Hey DIY people in the world and astronauts too,
My TV show pilot called “History Hacker” airs this upcoming Friday at 8PM and Midnight on the History Channel. I’m the host of the show and I check out inventors in history and take a hands-on look at their inventions. I need your help to make the show go from a pilot to a real TV show.
The pilot is all about Nikola Tesla and the war of the currents between Tesla and Edison. In the show I learn how to blow a neon tube, explore wireless electricity and build an AC generator from a bike. I also go to Boston to visit an MIT space lab to see how the principles that Tesla pioneered are being applied to space propulsion.
The look of the show is awesome. The folks at History gave the producer, director, and director of photography permission to take my DIY style of making videos with lots of jump cuts and direct talking to the camera and push it forward into a longer format. It doesn’t look like anything else on TV.
There are four things you can do to help make the pilot a TV show.
1. Tell people. Please forward this as email, write about it on your blog and help get the buzz going.
2.. Please tune in on a Tivo if you’ve got one to help boost Nielsen ratings.
3. Once you’ve seen the show, send a feedback email telling the folks at History what you think. Email historyhackerfeedback@brepettis.com.
4. Also after the show has aired, please drop a note in the History Forums.
You can also participate on Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube
Facebook: If you enjoy the show and want to participate more I’ve set up a History Hacker facebook group that anyone can join.
Flickr: I’m also really curious about the people watching my show so i set up a History Hacker flickr group. Please take a picture of yourself watching the show and upload it to the group at. It will be really cool to see who’s watching the show!
Youtube: I’ve posted a History Hacker video teaser on youtube that gives you a feel for what the show will look like. (It’s the video up at the top of this post.)
Thanks! I can’t wait to see it on Television and I hope you get a chance to tune in!
Found your blog through a Twitter link (http://twitter.com/driveafastercar/statuses/929763242). History Hacker looks fantastic–will definitely tune in. I think my little brother will get a kick out of the show, too. He loves DIY, technology and how it’s made type shows.
Best of luck!
That looks really awesome! I used to watch your Weekend Projects videos on Make, and I love this one.
Best of luck!
[...] Bre Pettis | History Hacker on History Channel. [...]
Passing along the word out here…
I am truly looking forward to seeing the show.
Bre,
This looks amazing, and I can’t wait to check out the show. You are brilliant to do this - and the History Channel is brilliant to air it. Cheers to a great future together and a long-lasting show.
[...] Watch it (or even better, DVR it) this September 26th at 8pm and midnight, and email the History Channel or post in the forums to help make Bre the first videoblogger to get a full TV series. [...]
Woohoo, does that look awesome! Love that concept, and *Very* cool trailer. I need to pass this on to my brother who studied Tesla.
Hey man,
This looks like a great idea - do you know if it’s going to be on the History Channel outside the USA? Maybe there’s a world out here that could get involved if we knew when it was on in our part of the world… ;->
Peace
W
This is awesome! Cannot wait to see it! Will spread to the teachers and educators I know!!!
[...] can find a lot more information at Bre’s blog. Don’t miss it! » Filed under bloggin’ it by Eric Mortensen at 12:21. back to [...]
I’ve schedule Tivo to record. Do I need to actually watch the show live to affect the ratings? Or does a Tivo recording count as a viewer?
[...] You can follow the example of Bre Pettis. He’s enthusiastic about history, a subject which just might put the average viewer to sleep. But not the way Bre delivers it. He’s excited about what he does, and his music video lets us share that energy. And I say “energy”…literally. (Side note: check out the pilot episode of his show, “History Hacker,” on the History Channel this upcoming Friday at 8PM and Midnight! Looks totally awesome! Click here for details.) [...]
[...] Bre Pettis | Living the DIY Dream - Help Turn The History Hacker Pilot Into A TV Show (tags: media science history tv diy brepettis) [...]
The look was great, the editing was… confusing to say the least. I hope the show will be more coherent or you´re going to need a new editor. I know it´s a teaser but that did not make me want to watch the show at all, sorry.
Tsudohnimh, recording it counts!
Daniel, the show is pretty edgy. I appreciate the feedback.
Oh, I love the edginess! I work as a senior editor here in Sweden and I would love to edit a show with the look “History Hacker” has. What I meant was how random the edits seemed to be, no thread to pull me through the teaser, but it´s only a teaser and I sincerely hope the show gets picked up.
[...] you like the show, Bre has a blog post on how you can help turn this one-off into a [...]
Good to meet you tonight and best of luck on your pilot. Kick out the TV brain jams and give DIY to millions of new hackers!
I’d love to see this show; always been a fan of Tesla. Unfortunately, I’ve got no television! Is there a way I can see this online and still help out?
[...] will be turned into a full series on The History Channel, so please help make this a reality by spreading the word about the show. If you can’t watch it live, be sure to set your Tivo or DVR to record it. Here’s the [...]
[...] like its going to just be a pilot and then we’ll see if it makes it to a full [...]
[...] Bre Pettis (of Make and Etsy) recreates some of Nikola Tesla’s inventions and looks into “how the principles that Tesla pioneered are being applied to space propulsion” in Hacking History (History Channel, 7pm and 11pm). This is a pilot for a new series; if it does well they might make more episodes. Sounds very cool, I say check it out. You can follow Bre on Twitter and I also linked to his website earlier in this paragraph if you want to find out more about him. He posted to his blog about how you can help this show become a series. [...]
This looks like a great show Bre! I was wondering what happened to you. Missing watching you on the Weekend Projects Podcast. I hope this works out for you, all the best.
[...] you like History Hacker, help turn it into a show! Share and [...]
[...] Help turn History Hacker pilot into a show! [...]
Hey Bre,
Miss you on Make, but its great to see you on tv. The show looks great and I will be sending feedback.
I loved the 9/26/08 pilot of “History Hacker”. The show was stimulating on many levels - intellectually, visually and creatively.
I loved watching Bre Pettis take each world-changing invention and build it from simple stuff found in people’s closets and junkyards. It was a lot more interesting than the boring way that electricity and the electric light are explained on other science shows.
Seeing the NYC power plant, MIT lab, electric generator in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, etc., added a real-world setting to each project that Bre tackled. That was very smart.
The show had a lot of energy (no pun intended). Talking to the camera and the “in your face” gestures and dialog really jazzed up the whole show. Having Bre ride his bike or skateboard to and from each setting was a great way to keep the energy flowing.
The best thing about “History Hacker” was Bre’s interactions with all of the different people who helped him build stuff, or who showed stuff they had built or were responsible for. These interactions were a lot more fun than the traditional way that a TV show host interviews guests about their work. This approach made me feel like I was part of the show, going along with Bre on his mission, and getting information and help from all of these people. This gave me a very creative feeling that very few shows ever give their audience.
I’d love to see the story of every great invention in history portrayed on “History Hacker”, such as the internal combustion engine, the Wright brothers’ powered flight, cryptography, radio, television, penicillin and other medicines, even financial inventions like insurance.
the show was great man. I really hope they pick it up.
Damn. I’d LOVE to see your show in Germany, Bre…
I could not find the show! Will it be on again and when? I want to DVR it. Can the full show be seen anywhere online?
unfortunately missed the show but would love to see it–when will it be aired again?
So this is how you get your POS pilot to turn into a show. You get your fucking fans to come support you. Go back under whatever rock you crawled out from and leave the history channel for the history buffs. There is alread enough crap like your (Non) History Hacker show on tv.
I missed the show, is there any word on a repeat?
HELL YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great show!
Question though. Why make a AC generator with the bike wheel, only to have to rectify it for the battery/GPS?
Hi, go on this way, but give the non USA followers a chance to see your program
ach! i missed the show! is there any way History Channel will re-air it? is there any other way i can see it?
Great Show!!!!!
Looks like samuel jones in denial must be an edison fan. HA HA wake up and learn the REAL TRUTH !!
Great job I am so happy someone has got the balls to finally come out and tell the true story of the World’s Greatest Inventor. We use his inventions every day and owe that man the respect he earned and deserves. I thank you for making this show and would love to get a copy of it to show my 2 y.o. son when he is older and can understand. By the way my son’s name is “Nikola”.
Sam, you are a complete tool. I’m an electrical engineer and thought it was fascinating. It’s shot in a cool format that d-bags like yourself can’t wrap their tiny brains around. I hope this show continues.
Great show, but the email link is not working.
historyhackerfeedback@brepettis.com
I watched your show and I loved it so much, I started calling my friends to watch it too. (I’m not a big tv person at all- it was a fluke that I caught it to begin with. I usually walk away because I get bored, I was GLUED!)… when will it air again? Or how can I buy it? I am still telling people about it and now I follow your etsy stuff too.
Thanks! Nice to know of you!
Great show. Maybe you can film at our local TechShop in Durham one day. When it’s completed, of course. Hope they keep the show going.
what a great show!! amazing…………..i wanna wtahc it again… any were i can download it/?? MAKE THSI A FULLL TIME SHOW!!
[...] first heard this quote on the pilot TV show History Hacker [...]
Dude, I watched your show the other night, it rocks. I have already set a Tivo timer!
I finished shooting a travel pilot (not at all like your show, geared toward Travel Channel, Discovery, etc.). How did you get “discovered”? I have no idea who to send this thing to! Thanks for your advice.
I was just channel surfing and did a double take. I thought wow that guy looks just like Bre Pettis. Great show hope it takes off. B.T.W you were the much better host on Make.
[...] his DIY videoblogging for Make: Magazine and Etsy. You shouldn’t miss a chance to see his History Hacker TV show. If you know how to make an LED blink, you’ve almost certainly seen the work coming out of [...]
I saw the show, its awsome. Hope it becomes a full time thing. I would watch all the time.
hey bre i tivo the show iv just about wore out the tivo watching it so many times iv been building a high voltage gen and studing tesla for the last year im intrested in knowing if you used a transformer to get that 17 volts ac or if that was straight power from the magnet wire thanks Thomas Szymanski email trs_auto@yahoo.com hope you get to do more episodes sent email to history channel for you
rmyjqxvvismlznnswell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch