TV-Reviewed

It isn’t every day one of my favorite people is featured in a new series. Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, is one of the most famous archaeologists thanks to his books and several documentaries focused on Egypt’s fascinating history. It didn’t come to much surprise that he would eventually get his own TV series, but I never would have guessed it would turn out so poorly done.

The first episode started out with Zahi doing a book signing when he had to leave in order to “rescue” a young woman and cameraman who were shooting footage in one of the pyramids. Supposedly they had gotten left behind.

We would eventually learn that the young woman was new to the site and was brought in as an intern or similar role to Zahi. Then there was a problem. She wasn’t even the woman who they were expecting. Instead of a French woman with a different name, a Canadian showed up. And yet the team permitted the woman on the site of an archaeological dig without them getting to the bottom of why the wrong person showed up.

As I watched more and more of the first episode, I wanted to turn the channel, but I stuck it out and watched the entire thing. I came away with one impression: this series is fake.

It’s not uncommon for there to be rehearsals to documentary shows, but I don’t even think there were rehearsals for the actors. That’s right, I said actors. Watch the first episode and tell me everyone was real. It was all an act and I can’t for the life of me understand why History Channel would stoop this low and air something that was clearly not the show History Channel had claimed it would be.