“Making History” is the next witty comedy that we’ve all been waiting for. Created by Julius Sharpe (“Family Guy”), and produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (“21 Jump Street”, “The Lego Movie”). The show brings comedy and history together Sunday nights on FOX. “Making History” focuses on the adventures of three companions from different centuries, traveling through time.
In order to understand some of the story in “Making History,” you should have some background knowledge on U.S. history, and understand trends and other things from the past. If you don’t, you might not get most of the jokes. The show begins when Dan Chambers (Adam Pally), a janitor at a college, travels back in time to colonial Massachusetts in 1775, to see his girlfriend, Deborah Revere (Leighton Meester). But when British soldiers ambush them, Dan realizes that because the British soldiers are here, Paul Revere had not gone on his famous ride, and the Revolutionary War may not have started. He travels back to the present, and asks an unassuming student what he is eating, and he replies that he’s eating fish and chips. Later, Dan walks by Starbucks, and sees that they are advertising tea instead of coffee. Worried, he talks to a history professor, Chris Parish (Yassir Lester), who claims nothing is wrong at all. Dan takes Chris to his house, where he shows off his time machine, disguised as a duffel bag.
“It’s a time machine. I go to the past on weekends, sometimes on Tuesdays,” he says.
Once they travel back to 1775, Chris is shocked, and Dan acts like it’s no big deal. Chris then all of a sudden throws up, and according to Dan, the past smells like waste because there’s poop everywhere. At this point, the show tends to drag on, but still tries to make the viewers laugh. Dan and Chris find out that the Battle of Lexington should have happened two days ago. Dan and Chris to go to Buckman Tavern, a bar where the founding fathers tend to appear. Chris makes a speech that ends up making all of the people in the bar turn their guns on him, so Dan tells Chris to “say something from a movie.” Chris responds by saying, “Show me the money,” a quote made famous in the movie “Jerry Maguire.” This makes all of the colonists laugh and forget the whole entire situation. Will Dan, Deb, and Chris start the American Revolution? To find out, watch the show.
The show then continues in the present, where Deborah has to get used to life in 2016. Dan asks her what she wants to do in the future.
“Cloud walking! Talk to a ghost and ride a tunnel to the center of the earth,” Deb says.
“Making History” definitely has a lot of potential to become a comedy staple for the next few years, but the show may not survive if they cannot fix the oddities and boring parts of the show, along with Dan’s sometimes annoying stupidity.
In the past, Dan quotes songs he claims he wrote, and says that he created many modern-day inventions, such as the panini press and the television. These references may get bothersome, but are crucial to the storyline in a later episode.
“[It has] a really funny cast on a really funny show with moderately funny producers. Don’t miss it,” said Phil Lord, one of the show’s producers, posted on Twitter in March.
Overall, “Making History” is a great show with funny and romantic moments, but fails to pounce on occasions when a joke could become a classic quote, and does not really ensnare us into the relationship of Dan and Deb.
In the end, it is a must-watch show for this spring. The show manages to balance facts with comedy, and showcases how crude people were in the past. The show has had its share of ups and downs so far, but if you are a comedy lover or a history know-it-all, you will definitely love “Making History.”
