Ancient Aliens

Ancient Aliens is an American television series that explores the ancient astronauts hypothesis, past human-extraterrestrial contact, UFOs, government conspiracies, and related pseudoscientific topics, such as remote viewing and psychic phenomena, in a non-critical, documentary format. Episodes, narrated by Robert Clotworthy, begin and end with rhetorical questions. Produced by Prometheus Entertainment, the series has aired on History and other A&E Networks since 2010. The series has been a target for criticism of History's channel drift, and for promoting unorthodox or unproven hypotheses as fact.
The series is based on and inspired by the works of Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin, among other writers. The works of Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Brinsley Le Poer Trench, Charles Hapgood, and Edgar Cayce, are also referenced in many episodes. Producer Giorgio Tsoukalos and writer David Childress are featured guests.
The series began as a two-hour documentary special in 2009, and continued for three seasons as a flagship series on History. Seasons 4 to 7 aired on H2, with frequent re-airings of episodes on History and other A&E services. In 2015, the series returned to History after H2 was relaunched as Vice on TV. Season 15 premiered in 2020. Due to COVID-19 disrupting production, the season ended after only 12 episodes, however only 10 episodes aired. The series continued with its sixteenth season in November 2020. An eighteenth season began airing in January 2022.
The series was parodied in the 2011 South Park episode "A History Channel Thanksgiving". Action Bronson has reacted to the series in two seasons of Vice's Action Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens. William Shatner, who narrated the 1976 documentary Mysteries of the Gods, appeared in the Season 16 episode "William Shatner Meets Ancient Aliens ". He later told Inverse that he "was dubious about the whole thing", adding, "something's going on". The series has been criticized by the Smithsonian, among others, for overwhelming the viewer with "fictions and distortions" by using a Gish gallop. Brian Dunning debunked the series as "a slap in the face to the ingenuity of the human race".
Category:TV Shows