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Reviews
MythBusters: The Search (2017)
The Bar Has Been Lowered Yet Again
Anybody familiar with the original MythBusters is likely familiar with its gradual decline. The first 5 or 6 season were the "golden age" and then they started tweaking the formula for ratings / to reach a wider audience (i.e. less and less substance, and more and more "wow factor"). The last few seasons had devolved into a sort of "witches brew" of scripted reality TV, and a race to blow something up / create a spectacle, magnificently void of logic / reasoning.
"MythBusters: The Search" has once again lowered the bar. The show is now formatted as a competition, yet they attempt to shoehorn the elements of the original into the new format as if nothing has changed (e.g. classifying a myth as confirmed, plausible, or busted, when the new format provides virtually no rigorous, empirical justification for doing so).
To present this uncontrolled, "fly by the seat of your pants" science (if you can even call it that) which takes place under the new competition format, as any sort of definitive, reproducible result is downright idiotic.
Their mistake was using the "MythBusters" name for the show, as it creates a certain expectation, which goes magnificently unfulfilled.
What on Earth? (2015)
How to contrive extraordinary perceptions out of underwhelming, uninspiring reality
Here's the formula for this show:
1. Search high and low for any sort of satellite image that can possibly be presented in an anomalous context.
2. Omit key information / observations / facts, while using the narrator to mislead the viewers / present said "anomaly" as something extraordinary (e.g. aliens, government secrets, the end of the world).
3. Present several (typically idiotic / ludicrous) possibilities (to eat up time), and then proceed to discredit said idiotic / ludicrous possibilities (e.g. Narrator's Voice (hyperbole): "A satellite caught glimpse of a giant pink blob in the sky over the Pacific Ocean, which has experts baffled. Some have suggested it could be a giant herd of pigs. This would certainly explain the pink appearance, but upon further inspection, seems unlikely as pigs aren't known to fly. Further, the blob covers an area of 100,000 square miles. If it is a herd of flying pigs, it would consist of more pigs than are known to exist in the observable universe").
4. Present all the (initially omitted) facts / details, revealing the anomaly's true, (underwhelming) identity (e.g. Narrator's Voice: "When orbiting the earth, a satellite witnesses a sunset and sunrise every 90 minutes. At the time the anomalous satellite image was taken, the sun just so happened to be setting behind the Earth, resulting in a spectacular sunset, which manifests itself as a (wait for it)
pink
blob
").
There might be one legitimate / actually interesting case presented every couple of episodes. Aside from that, it's just a bunch of lazy / manufactured, (often) downright idiotic filler content
Then again, I suppose that's pretty much all television these days
Pawn Stars (2009)
The first few seasons were entertaining but the show has gone downhill since.
The first few seasons of this show weren't bad. The majority of the show revolved around the items brought into the shop. Sure, there were some annoying side-scripts involving the different cast members (e.g. Chumlee acting foolish or the old man falling asleep) but it wasn't the focus and thus didn't detract from the show too much.
Fast forward to the last year or two. The show has devolved into something borderline unwatchable. The "annoying side-scrips" are now the focus of the show. The acting is so incredibly obvious that it makes you feel foolish for even watching.
I'm not sure why the folks at the History channel feel the need to throw in all this scripted garbage. The original formula (the one that made the show so popular in the first place) allowed the show to practically write itself.
Anyway, if you're just getting into the show, my recommendation would be to check out all the older episodes. There are a lot of really cool items and facts with only a limited amount of nonsense.