UFO HUNTERS - Hist. - Crash & Retrieval

History Channel - Original Air Date: 2/20/08

Having watched this show since it's inception, I can now say definitively that it is a show by true believers for true believers. Wikipedia tells me it's a spin off of the History Channel show UFO Files, and I can believe that. Both shows are long on story, and while they pretend to conduct investigations, they're dreadfully short on science or the scientific method. Frankly, at this point I fell sorry for Ted, the show's scientist; clearly he doesn't belong here, and they never listen to him anyway. The group's leader, Bill, becomes more Hunter S. Thomson like with every episode. He expounds loudly on absurd theories and shouts down people with opposing opinions. This show doesn't have facts, it has speculation piled on speculation piled on speculation, with virtually no evidence at all to back up any of it. This week, they're investigating "UFO crashes" in Mexico, one in 2007-- described by witnesses as a "fireball" (which last I knew, was an astronomical event) -- and one that's known as "Mexico's Roswell" and is decades old. So the team wanders around the desert, collects some nondescript ash, sees what may be plane wreckage, and finds an "unusual" hole in the ground (that the show speculates may have been used to dispose of nuclear or biological weapons). They take samples and find . . . traces of motor oil or perhaps other petroleum compounds. Team leader Bill speculates that these compounds were used to blow up UFO debris. That makes as much sense as anything else in this show. The premise of History Channel's UFO Hunters is that UFOs are alien craft from other worlds and the governments of our world are covering up that fact. Any evidence that doesn't support those premises is summarily dismissed. There's a two word phrase for the stories this show presents every week, and the first word of that phrase is "horse." Like UFO Files, this version of UFO Hunters has now pushed my "bunk meter" to its limits. I'm removing it from my DVR and will watch it only when nothing else is on--and then only if I'm in the mood to be ticked off. I hope the SciFi show wins the war for the show's title, though it remains to be seen whether that show will be better in the long run. As for me, I think I'll watch an episode of Is It Real? to wash the bad taste of this turkey out of my mouth.