New History Channel Show
Last night I watched the premiere of a new History Channel show called Human Weapon (finday nights at 10). Two martial artists (one of them is actually a football player who happened to also wrestle some), travel around the world, learning about a different martial art each episode, learning both its techniques and its history. Then at the end of the show, one of them has to fight a master of that style. It's a very cool premise. Unfortunately, the presentation is sub par.
The show's biggest weakness is the two hosts, who aren't the least bit interesting or appealing. If Discovery channel shows like Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, or Animal Plannet's Crocadile Hunter have tought us anything about TV, it's that a charismatic host (or hosts) is the key to making an educational variety show entertaining. We don't tune in to learn whether soda cans explode if left in a hot car, how sewers are cleaned, or how many grown men a single bite from a rattlesnake could kill. We tune in to see Jamie and Adam's sitcom-esque, odd couple bickering, Mike Rowe's grudging stoicism, and the late Steve Irwin's manic enthusiasm. But instead, Human Weapon just gives us vague, macho, trying to sound intelligent demenor that it tries to pass of as personality.
I'll probably keep watching, since it's a subject I'm interested in, and it is cool to see the different schools of variation with each martial art, but Human Weapon probably wouldn't be entertaining to anyone not already interested in the martial arts.
The show's biggest weakness is the two hosts, who aren't the least bit interesting or appealing. If Discovery channel shows like Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, or Animal Plannet's Crocadile Hunter have tought us anything about TV, it's that a charismatic host (or hosts) is the key to making an educational variety show entertaining. We don't tune in to learn whether soda cans explode if left in a hot car, how sewers are cleaned, or how many grown men a single bite from a rattlesnake could kill. We tune in to see Jamie and Adam's sitcom-esque, odd couple bickering, Mike Rowe's grudging stoicism, and the late Steve Irwin's manic enthusiasm. But instead, Human Weapon just gives us vague, macho, trying to sound intelligent demenor that it tries to pass of as personality.
I'll probably keep watching, since it's a subject I'm interested in, and it is cool to see the different schools of variation with each martial art, but Human Weapon probably wouldn't be entertaining to anyone not already interested in the martial arts.