The original How The States Got Their Shapes History Channel special was almost mind-bogglingly interesting. You'd think the subject, the origin of all those squiggly or straight lines on the US map, would be of faint interest to anyone but to cartographers and gerrymanderers, but no! There are bizarrely fascinating histories and geologies behind all those lines we know by heart, like the weird bulb on top of Delaware or the baffling Maine-Canada border or the little hub at the bottom of Nevada. (Delaware's is called the Twelve-Mile Circle, Maine's is a compromise between watersheds, and Nevada's was taken from Arizona to give Nevada claim to the Colorado River.) If that isn't as fascinating as I made it out to be, maybe you have to hear it from Daily Show alum Brian Unger, who hosts the show.
How The States Got Their Shapes the series is a direct offshoot of this special, and instead of going through the states one by one, it groups episodes on a common theme, such as rivers or transportation or religion. Some themes are flimsier than others (like the "Force of Nature" episode, which starts with the asteroid impact that formed the Cumberland Gap, and somehow ends with air conditioning). Mostly it's just a fun way to group all the information.
Along the way, Unger takes roadtrips, talks to locals, visits monuments and frequents local watering holes (from bars to the original Poland Spring spring). He spies on Area 51, he tries to restart the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys, and otherwise experiences first-hand the weird diversity (people and landscape) of the country. Unger is about the right blend of funny and informative, and since he spends much of the series talking to the audience from the driver's seat of his car, this keeps things from feeling a little too much like a family vacation. Also he kind of looks like Steve Carell's beefier younger brother.
But probably the most fun of the show is seeing average folks on the street try to answer questions about the states, or draw state outline on the camera, or guess which state their holding with their eyes closed. They get it right quite a lot, which gives you a little bit of patriotic pride. Contrary to what Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader would like to tell you, the average American sure knows plenty about America.
Just don't ask them stuff about other countries.
DVD Bonus Features
This set includes all eight episodes of the series plus the original two-hour special. Still, that's a lot of History.
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"How The States Got Their Shapes: Season One" is on sale November 1, 2011 and is rated PG. Documentary, Television. Directed by Dagen Merrill, David Konschnik. Written by Timothy Dilworth, David Konschnik, Ann Carroll. Starring Brian Unger.
