[78-L] History Detectives Monday June 22 9:00 pm est

[Michael Biel]

From: "I. Cubillo" <i.cubillo at telefonica.net>
> So Donna, Liz Mc Leod and everyone... Better not to watch the programme,
> as they'll probably use TIm for what they want, not to listen to him.
> Iñigo Cubillo


I got a message from Tim and he says that they wanted the info as
simplified as possible.  Anytime he tried to include some details, they
told him to simplify it, make it more "accessible".  So as we watch it
we are supposed to understand that Tim TRIED to give some info and
details in the program but all they wanted were simplified soundbites. 
He also told me that next time he sees me he has some stories about the
taping that will either have me laughing or leaning over a bucket.  I
can't wait!  

And I had a similar experience to Donna's, and I wouldn't be surprise if
the program about car radios was produced by the same hacks as the
history of stereo that I was asked to help.  While they did use some of
the visuals I provided, I was quite glad that they forgot to include me
in the credits.  There were so many factual and technical errors, such
as when they animated the cross-section of a cutter head that is
illustrated on the early RCA Victor stereo inner-sleeves, and they
showed two separated half-styli cutting the groove!!!!!  During our
conversations they occasionally asked about the influence of Dolby, and
it turns out that the whole second half of the hour-long program was
only about Dolby!!!  And most of that dealt with film sound which has
nothing to do with the introduction of home stereo.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 


At 03:52 PM 6/17/2009, Elizabeth wrote:
> >Having been on HD myself a couple years ago, I think the real problem is
> >simply that their resident experts come into the program with their own
> >pet theories and beliefs about particular topics already in place

From: "Donna Halper" <dlh at donnahalper.com>
> Amen. That's what happened to me in 2001 when I was an "expert" on
> the History Channel's show about car radios. They wanted me to say
> Motorola was the first, and when I showed them evidence that it was
> not, that wasn't what they wanted to hear about. Motorola had
> evidently sponsored a lot of the research the show used, so they
> wanted and expected pundits to support Motorola's version of history.
>