History Series / HistoryBites

* TheMagnificent: The episode about Leif Erickson has Dave Letterman list the Top 10 Worst Nicknames for a Viking Leader:
-->Number 10: Leif the Really-Unlucky-to-the-Point-of-Being-Cursed\\
Number 9: Thor the Queasy\\
Number 8: Eric the Pink\\

Number 6: Bjarni the Lactose-Intolerant\\

Number 4: Thormod the Flatulent\\
Number 3: Asgard the Dork\\

Number 1: Debbie

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to show how far humanity has advanced in science, technology and society since the events depicted.

* TheDungAges: A major theme of the series is claiming how bad life was in centuries past.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: While the series does make a valiant effort to avoid romanticizing the past, the writers will occasionally exaggerate for comedic effect. For example, in the episode about Charlemagne, the Creator/MarthaStewart {{Expy}} claims that spices will make rotten meat taste better. By that point it was common knowledge that eating rotten meat was a good way to give yourself food poisoning. Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, only the rich could afford spices, and they were keen on eating the best-quality meat.

Number 2: Ethelred the Idiot-Who-Drills-Holes-In-Ships-at-Sea-When-the-Rest-of-the-Crew-Are-Asleep\\

* TheDungAges: A major theme of the series is how bad life was in centuries past.

* TheCastShowoff: Ron Pardo sang and played guitar in a few sketches, usually as either a stand-up comic or kids' show host.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: While the series does make a valiant effort to avoid romanticizing the past, the writers will occasionally exaggerate for comedic effect. For example, in the episode about Charlemagne, the Creator/MarthaStewart {{Expy}} claims that spices will make rotten meat taste better. By that point it was common knowledge that eating rotten meat was a good way to give yourself food poisoning. Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, only the rich could afford spices, and they were keen on eating the best-quality meat.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to "prove" how far humanity has "advanced" in science, technology and society since the events depicted.

* CriticalResearchFailure / ArtisticLicenseHistory: Unfortunately for Rick Green, many episodes seem to ''want'' to badmouth our ancestors at the expense of research that suggests that life in ages past is not as bad as it seems. For example, in the episode about Charlemagne, the Creator/MarthaStewart {{Expy}} claims that spices will make rotten meat taste better. ''Everyone knew that eating rotten meat is a good way to give yourself food poisoning.'' And besides, in the Middle Ages, only the rich could afford spices, and they were keen on eating the ''best-quality meat''!
** Perhaps the most glaring example of this occurs at the end of the episode about the Neolithic Revolution. In his outro, Rick Green tries to {{Deconstruct}} the NobleSavage trope by claiming that the problems of the natural life include "dying at the age of 30, losing all your teeth, losing half your babies to disease, only bathing once a month, and suffering famine or plague." Most of the problems Rick describes are either exaggerated, didn't happen at all, or didn't happen until ''after'' the Neolithic Revolution.[[note]]In the natural life, a kid who survived his first five years had a good chance of growing up to adulthood and living to his sixties or seventies. Most people kept their teeth until old age. Even after the Neolithic Revolution, at no point in history did one-half of people not live to the age of one. Hunter-gatherers could simply bathe in a clean body of water. As for famines and plagues, they were characteristic of historical periods after the Neolithic Revolution, not ''before''.[[/note]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to "prove" how far humanity has "advanced" in science, technology and society since the events depicted. More often than not, however, it's [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]].
* TheDungAges: The show attempted to prove how bad life was in centuries past, often at the expense of research that showed otherwise.

* CriticalResearchFailure / ArtisticLicenseHistory: Unfortunately for Rick Green, many episodes seem to ''want'' to badmouth our ancestors at the expense of research that shows that life in ages past is not as bad as it seems. For example, in the episode about Charlemagne, the Creator/MarthaStewart {{Expy}} suggests that spices will cover up the bad taste of rotten meat. No one ''ever'' used spices to make rotten meat taste better. Everyone knew that eating rotten meat is a good way to give yourself food poisoning. And besides, in the Middle Ages, only the rich could afford spices, and they were keen on eating the ''best-quality meat''!
** Perhaps the most glaring example of this occurs at the end of the episode about the Neolithic Revolution. In his outro, Rick Green tries to {{Deconstruct}} the NobleSavage trope by claiming that the problems of the natural life include "dying at the age of 30, losing all your teeth, losing half your kids to disease, only bathing once a month, and suffering famine or plague." Most of the problems Rick describes are either inaccurate, exaggerated, or didn't happen until ''after'' the Neolithic Revolution.

* TheDungAges: The show attempted to prove how bad life was in centuries past, often at the expense of research that proved otherwise.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to "prove" how far humanity has "advanced" in science, technology and society since the events depicted. More often than not, it's {{Exaggerated}}.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to "prove" how far humanity has "advanced" in science, technology and society since the events depicted.

The show avoided the NostalgiaFilter: 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*

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Done to point out how far humanity has advanced in science, technology and society since the events depicted.
* TheDungAges: The show made a point of how bad life was in centuries past.

** Perhaps the most glaring example of CriticalResearchFailure occurs at the end of the episode about the Neolithic Revolution. In his outro, Rick Green tries to {{Deconstruct}} the NobleSavage trope by claiming that the problems of the natural life include "dying at the age of 30, losing all your teeth, losing half your kids to disease, only bathing once a month, and suffering famine or plague." Most of the problems Rick describes are either inaccurate, exaggerated, or didn't happen until ''after'' the Neolithic Revolution.

* YeGoodeOldeDays: Averted. History Bites wasn't afraid to tackle the casual racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and ignorance that pervaded history. They didn't have the makeup budget to make the cast look less than decent, however.

The show proper is presented as what a bored channel surfer sees as he flips through programs like the news, ''Martha Stewart Living'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' against the backdrop of historical events like the assassination of Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar, the popularity of the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, the revenge of [[UsefulNotes/The47Ronin The Forty Seven Ronin]], the rise of Christianity, the invention of agriculture, and the shootout at Fly's Photographic Studio (better known as the gunfight at the OK Corral).

* TakeThat: [[DavidLetterman "And the number one easiest foe of]] [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]]: [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut The Toronto Maple Leafs."]]

* InTheStyleOf: 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 ''Series/LawAndOrder'', while Sir IsaacNewton's episode was done like ''Film/ABeautifulMind''.

* OfCorpseHesAlive: QinShiHuangdi's advisers tried to fool the media with this ploy, covering his head with a burlap sack with a face drawn on it and (historically) covering up the smell of his decomposition with rotting fish. It looked like it worked.

The show proper is presented as what a bored channel surfer sees as he flips through programs like the news, ''Martha Stewart Living'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''{{Seinfeld}}'' against the backdrop of historical events like the assassination of Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar, the popularity of the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, the revenge of [[UsefulNotes/The47Ronin The Forty Seven Ronin]], the rise of Christianity, the invention of agriculture, and the shootout at Fly's Photographic Studio (better known as the gunfight at the OK Corral).

* HeyItsThatGuy: Rick Green and Bob Bainborough were regulars on ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'' and Ron Pardo performed stand-up on ''Comedy at Club 54''.

The show proper is presented as what a bored channel surfer sees as he flips through programs like the news, ''Martha Stewart Living'', ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' and ''{{Seinfeld}}'' against the backdrop of historical events like the assassination of Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar, the popularity of the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, the revenge of TheFortySevenRonin, the rise of Christianity, the invention of agriculture, and the shootout at Fly's Photographic Studio (better known as the gunfight at the OK Corral).