History will put viewers in the middle of some of the most influential moments in history as part of its new original series I Was There, debuting President’s Day weekend.
The 12-episode series – the first two of which premiere Feb. 20 and Feb. 21 – recounts some of the most high-profile historical events, disasters, triumphs and true stories to uncover unexpected facts in an unpredictable way, according to the network. Through re-creations using SGI technology, series host Theo Wilson is visually placed at the scene of each event to help discern what really happened during some of the most pivotal moments in history.
History vice president of development and programming Mike Stiller says I Was There -- which is executive produced by George Stephanopoulos (Good Morning America) --offers viewers a different perspective on such events as Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the Hindenburg disaster, the 1965 Blood Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery and the 1889 catastrophic Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania.
In an edited Multichannel News interview with Stiller, here's what he and History want you to know about I Was There:
The series unearths little-known facts about well-known historical events: "What’s interesting about I Was There is that it puts Theo Wilson and the viewer into history itself to see the details that might have been missed. We’ve talked to the best historians to really try to understand history in a different way and maybe show viewers something about these events that they didn’t know. For example we have an episode that looks at the Johnstown flood, which was the deadliest flood in American history. One of the reasons that it happened had to do with a club on the Conemaugh Lake owned by some of America’s richest men. They owned the man made lake and had the responsibility of taking care of the dam, but they really didn’t do the necessary upkeep. In fact, they would lower the height of the dam so that they could get carriages over it to have more parties at the club, but fish traps would end up getting stuck in the dam itself and cause it to malfunction. So when they got hit with a once in a century storm, you have these people who helped cause a disaster that killed a lot of people. So it’s about putting the viewer in the greatest moments of history, triumph and tragedy through modern day special effects."
I Was There host Theo Wilson brings a unique historical perspective to the episodes: "We looked for someone to host the show that had a connection to history who could be a great storyteller. With Theo, the thing that jumped out about him is that he’s an engaging storyteller, and his grandfather was a Tuskegee airman. Sometimes you have to be a part of history to understand it, and Theo grew up hearing these stories about history from his grandfather, and it gave him an interesting appreciation and perspective."
The series features events that still have intrigue surrounding them: "It was a long process that we went through with the producers to identify the events we profiled. We basically started with, ‘what are the events that you would most want to see? What were the events that were visual and maybe had a ticking clock associated with them?’ Also, we looked at events that featured some interesting new perspective that we wanted to explore. The series is only 12 episodes, but we're already thinking about what we could do if we have to do 100 episodes. We could look at everything that happened from ancient times to just 20 years ago. It’s about going through the greatest events that ever happened – the good ones and the bad ones, as well as those that you want to relive and those that you don’t – where we could offer up an interesting new perspective."
Also: TCA: History Sets "Theodore Roosevelt' Docuseries Debuting on Memorial Day
