Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
117,086
edits
History Bites: Difference between revisions
tropelist
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.HistoryBites 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.HistoryBites, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (tropelist) |
||
| (5 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
{{quote|''What if television had been around for the last five thousand years?''}}
Such is the premise of ''[[History Bites]]'', a Canadian [[Sketch Comedy]] series (1998-2003) created by Rick Green (of ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' and ''[[Prisoners of Gravity]]'') to explore and satirize history through the lens of current pop culture. Each episode opened with Rick explaining the topic and dramatically pushing a button on his remote control, "changing the channel" to begin the meat of the program.
The show proper is presented as what a bored channel surfer sees as he flips through programs like the news, ''Martha Stewart Living'', ''[[Jeopardy
After the series ended, the show did five one-hour specials that removed the channel-surfing idea. Reruns of the series are shown on the Comedy Network and History Television.
The show avoided the [[Nostalgia Filter]]: Rick ended each episode by bringing up how casual injustice (oft demonstrated in the proceedings) is connected to prejudice and ignorance, how advances in science and medicine make life today so much better than any point in history, and History... Bites. *click*
{{tropelist}}
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: The show's premise is that television (and modern programs) have existed since the invention of agriculture.
* [[Bishonen]]: Peter Oldring's characters, especially Alexander the Great.
Line 18 ⟶ 17:
* [[The Dung Ages]]: The show made a point of how bad life was in centuries past.
* [[Every Episode Ending]]: Rick comes back to talk about the subject matter and how it influenced history, and [[Title Drop|history bites]].
* [[Hey,
* [[Hospital Gurney Scene]]: The agriculture episode featured a medical drama. Teresa Pavlinek's doctor character ordered [[The All
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: The priest of Pan making an infomercial for lesser-known Greek gods.
* [[In the Style Of]]: Some episodes had the "main plot" done in a specific style; for example, the investigation and prosecution of the murder of Thomas Beckett was presented as an episode of ''[[Law
* [[Man of a Thousand Voices]]: Ron Pardo. Close your eyes and you'd swear that that's really [[Hockey Night in Canada|Don Cherry]] or Dennis Miller. Pardo credits his skills to watching too much television as a child.
* [[Medieval Morons]]: Timmy the ''Jeopardy!'' contestant was a dirt-farming peasant out of [[The Dung Ages]], but [[Obfuscating Stupidity|he got at least one right answer]].
Line 27 ⟶ 26:
* [[Pride Before a Fall]]: Leonard the ''Jeopardy!'' contestant always responded with a smug grin and condescension in his voice, which evaporated quickly when the host rejected his response.
* [[Punny Name]]: The Zamboni family cleaned the Colosseum's arena floor between bouts in one episode; puns were rare among episode titles, but there were some, like "Bjarney & Friends" (Norse settlers in North America), "Cleo Can Kiss My Asp" (Cleopatra/Marc Antony/Octavian triangle), and "My Pharaoh Lady" (Pharaoh Hatshepsut).
* [[Sidetracked
* [[Unfortunate Names]]: Bob Bainborough's anchorman characters tended to these, such as "Intellectus Minimus".
* [[A Worldwide Punomenon]]: The TV Guide listings during the show.
Line 35 ⟶ 34:
[[Category:Canadian Series]]
[[Category:Sara Lafleur]]
[[Category:
| |||