"Ancient Aliens" Finds New Way to Recycle Old Episodes ... Again

The year that ended on December 31 marked a significant shift in American TV viewing habits. This past year, 75 of the 100 most-watched telecasts were sports, according to a Variety analysis, up from roughly half over the past several years. The only scripted series to make the list were CBS’s Tracker (fifteen times!) and the series finale of Young Sheldon. This reflects the broader trend of Americans watching significantly less traditional TV as they opt for social media videos. This, of course, creates a downward spiral as viewers watch less TV, are exposed to fewer promotions for new shows, and become less aware of what’s airing and thus watch less. This is a long way around me saying that since I cut my cable subscription last fall, I haven’t been as aware of the History Channel’s offerings and had no idea there was a new Ancient Aliens spinoff show—or that it had been airing for three months!

​Ancient Aliens: Origins is a repackaging of the show’s early episodes with a new roundtable discussion featuring talking heads from the show at the beginning and the end. The first episode featured commentary from Giorgio Tsoukalos, William Henry, and Jason Martell. It was not a terribly exciting way to recycle the same material yet again. The material has previously been recycled as Ancient Aliens Declassified, Ancient Aliens: The Ultimate Evidence, etc., not to mention its reuse in other episodes of Ancient Aliens ​itself. The wraparound commentary was of no particular value, more self-congratulatory than informative. Narrator Robert Clotworthy, however, continued the show’s bold tradition of always being wrong by proclaiming that Ancient Aliens has been on the air “for nearly two decades.” The correct number (as of the launch of Ancient Aliens: Origins this past fall) was 14 years, 15 if you count the 2009 pilot special broadcast a full year before the first season.