Good Skeptical TV Shows
January 21st, 2011
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There’s a lot of crap on television, and there’s really no denying that. Yet despite this, the medium does occasionally deliver world class programing that actually is good enough to redeem its overall value. There are a huge number of shows that promote illogical thinking and unfounded claims from UFO’s to paranormal beliefs to conspiracy theories and precious few good shows with a skeptical, rational theme that portray reality for what it is.
Since others have asked for examples of such shows, and because of the general lack of programing in this nitche, I’ve started to compile a list of the few TV programs that actually do provide good rational, reality-based debunking and informing on superstition and other unfounded claims.
I will add more as I find them, so please feel free to contribute any ideas. I live in the US so this list may be skewed toward American programing, since that’s what I happen to be personally familiar with. If you know of any good additions please let me know!
Note that there are plenty of good science documentaries, so I’ve tried to keep this toward ones that focus on myths, unfounded beliefs and other areas where skepticism should be applied, as opposed to just general science-related content.
Series and Mini-Series:
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage – PBS, 1980
Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World – ITV, 1980
Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers – ITV, 1985
Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious Universe – ITV, 1994-1995
James Randi: Psychic Investigator – ITV, 1991
Is it Real? – National Geographic TV, 2005-2007
Mythbusters – Discovery Communications, 2003 – Present
Penn and Teller’s Bullshit – Showtime TV, 2003- Present
Naked Science – National Geographic Television, 2004-Present
Best Evidence – Discovery Communications, 2007-Present
Single Event Shows, Documentaries:
The Search for the Loch Ness Monster – BBC Television, 2003
The Kennedy Assassination – Beyond Conspiracy – ABC News, 2004
9/11 Conspiracy Theories – Fact or Fiction? – A&E Television (the History Channel), 2007
Peter Jennings Reporting – UFOs: Seeing is Believing – ABC News, 2007
Conspiracy Moon Landing – National Geographic TV, 2007
The Enemies of Reason – Channel 4 Television Corp, 2007
This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 12:24 am and is filed under Conspiracy Theories, Culture, Education, Good Science, Paranormal, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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January 21st, 2011 at 11:06 am
Nova on PBS and The Nature of Things on the CBC, although they have both had their ups and downs have generally been good.
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January 21st, 2011 at 1:09 pm
You left out Phil Plait’s Bad Universe. I understand the third episode may be coming out soon.
Since some of the shows you list aren’t strictly about critical thinking, I would offer up other science shows like Mutant Planet (a recent episode on anteaters provided an excellent overview of the Darwinian pressures that led to the current mix of fauna on the Brasilian plains.
Personally, I find myself spending less and less time watching TV anyway. Its becoming the AM radio of the 21st century. There is so much content one can download, like documentaries from Netflix, etc. that fit your personal tastes. If your aim is to enjoy the choir music there are plenty of good skeptical podcasts to chose from, not to mention the IMAX offerings at your local science museum. If your concern is a lack of offerings to lure in the irrational masses for conversion, I would maintain some of the most effective inroads are made with visually stunning nature programming, like “March of the Penguins” and “Life”.
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January 21st, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Blubba said:
I know, and he’s a great guy and a very good skeptic, but his show, from what I saw of it, really wasn’t about that kind of thing. I only saw the first episode. It was good science, but not really refuting stupid claims or anything.
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January 22nd, 2011 at 12:42 am
I’ve always been rather fond of the James Burke series “Connections”, and his other ones.
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January 22nd, 2011 at 3:53 am
I might add John Stossel’s “Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity” series to the list. As I recall he did do a piece on nuclear, but I haven’t found it on youtube yet. For mainstream ABC, I found his reports to be pretty informative and he likes to challenge conventional views on things.
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January 22nd, 2011 at 5:03 am
On second thought, after reviewing John Stossel’s blog posts on nuclear, he needs some education about policy matters but he is a nuclear supporter. Otherwise he’s done some other good pieces.
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January 22nd, 2011 at 8:49 am
Penn and Teller lost me in the episode where they used the same kinds of shady logic and anecdotal statements they savage others for using to justify gun ownership — something they happen to support themselves.
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January 22nd, 2011 at 9:29 am
You mean there’s no good skeptical fiction/drama on television?
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January 22nd, 2011 at 10:29 am
Peter K. said:
Two that I can think of:
The Big Bang Theory (I’ve actually never seen it myself, but I am told it is fairly up the skeptic ally)
Scooby Doo, which, despite being extremely goofy and not always really that well written always ends up proving a paranormal occurrence to actually be someone faking it.
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January 23rd, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Two shows I would recommend:
QI – A comedy panel show hosted by Stephen Fry, based around interesting facts, with the panelists losing points if they answer a question with a fact that is commonly believed to be true, but is actually false.
Jonathon Creek: A British drama about a magician who solves crimes. Pretty much like just Scooby Doo, everything that starts off looking like supernatural forces turns out to be completely mundane. Last episode I saw had them busting a psychic surgeon.
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January 24th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Thanks to Curtains for recommending QI. I just got done watching a couple episodes and it’s pretty good.
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July 18th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
I second Jonathan Creek. If you crossed Penn JIllette with monk You’d get Creek.
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July 19th, 2012 at 8:50 am
Since this thread floated back to the top, allow me to add Bones. It spends a lot of time juxtaposing the coldly rational forensic anthropologist, Bones, with the less-skeptical, more passionate FBI agent, Booth. Often, the mysterious condition or appearance of a body will lead some characters, including Booth, to suspect the supernatural or extra-terrestrial, but, in the end, Bones and her team always find a rational explanation (although, like most forensics dramas, they do it with an unrealistic level of precision and success.) I think they dropped the ball on a JFK episode, though, in leaving it too open-ended.
One of the devices they repeatedly use is to engage Booth and Bones in amicable discussions comparing Bones’ dispassionate rationalism and atheism to Booth’s religion and romanticism. As long as you’re not offended by discussions about faith, it’s a refreshing and non-judgmental way to moderate some very important social debates that are typically way too polarized.
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August 10th, 2012 at 3:26 am
Howdy folks,
I saw a skeptical documentary 5-10 years ago, and I cannot for the life of me remember what it was. The theme of the show was to study how the normally rational human brain is prone to conclude paranormal conclusions from incomplete data or cultural pressure. It was filmed in the USA, and there are a few details I remember.
The crew staged a “crash site” along the course of a hiking trail. The trail guide explained that the Air Force required them to stay away because of some sort of classified crash, and this was the only explanation offered to the hikers. The tableau included a number of armed guards (who did not interact), bits or what appears to be aircraft or spacecraft, and unrecognizable markings. The show interviews the hikers several weeks later to discover that they have overwhelmingly concluded that they saw a UFO crash site. The remembered details have changed, like the number of guards, the uniforms they were wearing, the type of debris, and even remembering bodies present.
Another social experiment sent a “cryptozoologist” to a small town a week before a local festival where he deliberately spreads the news that he is in town to study stories of a (fabricated) river creature believed to live in the small river. Even though the story was just created, oldtimers recalled seeing this creature in their youth, and many others recalled hearing about a creature with a description identical to that of the Loch Ness monster. The segment concludes with a diver in a monster suit making an appearance at the festival so that the entire town had a chance to make a sighting. Even after revealing the hoax, many stood by their stories of seeing the creature for years.
I’m hoping one of you guys has some insight! Thanks.
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