Tuesday, July 03, 2007

History Detectives

This is a great show on PBS. It's only on during the summer, and it appears it wil be on this year at 10 p.m. on Monday. It starts out kind of like Antiques Road Show, but, the detectives only pick out three items per show that people have found around their house and think are valuable. The detectives (which include a socialogist and a couple appraisers) then investigate the validity of these items. Last night, this guy had a English pound note that was used in a drinking game and signed by WWII leaders like Roosevelt, Churchill, Patten, etc. Another great feature is the use of Elvis Costello "Watching the Detectives" as the theme song.

Cheers.

Ralph

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed Ralph. The show is very well written and the stories are interesting. Sometimes it seems that they ham it up a bit to heighten the suspense, but overall it is good stuff.

I sam one where there was a search to find out if a baseball suposed signed by both Dizzy Dean and Satchel Page was legit and whether they ever pitched against each other. The story threw a lot of knowledge about race, baseball and small town politics into one story.

Good stuff need.

Ralph said...

Right. The background information is they provide is outstanding. I even find the cheesy PBS showmanship to be part of the charm. Like I love the shots of the "detectives" driving in their cars with big smiles on their faces after they have uncovered some particularly interesting piece of info. (Watchin' the detectives, watchin' the detectives...)