Chatty Host Who Makes Archaeology Glamorous
I've never heard of this show before ... has anyone seen it?
Original Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/arts/television/06dig.html?ex=1139461200&en=04f7eebc026b06b3&ei=5070
An Ivy-League educated guy who grew up on the Upper East Side would not necessarily seem to fit the bill to be the next Indiana Jones. But Josh Bernstein, the chatty, photogenic host of "Digging for the Truth" on the History Channel could be the best thing for archaeology's image since Harrison Ford cocked his hat and starred in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Mr. Bernstein's show is the channel's highest-rated series, bringing younger viewers to a network whose average armchair adventurer is 50-something. Beginning today, there will even be a comic-book promotion for the show featuring Mr. Bernstein as a superhero.
The 34-year-old Mr. Bernstein, who is also the president of a wilderness survival school, is back for the second season of "Digging," which is broadcast on Monday nights at 9. The show takes viewers to archaeological sites all over the world - searching for the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia or the Holy Grail in southern France. The season premiere "Digging for the Truth: The Real Temple of Doom," showed Mr. Bernstein in South America, exploring tunnels and facing down animals in the Amazon.
Mr. Bernstein is an on-the-ground guide and a participant. He interviews experts on subjects like theories about the origins of Stonehenge (tonight's show) and rolls up his sleeves to be swallowed by ancient mines near that prehistoric ruin. Last week, Mr. Bernstein was closer to home with an episode called "America's Pyramids," in which he explored pyramid-building of Native Americans along the Mississippi River. In that one, he accidentally stuck his hand into a nest of fire ants. He was rushed to an emergency room.
"My Dad died when I was almost 15," Mr. Bernstein said in a recent early-morning telephone interview. "It caused me to go on a path toward independence and survival."
Before learning to survive in the wilderness, though, Mr. Bernstein attended the elite Horace Mann School in New York and double-majored in anthropology and psychology at Cornell University. His interest in travel and culture continued to percolate after he lived in Israel for a year, studying ancient texts (his father was born in Jerusalem). He was initially the marketing director for the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Colorado, of which he is now the president and chief executive.
"The History Channel had put the word out that they wanted someone who was hands-on and who could travel around the world," Mr. Bernstein said of his decision to try out for the show. "It's been an exhilarating ride because it's who I am. I do get a lot of people reaching out now that we've done the first season. They say they learn a lot, and it makes them feel like they don't need a Ph.D. to appreciate it. Some people say it's the only family show they watch all together."
Mr. Bernstein shoots "Digging" for nine months and takes a few weeks in April to be more hands-on at the survival school. He splits his life between a Manhattan apartment and a home in a tiny Utah town of 230 people, four hours from the nearest airport. Reading, watching films, working out and hanging out with his twin brother and 35-year-old stepbrother fill his limited spare time, Mr. Bernstein said. His mother is a literary agent in Manhattan. For a 12-week promotion that begins today, the History Channel developed a comic book in which readers can join Mr. Bernstein in unraveling a new "Digging" mystery about Shangri-La, the mythical mountain village of long-lived people. The comic books will be given away at 1,850 comic-book stores around the country, at 185 HobbyTown stores and by direct mail. After each episode of "Digging," clues to the mystery will be revealed online. The grand prize is a trip to Greece.
If that's not enough to put a fellow on the map, the History Channel has also introduced a comic-book style advertising campaign, featuring the rugged, dark-haired Mr. Bernstein in his trademark brown fedora. It can be seen on the sides of buses and on billboards in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.
"People recognize me more and more," Mr. Bernstein said, "and because I'm not an actor and I'm just myself they feel comfortable approaching me." Six-year-olds tell him they want to be an archaeologist, he said, and he's also hearing from women, some of whom may have seen him in the premiere issue of Men's Vogue magazine last fall. "I can't tell you what some of them are saying," Mr. Bernstein said playfully of those female fans. "They are more lustful than romantic. But my favorites are those who tune in to look but then decide they like the show and appreciate my mind. People are attracted to the idea that I'm not afraid to get dirty and sweaty."
Dan Davids, executive vice president and general manager of the History Channel, said the 11-year-old channel's appeal has been to men, and about 70 percent of viewers are men with a median age of about 52. "Digging for Adventure" is bringing in sought-after younger fans. The channel also sends weekly educational updates to 125,000 teachers around the country, which contain questions and guidelines teachers can use in courses like history and geography.
"I love 'Digging for the Truth' because it approaches the subject in a way that every teacher would love to be able to approach new material, from a completely experiential way," Leslie Shank, a fourth-grade teacher at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Ill., said in a e-mail message. She has assigned watching the show as homework.
"Digging" had 1.4 million viewers last year, according to History Channel data, representing a 40 percent increase over the 2004 Monday 9 to 10 p.m. time slot. Among viewers 25 to 34 (618,000) and 18 to 49 (527,000), audiences increased 26 percent and 23 percent respectively compared with 2004.
"Young viewers are at a premium because they don't watch as much television," said Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna Global, a media services firm. "When a network has been branded as having an older audience - and the History Channel's median age has hovered around 51 or 52 - they need to reach out to a younger audience in a way without alienating their core audience. 'Digging for the Truth' fits in with the overall theme of the History Channel."
Mr. Bernstein's search for facts might make him a better advertisement for archaeologists and explorers than Indiana Jones, some experts would argue. "Indiana Jones, if you look too closely, is a looter," said Jane Waldbaum, president of the Archaeological Institute of America, which is devoted to the study of archaeology. "He runs out of a tomb, collecting objects without any attention to context."
Real-life archaeology is not necessarily as glamorous as it looks on television, Dr. Waldbaum said. She added that there is a public fascination with objects and buildings created long ago and a growing interest in guided tours of historical sites.
"I like that the show has reinvigorated people's interest in history," Mr. Bernstein said, because it's a subject that, in his mind, too many students view as musty and irrelevant. "These stories have never been told this way before."
Original Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/arts/television/06dig.html?ex=1139461200&en=04f7eebc026b06b3&ei=5070
An Ivy-League educated guy who grew up on the Upper East Side would not necessarily seem to fit the bill to be the next Indiana Jones. But Josh Bernstein, the chatty, photogenic host of "Digging for the Truth" on the History Channel could be the best thing for archaeology's image since Harrison Ford cocked his hat and starred in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Mr. Bernstein's show is the channel's highest-rated series, bringing younger viewers to a network whose average armchair adventurer is 50-something. Beginning today, there will even be a comic-book promotion for the show featuring Mr. Bernstein as a superhero.
The 34-year-old Mr. Bernstein, who is also the president of a wilderness survival school, is back for the second season of "Digging," which is broadcast on Monday nights at 9. The show takes viewers to archaeological sites all over the world - searching for the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia or the Holy Grail in southern France. The season premiere "Digging for the Truth: The Real Temple of Doom," showed Mr. Bernstein in South America, exploring tunnels and facing down animals in the Amazon.
Mr. Bernstein is an on-the-ground guide and a participant. He interviews experts on subjects like theories about the origins of Stonehenge (tonight's show) and rolls up his sleeves to be swallowed by ancient mines near that prehistoric ruin. Last week, Mr. Bernstein was closer to home with an episode called "America's Pyramids," in which he explored pyramid-building of Native Americans along the Mississippi River. In that one, he accidentally stuck his hand into a nest of fire ants. He was rushed to an emergency room.
"My Dad died when I was almost 15," Mr. Bernstein said in a recent early-morning telephone interview. "It caused me to go on a path toward independence and survival."
Before learning to survive in the wilderness, though, Mr. Bernstein attended the elite Horace Mann School in New York and double-majored in anthropology and psychology at Cornell University. His interest in travel and culture continued to percolate after he lived in Israel for a year, studying ancient texts (his father was born in Jerusalem). He was initially the marketing director for the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Colorado, of which he is now the president and chief executive.
"The History Channel had put the word out that they wanted someone who was hands-on and who could travel around the world," Mr. Bernstein said of his decision to try out for the show. "It's been an exhilarating ride because it's who I am. I do get a lot of people reaching out now that we've done the first season. They say they learn a lot, and it makes them feel like they don't need a Ph.D. to appreciate it. Some people say it's the only family show they watch all together."
Mr. Bernstein shoots "Digging" for nine months and takes a few weeks in April to be more hands-on at the survival school. He splits his life between a Manhattan apartment and a home in a tiny Utah town of 230 people, four hours from the nearest airport. Reading, watching films, working out and hanging out with his twin brother and 35-year-old stepbrother fill his limited spare time, Mr. Bernstein said. His mother is a literary agent in Manhattan. For a 12-week promotion that begins today, the History Channel developed a comic book in which readers can join Mr. Bernstein in unraveling a new "Digging" mystery about Shangri-La, the mythical mountain village of long-lived people. The comic books will be given away at 1,850 comic-book stores around the country, at 185 HobbyTown stores and by direct mail. After each episode of "Digging," clues to the mystery will be revealed online. The grand prize is a trip to Greece.
If that's not enough to put a fellow on the map, the History Channel has also introduced a comic-book style advertising campaign, featuring the rugged, dark-haired Mr. Bernstein in his trademark brown fedora. It can be seen on the sides of buses and on billboards in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.
"People recognize me more and more," Mr. Bernstein said, "and because I'm not an actor and I'm just myself they feel comfortable approaching me." Six-year-olds tell him they want to be an archaeologist, he said, and he's also hearing from women, some of whom may have seen him in the premiere issue of Men's Vogue magazine last fall. "I can't tell you what some of them are saying," Mr. Bernstein said playfully of those female fans. "They are more lustful than romantic. But my favorites are those who tune in to look but then decide they like the show and appreciate my mind. People are attracted to the idea that I'm not afraid to get dirty and sweaty."
Dan Davids, executive vice president and general manager of the History Channel, said the 11-year-old channel's appeal has been to men, and about 70 percent of viewers are men with a median age of about 52. "Digging for Adventure" is bringing in sought-after younger fans. The channel also sends weekly educational updates to 125,000 teachers around the country, which contain questions and guidelines teachers can use in courses like history and geography.
"I love 'Digging for the Truth' because it approaches the subject in a way that every teacher would love to be able to approach new material, from a completely experiential way," Leslie Shank, a fourth-grade teacher at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Ill., said in a e-mail message. She has assigned watching the show as homework.
"Digging" had 1.4 million viewers last year, according to History Channel data, representing a 40 percent increase over the 2004 Monday 9 to 10 p.m. time slot. Among viewers 25 to 34 (618,000) and 18 to 49 (527,000), audiences increased 26 percent and 23 percent respectively compared with 2004.
"Young viewers are at a premium because they don't watch as much television," said Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna Global, a media services firm. "When a network has been branded as having an older audience - and the History Channel's median age has hovered around 51 or 52 - they need to reach out to a younger audience in a way without alienating their core audience. 'Digging for the Truth' fits in with the overall theme of the History Channel."
Mr. Bernstein's search for facts might make him a better advertisement for archaeologists and explorers than Indiana Jones, some experts would argue. "Indiana Jones, if you look too closely, is a looter," said Jane Waldbaum, president of the Archaeological Institute of America, which is devoted to the study of archaeology. "He runs out of a tomb, collecting objects without any attention to context."
Real-life archaeology is not necessarily as glamorous as it looks on television, Dr. Waldbaum said. She added that there is a public fascination with objects and buildings created long ago and a growing interest in guided tours of historical sites.
"I like that the show has reinvigorated people's interest in history," Mr. Bernstein said, because it's a subject that, in his mind, too many students view as musty and irrelevant. "These stories have never been told this way before."