Since SPLICE, the effects studio working with Committee Films on America Unearthed, put out a press release yesterday acknowledging what I’ve known confidentially for months, I guess I’m free to tell you that H2 has hired Committee Films to produce a new documentary series on ancient mythology called Monsters, Myths & Legends, which will examine the history and evolution of monster stories and ancient mythology, probing their deep origins. If this seems a lot like Clash of Gods, the similarities are almost certainly intentional. Given that my most recent book, Jason and the Argonauts through the Ages, sought much the same information, I suppose I’ll have plenty to say about the series when it airs, and I’ll probably disagree with most of what they have to say. If you’ve read my book, you know I disagree with many of the theories about the origins of particular myths, particularly psychosexual ones. It should probably surprise no one that I wasn’t among those asked to participate in the series.
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I’ve been asked to audition for an on-camera role for an upcoming documentary series about ancient history and artifacts. Normally, I wouldn’t share this kind of information publicly, but since the casting call is posted on the web as well as on Facebook, I don’t think there’s any harm in in saying that a casting agent forwarded this to me and suggested that I contact the producers about the hosting role. I haven’t decided if I’ll try out. Here’s the casting call:
Even two full calendar years after the launch of America Unearthed in December 2012, each airing of the show—even in reruns—produces a flurry of traffic on my website, and often a barrage of email from viewers who are looking for more information about the program, and particularly those who are outraged that I would seek to evaluate the show’s claims in anything less than worshipful terms. Show host Scott F. Wolter, a professional geologist specializing in concrete stability issues, refers to me as a “hate-blogger” and has accused me of being part of a conspiracy to attack him, so it’s hardly surprising that his fans follow his lead.
If you are one of the new readers coming to this blog for the first time because of the season premiere of America Unearthed, I invite you to read the full background on my interactions with Scott Wolter which I outlined last year in my review of the second season premiere, including a threat of legal action against me A+E Networks, the parent of H2, made on his behalf. To this I must unfortunately add also more recent events, in which Wolter lashed out at me again for a news article I wrote in early 2013 noting that the honorary master’s degree he had claimed to possess for two decades was not an officially recognized award. Writing in September, Wolter threatened future legal action against me: “While the debunker’s post falls just short of the bar necessary to initiate legal action, future events could change the current situation.” Tonight’s exceptionally boring episode of Ancient Aliens, S07E07 “Mysteries of the Sphinx,” takes us back in time—to the 1990s, when the Great Sphinx controversy roared thanks to claims by geologist Robert Schoch that he Egyptian monument was 10,000 to 12,000 years old. The claim found little traction outside of fringe history, largely because mainstream scholars believe Schoch is wrong to attribute the erosion of the Sphinx and its enclosure to water rather than to salt exfoliation. But in the world of the fringe historians, Schoch’s academic credentials provided them all the proof they need to make the monument the world’s oldest monolithic statue.
In the current issue of Communication Quarterly (vol. 62, no. 5), Joseph M. Valenzano III and Erika Engstrom have an interesting article on the CW’s Supernatural, which they see as a representation of American exceptionalism and Christian fundamentalism. In “Cowboys, Angels, and Demons: American Exceptionalism and the Frontier Myth in the CW’S Supernatural,” the two authors argue that the series makes use of the tropes of Christian mythology and the cowboy myth to the effect of arguing that modern Americans view the country as the equal to and proxy for God himself. What interests me is how this analysis applies equally well to some of fringe history’s most popular claims, which use similar imagery to the same effect.
It’s official: Search for the Lost Giants is a dud!
According to preliminary figures released yesterday by A.C. Nielsen, Curse of Oak Island brought in more than 2.6 million live plus same day viewers, while Search for the Lost Giants squandered nearly 40 percent of its lead in, bagging just under 1.6 million live plus same day viewers, fewer than the 8 PM rerun of Curse of Oak Island. The new series’ performance was so far below expectations that History chose not to mention the show in bragging about its Tuesday night ratings performance in a press release. As depicted in the new History Channel series Search for the Lost Giants, stonemasons Jim Vieira and his brother Bill believe that newspapers of the nineteenth century recorded accurately the discovery of the bones of a lost race of giants who once towered over the American landscape. Since 1806, scholars have argued that many of these alleged “giant” skeletons were the misidentified remains of prehistoric mastodons and mammoths. (Not all, obviously; some humans were very tall.) So uncontroversial was this position that even the Vierias’ beloved newspapers said as much. In 1870, for example, the Memphis Daily Appeal noted that when it came to “giant” bones of the largest size scholars had “proved them, in almost every instance, to be portions of the fossils of mammoths, megatheriums, mastodons, etc.”
Tonight the History channel debuts its newest fringe show, Search for the Lost Giants, in which gigantologist Jim Vieira and his brother reenact scenes from its companion series, Curse of Oak Island, substituting the Bible for Freemasonic mysteries. A+E Networks, the parent of History, felt so strongly that I shouldn’t be allowed to see the pilot for Search before it aired that they banned me from their press site the same day that they put up the show’s screener. What is A+E hiding? To judge from pre-air reviews from media outlets still in their good graces, they’re hiding yet another cynical exploitation program aimed solidly at the ignorant.
In his monthly column in the Columbus Dispatch, archaeologist Brad Lepper writes about the wave of claims that assert Muslim exploration of the New World prior to Columbus, and, in some cases, even prior to Leif Erikson. Lepper expands upon the column on his blog, and there isn’t a whole lot I can add to it, so I encourage you to visit both and read what Lepper has to say. His piece is predicated on a recent article by Richard V. Francaviglia of Willamette University, who wrote about the issue in the September 2014 edition of Terrae Incognitae (46, no. 2).
In a web exclusive posted in anticipation of the new season of America Unearthed, Scott Wolter is going hunting for Bigfoot! Why? Because every fringe show must eventually descend into an eclectic mix of random strangeness. And what is a more marketable topic than multimedia, multi-network superstar recluse Bigfoot? Will Wolter have better luck than Giorgio Tsoukalos, who similarly sought Bigfoot only a few months ago, or Ancient Aliens, which sought him two years earlier? (How many times can one channel fail to find Bigfoot?) Or how about Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot? Or 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty on Spike? Not if this video is any indication.
The embedded video is from Hulu and may not display right. You can use the link here if it fails to load. |
AuthorI am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab. Newsletters
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