TV Review: 'RatBusters NYC' -- 3 stars

RatBusters NYC

3 stars

People who have lived it probably don’t need to watch it. But for the rest of us, “RatBusters” is an eye-opener. Or a stomach-turner.

Jimmy Tallman and Michael Morales of Magic Exterminating arrive on the scene of “every New Yorker’s worst nightmare” to the strains of superhero music. They’re out to take down two villains this time: Brooklyn bedbugs and Bronx rats.

But their new-agey Midwood client seems to be infested with news-addict anxiety, since there’s no real bedbug evidence in his place. At least the guys get to hear a song their client wrote about the critters, as well as his philosophy of how they “teach someone to grow and become a greater person.”

So it should come as a relief to see rats actually appear in the next segment, the saga of a South Bronx convenience store. But after the pair’s “little buffet” of basement traps has the dead bodies piling up, I found myself cringing, holding my nose (I swear I could smell ’em) and looking away.

Jimmy and Michael provide enough color commentary to keep things lively. But really, how many infestations do you need to see? How much “documentary” footage of bedbugs swelling as they feed on blood can you stand?

It’s educational and entertaining, but sometimes just downright unpleasant.

On TV:
“RatBusters NYC” premieres on Animal Planet on Friday at 10 p.m.