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Television Media Science

"In Search Of" TV Show Is Returning 12

Posted by timothy from the return-to-the-old-ways dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes: "I've always liked the old "In Search Of" TV series with Leonard Nemoy talking about all these whacked out mysteries of the world. I don't think they made any episodes past the 80's, but now they are finally going to start it up again. It will be broadcast on Fox and the USA network with host Mitch Pillegi. Here's the official site." This was one of my favorite shows as a kid, but I think I might prefer re-runs (with Nimoy) to new episodes.
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"In Search Of" TV Show Is Returning More

"In Search Of" TV Show Is Returning

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  • While Mitch Pileggi does a good job on the X-Files, every time I've seen him host a program (like all of the magic's secrets shows), he always sounds like he's flatly reading from a script that he didn't get to see before filming started.
  • It brings a tear to my eye to think that, once, the stories appropriate to "In Search Of ..." [slashdot.org] were actually shown on that program, rather than in psuedo-science documentaries. Are we returning to a time when idiocy was too ashamed to assume the name of "science"? Now that I think about it [insearchofonline.com], I'm not so sure that "In Search Of ..." belonged to that period, either.

  • Garbage in; garbage out (Score:3)

    by hubie ( 108345 ) on Monday July 23, 2001 @01:23PM (#68574)
    I used to watch those shows when I was a wee tyke, and I even used to harbor nostalgic thoughts about them. Then I saw reruns of the shows years later and actually paid attention to them. In my opinion, it is entirely appropriate that Fox is redoing the series because it is right up their alley along with 'Did we land on the moon?' I guess I never listened to how pseudoscientific all those stories were at the time.

    Typical story: 20 minutes on "ancient astronauts" with 5 minutes "balanced" reporting by talking to scientist/palentologist, etc.:

    Interviewer: "Do you think these civilizations were visited by ancient astronauts?"

    Scientist: "No"

    Interviewer: "How can anyone explain the level of technology these people attained?"

    Scientist: "There really is no need to insist on an intervention with an alien species. You see, the progress of this civilization develops quite naturally from ..."

    Interviewer: "Yes, yes, but can you say with 100 percent certainty that there were no ancient astronauts?"

    Scientist: "Well, no, but you see one cannot say with 100 percent certainty about anything..."

    Interviewer: "So it cannot be ruled out then?"

    Scientist: "Well, I suppose you can say that, but..."

    (cut to shot of the night sky)

    Nimoy: Were there visitors long ago from very far away? Even science is not in agreement. Join us next time when we go In Search Of the little dwarves that hide in our refrigerators and turn the light off when the door closes. I, am Leonard Nimoy."

  • Category mismatch(science)? (Score:3)

    by deglr6328 ( 150198 ) on Sunday July 22, 2001 @05:41PM (#68575)
    From the site:

    "Be shocked and amazed as we investigate the most interesting mysteries and discoveries of our time. Look forward to seeing these latest investigations on In Search Of... soon:
    "The Johnson Bigfoot Encounter"
    "Zombies"
    "Stigmata"
    "Earthquake Prediction"
    "The Tesla Death Ray"
    "Scandanavian Lake Monsters""

    Shouldn't this story be under topic Pseudoscience?

  • It's on Fox (the network that brought you the awful "Did We Land on the Moon?") and hosted by Mitch Pileggi (host of the afformentioned crapumentory).
  • The Sci-Fi Channel used to carry a show called 'Mysteries From Beyond the Other Dominion' with Dr. Franklin Ruehl. It was like 'In Search Of...', except that it didn't take itself seriously. Ruehl was a trip- the stereotypical nerdy scientist sitting behind a desk covered with toys talking about alien abduction and spontaneous human combustion.

    The show was pure camp and a lot of fun. I always wondered why it vanished overnight. Maybe the new 'In Search Of...' can do an episode about it. ;)

    -Cybrex
  • This will probably just end up being another crappy remake of a once-good TV show. I wasn't really a huge fan of that show the first time around, but I remember seeing a few cool episodes. But does anyone recall the "new and improved" versions of Get Smart, Candid Camera, etc...? They weren't around for very long.

    Not that remaking a cool old show is necessarily a bad or unoriginal idea. It's just that some shows have their time frame (I can't picture the Dick Van Dyke show today). And some stars' portrayal of characters simply can't be repeated. (n/a for this example.) Will "In Search Of" round 2 be successful? My bets are on no.

    "Prove me wrong, kids, prove me wrong!" --Principal Skinner
  • I think the thing people overlook about In Search Of... is its amazing sense of style. If you look at the era in which In Search Of... arose, it was certainly a masterpiece of Zeitgeist. It was just magnificent. If I had to make a quasi-documentary show today with the same budget, I'd be happy to come up with something having half the ambience and surreality that ISO did. The music, Nimoy's incredible gravelly narration...Wow. Forget the subject matter. I'm not sure that it was the point at all. ;-)

    In Search Of..., I believe, also stylistically influenced some really cool documentaries in the mid-Eighties. Specifically, I'm thinking of Michael Wood's In Search of the Trojan War and several other works in a similar vein. Think of the mass-produced documentaries we get on TLC and Discovery nowadays here in the States and then contrast this utter gem to those servicable but bland affairs. (In fact, I've been dying to get a copy of the score to In Search of the Trojan War for years....)

    Thank you, Spock.

  • It can not straight-forward like Leonard Nimoy was... for it to be a success Fox has to make it cutitng edge... maybe they can...
    David Byrd
    CEO - 21st Century Tech., Inc.
    URL: http://www.nite-surfer.com
  • Something about the fact that it's on Fox kinda disturbs me. I hope it doesn't turn the show into something like their "Did we land on the moon" show (whatever it was called).
  • Join us next time when we go In Search Of the little dwarves that hide in our refrigerators and turn the light off when the door closes.

    I believe they prefer to be called "Little Refrigerator Americans"

    --

  • IIRC, the old Leonard Nimoy reruns are still shown once in a while on A&E. My parents were continually watching it.

    I never much cared for the series-- the information always seemed way out of date, even considering the timeframe that it was produced in. Plus, the subject matter never appealed to me... but that's a different story.

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