The irony of television lineups today is both well-noted and often mocked. History channel spends its money on stoner-shows like Pawn Stars and Ancient Aliens rather than catering to history enthusiasts. The Learning Channel pays millions of dollars to make a mockery of the life of a Southern Toddler known as Honey Boo Boo.
What is refreshing though, is the rise of documentary television series. The formula these docushows employ seems to be working. It’s a pretty simple idea, interesting host, talented crews, and interesting original stories will create a loyal audience that wants to spend time watching.
This season even the bats over at FOX sunk tons of money to make Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey and it is pretty darn good. Sure, lots of people find science to be evil and/or boring, but some people want to watch Neil deGrasse Tyson get his rocks off to stars eating themselves.
These shows are risky because the onus rests almost solely on the shoulders of the host. So it pays to get a loquacious New York City chef that beat heroin or a maniacal fisherman that has survived a plane crash in the jungle to play pedagogue.
That is why Anthony Bourdain and Jeremy Wade are the best in the business when it comes to inspiring masses through quality television.
Bourdain got his start by penning Kitchen Confidential – a book that turned chefs into rock stars. Following the success of his story, Uncle Tony worked a short-lived show on Food Network before really showing off his chops as a TV Man on Travel Channel’s No Reservations. The foodcentric travel show is a must-watch for foodies, travelers, and fans of culture alike.
The unapologetic Bourdain became a bit of a cult-hero and was poached by CNN to run a show called Parts Unknown.
No Reservations and Parts Unknown are similar bits, which is forgivable because they’re both quality. CNN didn’t try to fix something that was broke; they just rubbed it with more money.
And Bourdain has responded by giving fans, both old and new, some highly interesting television.
Wade on the other hand is a bit more underrated than Bourdain. This is because Wade is a lot less arrogant than Bourdain, and therefore a lot less controversial. In fact, Jeremy Wade may be the most humble man on television.
His show, River Monsters, was just renewed for a seventh season by Animal Planet — a testament to Wade’s ability to both teach and entertain. And it was an easy decision because Wade is a different breed of absolute lunatic. His humility crossed with his craziness make for incredibly enriching television.
All you need to know about the size of Wade’s balls are that one time he willingly sat in a kiddy pool chock full of vicious piranha.
A host willing to go to that level of testicular fortitude/stupidity is worth building a show around.
But the theme of Wade’s show isn’t about frolicking amongst man-rippers, it is about shedding light on a demographic of fish that are often left out of shows that cover sexy water-dwellers like sharks and dolphins.
The stars of River Monsters are freshwater fish, like truck-sized catfish and blood sucking eel things and these fish are downright haunting. They look like a mix between aliens and monsters that are on medieval maps and stuff. And Wade’s life mission is to teach us about them.
Just as Bourdain likes to bring us into rarely explored cultures, Wade brings us into unchartered waters in South America and Africa.
Every episode features an unsolved mystery of horrific proportions set in freshwater. Wade sets out to solve the mystery and uncover the truth behind these often true stories. Using local help, he tries to then catch the fish that are responsible for said tragedies, and Jeremy always gets his fish.
Additionally, the show does a terrific job explaining how the freshwater source that Wade is fishing is also the artery of surrounding civilization. The people of these remote rivers and lakes rely on the water and it’s inhabitants in order to survive.
And we set our DVR for River Monsters marathons not just because we want to watch an Arapaima eat a Brazilian, but because we don’t mind giving Wade an hour of our time.
Hopefully more shows like this come around. History should have several, but instead they spend their money employing dudes to haggle.
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