Mankind: The Story of All of Us

[justinianI]

The hyped up 12 hour, 6 part series on the history channel premieres tonight with the episode "Inventors". It's done by the people who did America: The Story of Us. I wasn't a huge fan of that series, but it did have really high production value. I just remember that it had all kinds of celebreties that had no idea what they were talking about (mixed in with historians). I think this series has more promise and they hopefully ditch the celebs. They'll be covering from the dawn of man until the present day, so I guess they'll be hitting the highlights. It airs tonight 8 EST. I don't have cable, so I won't be watching it tonight. But, I plan on streaming it at some point.

Figured I'd post about it if anyone was interested.

Here's the link to the show site:
http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us

 

[caketastydelish]

I think some of the stuff the history channel does is pretty good, and other things are completely terrible.

In general they're bad though, because they tell history from perspectives that most real historians don't actually take seriously (Dachs and Cheezy the Wiz would probably confirm this).

Btw, welcome to the site.

 

[Louis XXIV]

It looks cool. History channel at its best is flashy popcorn history that presents consensus information in a digestible manner and, occasionally, tells you something you might not have known. They only rarely do these kinds of programs and most of the show is just filler. But I'll support them when they put some effort into it. It's never serious scholarly work, but it can be decent entertainment for those who like history.

I unfortunately missed it yesterday, but I'll try and catch up as soon as possible. Tuesday is a bad night for me, but it'll hopefully be on demand.

 

[justinianI]

I agree with both of you. I am a history teacher, so I definitely have my frustrations with the history channel (especially since they barely do history anymore...but hey, it's all about ratings). Anyway, I just bought the first episode on Amazon to stream and I expect to be "hollywood" history as well as a general overview. The production value looks good though and if it turns out to be okay, then I will consider using it in my world history classroom. Anyway, I can suck my students in is welcome! Ha! Btw, I do use Civ V in my classroom as a fun end of course project. Students love it.

And thanks for the welcome. I've been reading the forums for about 2 years and joined a couple of months ago, but I haven't really been active.

 

[Bugfatty300]

I missed it. Don't watch that channel anymore except sometimes in the mornings. I hate to say it but I miss my beloved UFO Hitler Channel.

Seriously, they should just merge History Channel, A&E, National Geographic, Discovry into one channel. It'd be called: The Some Guy Trying to Sell/Buy Something to/from Some Other Guy Channel

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I couldn't stand America: the Story of US. It was too USA #1! for my tastes. I suppose it's supposed to be that way, but it came off as hachneyed at points. Is this series any better? (as far as being hackneyed)

 

[GenjiKhan]

From what I see of the first 2 parts,I consider to be worth watching . They kinda "sew up" different facts from the past chronologically,in a way it shows that they got inspired by Civilization series(this become more evident with the animation of old world wonders' construction,whose inspiration on Civ4 World's wonder video literally screams) . My conclusion is that this show was made for those who enjoy learning history from Civ series and I like that .

 

[Louis XXIV]

They had me until the shirtless Spartan Sparta-Kicked someone

But, in all seriousness, it fits the best of the history channel. Flashy pop history that follows the consensus, rarely breaks new ground, but can still be informative and can occasionally tell you something you don't know.

 

[justinianI]

It is very flashy and seems to be portraying the "Hollywood" style of history. They go back and forth the timeline a bit, like talking about the Babylonian Captivity and the Old Testament after the Persian Wars (not a big deal, but kind of weird). It is also very Euro and Western centric so far. They talked about China a little, but no real talks of Indus River Valley (Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro) or the City States in Mesopotamia. They mention Confucius, Siddhartha Gautama, and Hinduism in passing but have a whole section on Judaism. The preview for next week showed Christ as well. I wonder if they will have a focus on Islam? They would have to wouldn't they? After all, I can tell they'll definitely talk about the Crusades. As a general Western-centric survey, it is alright so far.

 

[Louis XXIV]

It does play like a western civ class, but I appreciate what they did with China so far. I do think Islam will be in there to a degree, but I can't guess on the extent.

The lack of City-States in Mesopotamia (and the Assyrian Empire in its entirety) could be disappointing, but it's a survey. They covered agriculture, so they implicitly covered them.

The Indus Valley is another one of those "can't really fit" type things. They were mentioned as a place that agriculture spread to after it was discovered in the Middle East, which is true. They skipped the new world in its entirety, as well as the Polynesian expansion, so there's only so much that can be fit.

 

[sophie]

It does play like a western civ class, but I appreciate what they did with China so far. I do think Islam will be in there to a degree, but I can't guess on the extent.

The lack of City-States in Mesopotamia (and the Assyrian Empire in its entirety) could be disappointing, but it's a survey. They covered agriculture, so they implicitly covered them.

The Indus Valley is another one of those "can't really fit" type things. They were mentioned as a place that agriculture spread to after it was discovered in the Middle East, which is true. They skipped the new world in its entirety, as well as the Polynesian expansion, so there's only so much that can be fit.

No! It's Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal trade or NOTHING!

But in all seriousness I don't have History Channel right now so I'm not watching it. It is nice to see History Channel going back to their dated pop-history rather than the A&E routine, so I can't help but be happy about it.