175 replies to this topic

[lotusbear]

*TWoP PTB forgive me for I have sinned, please don't be mad at me for triple posting, it's been 10 months since my last post here*

Anyway, woo hoo! New season of HD! I saw the first two new episodes. I especially enjoyed the story about the guy who was interned in the Japanese Internment camps during WW2 who made those beautiful watercolor paintings of his prison camp. What made it so poignant was that the artist was still alive, and was able to see those paintings again after 60+ yrs. Amazing stuff.

Then the story about "the Landlords' game" and how it eventually evolved into Monopoly. I bet the family of the original game is kicking themselves for selling it to Parker Brothers, or whoever distributes the game now.

They also had a story about whether or not a cane/walking stick owned by a family might have been used by either Lewis or Clark.

The second episode was so - so. The first story was about the history of some sort of watercraft from WW2. The second story was about the significance of an old abolitionist flag from the 1800s *of course, duh*, and the Final story was about whether or not Victorian era pics of four women were for a mail-order bride service.

[kimmako]

I saw the segment last night about Lincoln Park in Hollywood - the hosts have seemed to have calmed down a bit. The watercraft was a snoozer.

I caught the WWII watercolorist segment as well - I was sobbing, but then I'm part of the wonderful asian experience here in America.

[RosemaryT]

I've been enjoying this thread. I was the "Sears House Lady" featured in the episode on Sears Homes in Akron, Ohio. Wow - that was so much fun to see this series from BEHIND the scenes. That 15 minute segment took four days to film - and that was just for MY part of the show.

One my complaints - my book was not mentioned in the show - only that I was the "expert" on Sears Homes, yet the facts and stats and info about Sears Homes (the voice overs) were directly out of my book.

Oh well!

Great topic, btw. :)

Rose Thornton
author, The Houses That Sears Built

[lotusbear]

That's so disappointing Rose! I remember the Sears House segment. All that hard work, and they didn't bother to mention your book? I haven't checked yet, so I don't know, but do they list the references and sources that they use on the HD webpage? If they didn't I'd find that highly irresponsible.

[eTA]Anyone else catch Monday's episode with the supposed watercolor of Evelyn Nesbitt? Remember Tukufu went to meet the lady at Christy's place in NYC, and she mentioned something about Nancy Christy being there some of the time? But then she couldn't even recognize the picture of Nancy that Tukufu brought out? I thought that was sort of sketchy on her part.

Edited by lotusbear, Jul 20, 2004 @ 7:57 AM.

[Rabrab]

I enjoy this show when I happen to catch it, but I don't go looking for it. What does that say?

Sometimes, I do wish that the various hosts would stop making it look harder than it can be. I'm thinking of the Harry Warner cigarette lighter, in particular. If his daughter is around, and you can get an interview with her, she should be the first person you talk to, not one of the last, especially given that the lighter was found at a flea market. To me, that right there is a good indication that it's not something he was particularly proud or fond of. Add in the fact that it's got a logo on it, and I can't have been the only person who's first thought was "promotional item" that he didn't really want.

[meknownothing]

Is PBS (or someone else) mixing the segments from their original broadcast groupings? For example, last night, the three segments were:

• The black vaudeville ventiloquist.
• The Salem witch house.
• Angel Island and the Chinese immigrants.

I remember seeing the segment on the black ventriloquist, but do not remember either of the other two. Am I blanking on the original broadcast, or are the segments being mixed together for re-broadcast?

[Milz]

Between the pledge drives and the new time, I haven't been able to catch a new episode of this yet....:-(

Woohoo, we have an author here! I love houses and other structures.

[RosemaryT]

Someone else told me they may be mixing segments but I hope they're not. Last night, the Bonnie and Clyde episode aired, but my segment did NOT follow it!!!! ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!

Another pet peeve of mine - A lot of the voice overs about the history of Sears Homes came right out of my book. Again - no attribution. Frustrating...so very frustrating.

Has anyone seen the Sears House episode this summer? Or did that end up on the cutting room floor?

Rosemary Thornton
author, The Houses That Sears Built

[kimmako]

Was the colonial skeleton a repeat? I had not seen that one before.

[doctorwu]

HD is back on. Caught what appears to be the first in a new series tonight. They did a segment on a poison pin similar to one Francis Gary Powers was caught with when he crashed in the Soviet Union, a man who built the plane engine Lingbergh used to make his historic flight and a photo a woman had in her possession she believed depicted Geronimo on the land of one of her ancestors. The segments were okay, but I had a bit of a beef with what appears to be a slightly different format. In the past, when one of the HDs has dug up info pertinent to the person whose claim he or she is investigating, they usually present the person with some sort of documentation or a gift related to the investigation. Tonight, during the investigation into the Geronimo photo, the researcher dug up a lot of stuff on the woman's great-grandfather in New Mexico, but they didn't show her relaying any of that to the woman. I'm sure the info was passed along, particularly since it included family photos (they were in an archive, but I'm sure copies could have been made) and instead the woman was taken to the site where the photo she had investigated was taken, which didn't relate to her family at all. Rather uncharacteristic of the show I remember.

Another pet peeve of mine - A lot of the voice overs about the history of Sears Homes came right out of my book. Again - no attribution. Frustrating...so very frustrating.

It's probably because they're supposed to be non-commercial, unless it's PBS guidebooks or videotapes they're hawking, or naming the sponsor of a given show which, to me looks suspiciously commercial. Still, they could have identified you as the author of the book and let the audience look for it on their own.

Edited by doctorwu, Jun 27, 2005 @ 11:43 PM.

[SanDiego]

I can't believe that there aren't more HD fans out there. Love the show, and love everyone on it. On a shallow note, my nickname for Wes is "Hot Wes." Something about the college professor look, glasses, silver hair, is sexy. My husband thinks it's amusing when I yell out "It's Hot Wes!!" during the show. These people are living my dream job. I was a history major in college (have both an undergraduate and graduate degree in history and poli-sci), so this show is heaven for me. Some of the segments are more interesting than others, but over all, I love me some HD.

[oafgirl]

I adore History Detectives, but I have to set the TiVo to catch reruns at odd (early morning) hours on smaller local PBS stations because my maternal unit will not give up the better DirecTV reception during prime time. Hey, it's her house, her bigscreen TV, and her satellite subscription (and I'm not working yet, so I'm not paying rent).

Anyway, the first episode I ever saw featured the Sears houses and I was hooked! I've always had an interest in what could be considered architectural history -- not of big "important" buildings, but of houses and small shops -- every day people stuff. It's probably because what fascinates me most about studying history is learning how "ordinary" people lived during various eras.

*When* I finish my thesis and start teaching, I would like to use a segment or two of HD in class to stimulate research ideas among my students -- particularly the fact that people bring items with family connections forward for investigation. I picked my senior thesis topic -- the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, and the community response to it -- because I remember my grandmother telling me what happened in their neighborhood that evening.

[SanDiego]

OK, so am I crazy, or do they keep sprinkling new investigations in with previously aired investigations?

[OldMizzentop]

I don't know about that, but it seems like I keep seeing the same three episodes. Parts of them, anyway, since I'm not a regular watcher.

[dcalley]

I turned tonight's episode on 15 minutes in. Who was the young woman helping Gwen out with the lion's feet? I wonder if the whole season will have a take your kids to work day aspect to it. Too much Elyse this episode. She's my least favorite of the detectives, but I liked the young girl she worked with tonight.

It seems my station is a week ahead of most on History Detectives but more than a week behind most on Mystery's Miss Marple.

[Metairie]

I teared up a little when Wes led the great-grandson of the McKinley honor guard to his great-grandfather's grave site. Both sides of my family are heavily into geneology and I love knowing my families' histories, so I was glad he got to learn a bit more about his. And this southern girl didn't realize that bodies had to be placed in receiving tombs during the winter due to frozen ground. Plus I'm from New Orleans where we bury people in above ground tombs.

[SanDiego]

Metarie, I was right there with you on the McKinley episode. I am heavily into genealogy myself, and the impact of the cemetery scene was powerful. Besides, on a shallow note, it was a Hot Wes segment.

[twohawks17]

I like it when the detectives go to experts who say "no way, definitely not" and it ends up the story they investigated is true. Examples so far this season are the Satchel Page & Dizzy Dean bseball game, and the map from the Vicksburg siege. I wonder if they present something to the experts, afterwards, to set the record straight?

[xander874]

I like it when the detectives go to experts who say "no way, definitely not" and it ends up the story they investigated is true.

Yeah, I wonder if any of these experts get annoyed when they watch the show and see they are proven wrong. The one that stands out to me was the one about the John Calhoun books and the woman at the house said he supported slavery, but the "expert" said not really. It made that woman almost seem like an idiot.

Saw the episode last night. One thing I like about this show is the use of music. Wes' hunt about the WWII artifacts from the USS Indianapolis was great because they used music from Twin Peaks. Random, but fun.

Edited by xander874, Jul 19, 2006 @ 7:55 AM.

[twohawks17]

they used music from Twin Peaks.

Yes--! I have the soundtrack, but hadn't listened to it for a long time. I knew the music but couldn't remember where it came from. Thanks. :-)

[D.C.]

I swear I heard the theme to Deadwood in the Vicksburg map episode.

[neglander]

My favorite episode was the Patty Cannon House because I only lived a mile away and have passed that house many times.

Alot of the voice overs about the history of Sears Homes came right out of my book. Again - no attribution.

You should contact PBS and tell them you would like the credit or you will see them in court.

It's probably because they're supposed to be non commercial

PBS is no longer non commercial thanks to a bunch of crybabies in Washington.

Edited by neglander, Jul 23, 2006 @ 10:38 AM.

[DivaJean13210]

Our PBS station broadcast the episode last night that was about geneology. I loved the woman in California who's distant relatives were actually Federalists in the American Revolution. I guess I never stopped to think about what would have happened to Loyalists once the War was won. Very interesting! I also liked how they were able to find distant relatives of today for her to meet.

Liked the story about the banjo from the 1800's- I especially got a chuckle from when the elder black man said he loved banjo music his whole life, but didn't want to be the stereotype- then he decided to go with his heart. He was a wealth of knowledge.

I love this show!

[twohawks17]

I especially got a chuckle from when the elder black man said he loved banjo music his whole life,

This was Taj Mahal.

The minstrel show confusion was interesting, the overlay of 'blackface' stereotype.

[Szigane]

I just caught this series on PBS a few weeks ago and have only seen two or three episodes so far, but they're very interesting. I was surprised by the third show I saw when they actually stated they didn't know whether or not the Doc Holliday watch was real. I had assumed they would only put proven pieces of history on their show, so it was actually a nice surprise to know that there was a bit of that uncertainty factor after all.

Edited by Szigane, Aug 19, 2006 @ 2:55 AM.

[Metairie]

New season starts tonight!

[etain]

(Delayed reaction to a couple posts ago -- Taj Mahal was on this show??? Awesome.)

I've actually tried submitting my own mystery once, but never heard from them; I may try submitting it again. My family is related by marriage to "Gen. Tom Thumb," and we have a number of his effects. One of the things we have is a silver tea set that my grandmother said was presented to him by Queen Victoria, and I'd like to verify that. Do you think it's worth another shot submitting this through the site?

[doctorwu]

What I like about this show is that it makes research look interesting. I've done genealogical work in the past and have used the census and other state and county resources and it's boring and tedious work only highlighted when you find something interesting. If you think it's tough trying to decipher old handwriting, try doing it on microfilm that's in negative.

[Anezka]

Do you think it's worth another shot submitting this through the site?

I would! I have been wanting to submit something to them for a couple of years now, so I would love to know if it works out for you! Oh by the way, Gwen ROCKS!! I love her hair!