The Hot Zone (2019–2021) User Reviews

Try not to lose sight of the big picture

[jsernau · 7/10 · 28 May 2019]

This was the 80s. PPE wasn't worn as is today in many industries; including work with non-human primates.

No matter the dramatic flare or details left out of the movie, what could have happened within the U.S. , didn't, because of a mutation. Plain and simple. The potential for devastation and loss within our borders without that mutation would have the crisis, loss and trauma of 9/11 pale in comparison.

This all happened right around Thanksgiving and some of the people working in Reston had been exposed (prior to knowledge or quarantine) were getting on airplanes and visiting families for the holiday. If it would have been Ebola Zaire, every state in the US could have been affected before it was even discovered.

So, maybe instead of getting bogged down with details of this or that, appreciate the bigger story, the bigger picture and the blessing of a simple mutation.

seriously silly schlock

[howboutthisone_huh · 6/10 · 30 May 2019]

I'm going back to school and get a degree in biology because after watching this show, I'm totally confused by the protocols. In the first episode, we see this woman exposed to a deadly virus thru a torn suit in a highly secure biohazard lab. Maybe if she wasn't yaking so much, she wouldn't have torn her suit. Then instead of being quarantined for weeks (which they keep mentioning throughout the show), she's released and out on the street chasing infected monkeys. She and another joker go into a private lab wearing tyvek suits (because they said so) where she's spit in the face by a sick, angry monkey but it's okay because she's wearing plastic goggles with holes. To be fair, I'm not picking on the ridiculous protection. I've seen people better protected removing asbestos but you have to wonder if tyvek suits and plastic eye goggles and bleach are all you need to fight this virus why is everyone screaming 'the sky is falling'. And really, there's no other way to kill this caged up angry monkey other than open the door and lasso it and stick it with a needle on a stick? Her husband is chief vet and this is what they come up with? Is this virus really dangerous or not? In one scene they clean up the contagion with a bottle of bleach, which she just conveniently pops over to get on foot during rush hour in DC, and then drives her blood contaminated car back home and parks it in the garage for her husband and kids to use. If they had put just a fraction of investment in the story as they did in the special effects this might have been something but instead I still found it entertaining but not how they intended, I'm sure. Science, Schmience, this is just silly.

One correction to the acronym for the disease.

[Melrosemiss · 7/10 · 29 May 2019]

EBV does not stand for Ebola virus but for Epstein-Barr virus. Ebola's acronym is EVD.

Very entertaining

[Melrosemiss · 7/10 · 29 May 2019]

I have not read the book, but I will now. Having worked in a Virology lab with someone who eventually was doing research at USAMRIID made this very personal for me. I realized right off that there were inaccuracies, starting with the man with pustulent sores on the airplane, right up to Julianna's character doing viral cultures, which would be done by a virologist, not a veterinary pathophysiologist. However, having loved the movie "Outbreak", my first comment about this to a friend was that it was like "Outbreak" turned into a series. We are truly only one airplane passenger away from such an outbreak, and if the show did nothing but make people aware of that fact, then it has served its purpose. If everyone can remember, Ebola did make it to the US, via air travel, and also was communicated to a nurse caring for a patient once hospitalized. I cannot even begin to imagine the terror of being. In a Biolevel 4 and realizing you had a tear in your suit.

Accuracy. No. Does it serve a purpose? Absolutely. Thank you, National Geographic. I wish it were lasting longer than 6 episodes.

Take it for what it is

[kjs11607 · 8/10 · 29 May 2019]

Folks, c'mon. What happened to watching a show for entertainment value? It's "based on," not a documentary.

Stop getting bent out of shape and just watch it. Or don't. I liked it. Especially coming from a book, there is always going to be a high level creative license involved to create the drama, suspense and fear.

Fact-checked takes down a peg

[MiketheWhistle · 7/10 · 28 May 2019]

First the show is neither great nor bad, it's just another inspired by from a book story with some really good actors and some good new faces. The story though should scare everyone because it is when not if we will see Ebola outside of Africa again. The dramatization to push that point home is where the show differs from the book, facts, and the actual true story based on several articles I have read.

I've not read the book, but I have read articles checking on the story accuracy and it probably deserves a C at best for how faithful it is and an A for making sure to repeat the words that it is inspired by a true story. Some of the errors are general that things are/were simply not the way it is told, and some of the errors challenge the words inspired by because the story is changed from the actual events in fairly dramatic ways.

Having said all that, it's better than many other stories (like the Spanish Princess for example), and the acting is considerably better. Take the review with a grain of salt as 5 people rated this at 4.3 before it even aired, and as you can see for another review someone watched 5 minutes and made a decision.

If nothing else, it should scare the absolute socks off everyone because where the story deviates from fact, it shows us what it could be like old Europe with the number of dead we could have had.

Good, not quite as good as series 1

[Apollocandybar · 8/10 · 12 December 2021]

Hot Zone: Anthrax explores aspects of the 2001 anthrax scares in ways I never heard at the time. I felt they gave away the conclusion a tad too early, and the timing feels weird (it apoears the investigation is happening weeks or months after 9/11, but in reality the investigation didn't conclude for 7 years). However, most of the acting is wonderful! A few anachronisms were distracting, like a Keurig, wall-mounted flat screen, and center-parted hairstyles were big misses for a 2001 setting, whereas Hot Zone series 1 was better about time period accuracy.

Ebola scare

[unonjacke · 7/10 · 30 May 2019]

Read the book when it came out and it scared me pretty badly. The series started out well but as we got to the last few episodes everything that could go wrong did for overly dramatic effect. The situation with Ebola is scary enough without the overly contrived situation. Additionally Liam Cunningham as Wade Carter started out doing American accent but by the end of the series sounded like he just got off the ship from Ireland.

Don't confuse story telling with boring

[carntsleep · 9/10 · 30 December 2021]

Really enjoyed it, good production. Great balance of story telling, drama and science (and I'm really quite fussy). Not for the impatient types obviously, who have rated it less than 6 here!

General good lab safety-a complete miss here!

[jeniton · 30 May 2019]

It is ridiculous that they don't where general personal protective equipment in the BL1 lab! Also real scientists would open unknown animal samples in a biosafety cabinet to ensure that neither they or the sample get contaminated. Contact me if you need a technical consultant that knows about lab safety!

The two male leads redeem this series

[julieshotmail · 7/10 · 3 December 2021]

"The Hot Zone: Anthrax" is not quite as good as the first season about Ebola, mostly because there is a lot of "War on Terror" politics portrayed here, and you really cannot count on any of it being accurate because the primary government officials are depicted here like cartoon characters. "That's our guy; he's guilty! Tell the media!" The editing is also not as tight and some dialogue is cringe-worthy. But all of that is somewhat redeemed by the outstanding performances by Tony Goldwyn and Daniel Dae Kim. Tony completely embodies a socially-awkward Ivins, and Daniel exudes a calm yet confident authority. Their performances keep you going, however the ending is a bit rushed. The creators take too much liberty with "inspired by true events" so that they don't have to delve into the real excruciating details of this moment in American history.

Similar to the movie, "Outbreak" great cast, but different than book

[rander-88123 · 8/10 · 28 May 2019]

I've seen the first two episodes. This is similar to the Dustin Hoffman movie, "Outbreak" from 1986 which concerned the spread to the U.S. of a deadly African-origin pathogen. However, this show differs from the true-life book on the subject of the Virginia outbreak. In the real story, the pathogen outbreak happens, but it was harmless to humans, though they didn't know that at first. There are some science faux-pas (most of which 99% of the audience won't catch) here and people do things they would never do in real-life, but it's fiction and some of the science is actually good and interesting. This is partly because they had a science expert advising them. Would I have done it differently? Yes, I'd have stuck closer to the science but then I'm not producer. Definitely worth watching though.

The banality of the an office park

[krburditt · 6/10 · 30 May 2019]

It's been a long time since I've read Preston's book the Hot Zone but I remember being scared sleepless by his book. More so when I realized that I frequently visited the office park where the Hazelton Lab was located, just a couple years before the event took place. The mini series makes the lab out to be a cavernous old 30's era industrial building. It was actually a one story office park building from the early 70's. There was a central parking lot surrounded on 4 sides by a variety of small businesses renting space in the office park , including the printing company I visited on a regular basis. It's the banality of the office park setting that chilled me when I read the book and it scares me still. It was not a fenced off derelict building, people came and went right outside the front door of the lab every single day. When they cleaned that lab out, they didn't seal off the whole area - they did it at night and on weekends. There were probably people working in some of those other buildings on late shifts. They got lucky they caught it in time. That virus is called Ebola-Reston. It could have been Reston - the town that Ebola killed.

That said - I thought the series caught the fear, claustrophobia and exhaustion of the HAZMAT Team. Also, how inter agency competition was making the problem worse not better. The kids playing next door are a tired trope, how about a Mom in a station wagon dropping off her PTA newsletter for printing? that probably really happened.

Read the book and be prepared to have some sleepless nights.

A Real Event Made Boring

[juliekcreel · 5/10 · 29 May 2019]

The cast is excellent, but they can't save the bad writing and worse pacing. I read the Richard Preston book back in 1994, and again last month when I heard about this miniseries. The book is an accurate accounting of the real events of 1989, and it's an edge-of-your-seat exciting read. This miniseries takes the same event and manages to drag it out with unnecessary backstories, wooden dialogue, and a dozen cliches. Then there are the blatantly incorrect representations of protocol in a lab environment. (I was in the medical field in 1989, and we did have strict ppe protocols.) My advice is to treat this as pure fiction, loosely based on the facts of the actual events. Get the true story from the book.

A good show that may slip under the radar.

[stevenrotherforth · 7/10 · 19 October 2019]

The Hot Zone

I discovered this show whilst channel hoping. I must admit that my attention was initially grabbed by the trailer due to the immediate comparison of the 'Chernobyl' mini series. Possibly those who had crafted the trailer had this as their intention. After all it couldn't hurt.

However this show tells a completely different story. Set in the 80's and based on the novel by Richard Preston. 'The Hot Zone' is inspired by true events. An Ebola breakout on American soil is chillingly presented and despite a few raise your eyebrow moments regarding plot and script, this is a rather gripping piece of television. After a strong opening the first twenty minutes or so are soon hard to digest as the story moves to a mainly laboratory environment with actors all talking scientifically. This becomes tedious for the layman but if you stick with it the drama soon takes hold.

'The Hot Zone' features good central performances from Julianna Margulies and Liam Cunngham. There's a very good supporting cast too from the likes of Topher Grace and Noah Emmerich. Whilst this show may not have the grand scale or polish of 'Chernobyl' it does offer much for fans of this genre. Aired in the UK on the National Geographic channel this show may slip under the radar. That would be a shame as it is well worth the audiences time.

Frightening Truth

[pietclausen · 8/10 · 30 May 2019]

Ebola is the new scourge of our World and a danger to mankind. Viruses have the ability to become resistant to drugs and newer drugs have to be developed to constantly keep dangerous illnesses in check. Malaria, for example, is spread by mosquitoes and current drugs are no longer effective treatment. Killing the mosquitoes now seem to be the easier method to eradicate this ancient illness.

Ebola has no cure presently, but some drug development has given hope for treating patients. The latest outbreak of Ebola in the DRC (previously Zaire) is not contained and may yet get out of control. Previous outbreaks have caused some 12 000 deaths, but with newer strains of Ebola it may be much worse. The Spanish Flu of 1918 (a virus outbreak) caused 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide, some 3 to 5% of the then world's population.

This miniseries gives a proper insight into the dangers of the Ebola virus and the extra-ordinary steps having to be taken to contain an outbreak. Well worth seeing.

Season 2: Anthrax - Don't bother about this story. Most boring to watch and not worth more than 4 stars.

Life imitating SciFi

[nancyldraper · 7/10 · 30 May 2019]

Life imitating SciFi. Or, in this case, the story that inspired several apocalyptic features. Good tension. Good acting. An interesting series. I give this show a 7 (good) out of 10. {Life Inspired Thriller}

A Gripping Thriller

[toudoujinpchi · 9/10 · 30 December 2021]

I loved almost everything about this series, and it's hard for me to be impressed by tv shows. Usually I'm put off by one of four factors: dialogue, unconvincing character actions, bad sound direction, or boring plot. This excels in every category, and in fact I want to commend the sound direction for being one of the best I've seen in a series ever. At one point there is a phone ringing on screen, but in a location the viewer cannot see, and I was actually looking around my house in the direction the phone was ringing in the series wondering why someone had their phone turned up so loud.

I was only bored once, which is a feat since I have ADHD and get bored and distracted very easily. It isn't even a fault of the show, I just get very bored when war talk comes on, which the show delves a little bit into.

I was not familiar with the anthrax scare beyond that I knew there was one, since I was in the third grade when all of this happened. It was incredibly informative, and I occasionally found myself wanting to look everything up to see how it would end. I'm glad I didn't, do yourself a favor and don't look up any information about this series of events as they happened in real life if you didn't already know. The twist at the end is a gorgeous quilt of tragedy and finality. I actually felt bad for the 'villain' of our story.

In short, if you don't already know what happened, do yourself a favor and do some research after you've already seen the show. Tony Goldwyn and Daniel Dae Kim give some of the best performances I've seen in a while. A stunner of a series.

Great show for entertainment

[kim-979-307100 · 7/10 · 2 December 2021]

If you are expecting to find "accuracy" watch something else, after all, this is entertainment. They try, but many protocols are not followed in the face of making entertainment.

If that doesn't bother you, its a good story with great actors. Of course that doesn't count for Topher Grace's wig. I've always liked him, but his hair was so distracting in EVERY. SINGLE. SCENE.

Yes and no

[bergqvist-76223 · 8/10 · 22 June 2022]

Season 1 about Ebola was great.

Good actors, nice settings and a contagious disease. Exciting and scary.

I was hoping that season 2 would continue the story especially since the end of season 1 mentioned "Island of the plagues" and the idea that there was a place where multiple viruses were mixing had me intrigued.

Instead we got season 2 about Anthrax and it feels like every other episode from CSI.

Season 1 gets an 8/10.

Season 2 ... ugh, snooze.

Frustrating to watch

[wix99 · 6/10 · 8 August 2020]

The production of this series is certainly timely. It reminds us that scientists knew and warned about the risks of pandemics, but their words were usually ignored.

The way the work of scientists was depicted left me feeling frustrated. Scientists are the ones who know and understand the risks so why did they series depict them showing such as disregard for basic safety practices when coming into contact with potentially contagious and lethal pathogens. One minute they are handling the samples in a Level 4 Biohazard Facility and the next minute putting them in the back of a car in a plastic bag.

Perhaps safe working practices were not as common in the 1980s where this series was set. However, I just spent way too much time cringing while watching this.

Ignite the infantile reviewers with their

[larosaj-26666 · 9/10 · 29 May 2019]

Pontifications on accuracy. This an entertaining mini series not a documentary. As a paramedic I shake my head at all the medical blunders conducted in the field in shows and movies but that died by detract my enjoyment of them if they're good. Well paced with great direction, editing, acting and camera work. Much better than I thought it would be and it's disheartening to know that this is an extremely plausible possibility.

It's a tv series

[ramonbvigo · 6/10 · 12 August 2019]

It is entertainment and not every tv SERIES can go page by page of a book, give them a break, they are actors, so ITS NOT REAL!!!

Too much unnecessary added drama.

[marythomaslcsw · 4/10 · 30 May 2019]

Having read the book any number of times, I was delighted to see Nat Geo produce a miniseries. The story of filoviruses is terrifying, and this particular story is scary enough without the addition of 'jump scares' and absurdist storylines. It's a shame that NatGeo felt the need to add such ridiculous drama to what is already a powerful story. It makes what should be a powerful and sobering message and makes it into a hoary mess. The cast is talented enough, and the events are important enough, that they could have spoken for themselves.

Hollywood's worst actors used for this one.

[rsvp321 · 10 June 2019]

I wish there was a review like this one here, before I wasted my time watching it!

Acting was horrible. Zero skilled actors.

Script was horrible. Two episodes could have done this mini.

Plot holes, galore! Ridiculous drama galore!

Continual reference of the virus as, "wise, smart, smarter than ((humans)) clever, thinking, planning...etc". I guess no one advised the script writers that viruses aren't even *alive*?!

I guess there was no one on the direction team to advise about cross-contamination, either? Oh, yes - watch for lots of gloved, contaminated hands touching regular objects every episode - pens, phones, hair, another person's face mask... Or, the Dr Nancy Jaax poking a bloody, thawed, unknown sample in the front office, not knowing if it was an airborne concern sample, or anything else about it.

The last two episodes I had to fast forward for ~50% of them both.