TV Recommendations: Shakespeare's Tomb & Vikings Unearthed

I don't pay as much attention to non-Sunday night PBS programming as I should - I love documentaries, so I don't know what my problem is - but recently two shows caught my eye and I'm very glad they did. They're both documentaries that combine traditional history and archaeology with new investigative methods made possible by SCIENCE!, and they're very well done.

Shakespeare's Tomb, hosted by the great Helen Castor, investigates, well, Shakespeare's tomb, and along with it the circumstances surrounding his death, his will, later rumors and myths about his skull, and more. They do some really incredible 3D scanning of a skull so that they can try to figure out whether it's Shakespeare's without disturbing the site where it was found, as well as tracing air pockets below the Shakespeare family's gravestones in the church floor to determine the configuration of their graves. You can watch it online here or check on demand or local listings - PBS varies a lot by local affiliate.

The second, Vikings Unearthed, was a BBC production aired as an episode of Nova, and it features historian Dan Snow, who you should be following on Twitter/Instagram, along with a bunch of other very interesting historians and archaeologists. They trace Viking expansion west, and specifically use satellite imaging to try to find undiscovered, buried Viking sites - including in North America. It's completely fascinating. Watch here or, again, check on demand or local listings for reruns.

Morning Coffee (10/7/15)

This Voter app sounds neat, but when I read "Tinder-like app for matching with a presidential candidate" I thought it was going to tell me which candidates were GEOGRAPHICALLY NEAR ME. Because I live in New Hampshire, and that would actually be a useful function. (I mean. To go to campaign events. Not to hook up with them. If that was unclear.)

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"He has now become a full-time Viking."

The history of Tiger Beat is fascinating!

I am weirdly freaked out by Avery Fisher Hall changing its name.

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More on Vikings!

Here's the embeddable version of the teaser:


(I feel like I should point out that there is not actually an exclamation point in the title of the show. I'm just excited.)

I've got some more information on the cast and plot over at TheTelevixen, so head on over!

Vikings!

I can't find an embeddable version yet, but Entertainment Weekly has the first exclusive trailer for the History Channel's new historical drama, Vikings. And the trailer includes a premiere date: March 3! Whee! My thought process as I watched the trailer:

1. Well, this could be pretty terrible. But it doesn't look DEFINITELY terrible yet.
2. There will be SO MANY HISTORICAL ISSUES to nitpick!
3. OBVIOUSLY I WILL WATCH EVERY EPISODE.
4. SOMEONE wants to look as much like Game of Thrones as possible, huh?

With shows like this, I usually want them to be either actually good or so terrible that they're hilarious to watch. Fingers crossed!