History Bites
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History Bites is a television series on the History Television network. Created by Rick Green (Prisoners of Gravity, Red Green), History Bites explores what would be on television if the medium had been around for the last 5,000 years of human history.
The show takes contemporary television shows and personalities (Martha Stewart, Don Cherry, and Tom Brokaw, among countless others) and puts them in period clothing, sometimes changes their names, and shows what would be on the tube during historical events, such as the Mongol invasion of Japan, Tamerlane's bloody swath across Asia, or the War of 1812. Television sitcoms, such as Seinfeld and All in the Family, are also frequently parodied.
The show has progressed in its five seasons on the air. Early episodes, especially the first season, had little in the way of sets, costumes or props. Later episodes more convincingly portrayed the time period they were set in as production values increased. Anachronisms are rampant and very deliberate and add to the show's distinctive humor.
Regulars on the show include:
- Ron Pardo: David Letterman, Ed Sullivan, Howard Stern, Dennis Miller, Don Cherry, Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel, Ivan the Terrible, Larry King, Regis Philbin, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, Henry Hudson, Bill Maher, Dating Game contestant, interviewed merchant.
- Rick Green: Ron MacLean, Hugh Downs, Timmy the Jeopardy! contestant, Dating Game contestant, interviewed monk.
- Bob Bainborough: period newscaster, game show host, infomercial lawyer, Andy Rooney, Tamerlane, Galileo Galilei, Nostradamus, John Calvin, Oliver Cromwell, Pythagoras, Neolithic doctor, Shakespearean actor, Samurai, Vlad the Impaler, Alexander the Great's general.
- Janet van de Graaf: Martha Stewart, Bev Downer, Barbara Walters, Greta van Sustern, Anne Robinson, period on-location newcaster, interviewed noblewoman.
- Teresa Pavlinek: period newscaster, Cleopatra, Neolithic nurse, interviewed Valley girl peasant, interviewed Puritan woman, Hatshepsut.
- Peter Oldring: Children's show host, Cheng Ho, Alexander the Great, Bill Maher, Dating Game contestant, dating infomercial host, interviewed rebellious teenager.
- Danny DiTata (writer): Steve Irwin, Wyatt Earp, Jesus, leper.
- Eric Lunsky (writer): Charles the Simple, Native American, Egyptian architect, interviewed merchant, interviewed peasant.
- Amy McKenzie (writer): Judge Judy, Shakespearean actor (not actress), interviewed peasant.
- Duncan McKenzie (writer): Abraham Lincoln, William Farel, Leonard the Jeopardy! contestant.
- Sam Kalilieh: Throk (Neolithic farmer), Sostratos of Sycion (Olympic Pankration champion), Thutmoses III, Sargon of Akkad, Tom Ak'Green, Pistachio the gladiator, interviewed common man.
External link
- History Bites (http://www.historybites.com)