 12 Bizarre Bodies
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Profiling people who've gone to extreme lengths to change their looks. Included: a man with surgically attached horns; a woman said to have the world's smallest waist.
Air Date: 2008-11-10
- 13 Extreme Rituals
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Rituals that mark the passage from one phase of life to another are examined. Included: boys leap headfirst from a 70-foot-tall tower on an island in the South Pacific; a young girl tattoos her face before marriage in Papua New Guinea; a man in West Africa participates in a bloodletting ceremony that will ready him for priesthood.
Air Date: 2008-11-24
- 13 Extreme Rituals
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Rituals that mark the passage from one phase of life to another are examined. Included: boys leap headfirst from a 70-foot-tall tower on an island in the South Pacific; a young girl tattoos her face before marriage in Papua New Guinea; a man in West Africa participates in a bloodletting ceremony that will ready him for priesthood.
Air Date: 2008-11-24
- 14 Spilling Blood
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Western culture hides the spilling of animal blood behind closed doors, but other places its a public event. In Nepal, animals are sacrificed daily to appease a bloodthirsty goddess. Nearly 1,000 whales are slaughtered every year near Denmark in a 1,200-year-tradition called the Grind. Banned in most European countries and the U.S., cockfighting still takes place in Bali to appease evil spirits. Taboo: Spilling Blood takes viewers on a trip to experience animal bloodletting traditions.
Air Date: 2008-12-01
- 15 Sex
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A look at how love and sex are expressed in different societies. Included: swingers in Australia; a Chinese ethnic group that encourages sexual boldness.
Air Date: 2008-12-08
- 16 Sex Swap
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Strength and aggression are seen as masculine, sensitivity and insight are feminine – so when you can’t tell who’s male and who’s female, it can be confusing, disturbing and at times; frightening. This is the story of America’s post-operative transmen, Thailand’s kathoeys, the Fa’afafine of Samoa, the sex-reassignment surgery capital of the world, Trinidad, Colorado, USA and a couple in a long-term relationship in which both partners are transgender.