Rise of the Videogame began last night. But it should have been called the Rise of Lazy Documentary Writers!

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• LEVEL ONE
  Premiere: Wednesday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT
  In the 1950s, the Cold War quickly evolved between the world superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union. Mutually assured destruction enforced an uneasy stalemate, yet also drove computer technology to create missile simulations to predict the results of a nuclear war. This same computer technology was used to develop the first computer game in 1958 — Tennis for Two. The Space Race and the Vietnam war coincided with Steve Russell's game Space War! and the emergence of the first true giants in the video game business — Nolan Bushnell and Atari. In post-World War II Japan, electronics and computer technology emerged to rebuild a land and economy devastated by the atomic bomb. Space Invaders and Pac-Man soon followed, and the golden age of video games was born. Among others, individuals featured in this episode include Steve Russell, Nolan Bushnell, Ralph Baer (considered by many to be the inventor of the video game) and Toru Iwatani (Pac-Man designer). Video games emerged as a form of entertainment where the player was in control, as opposed to the more passive diversion of watching television."Discovery channel....

I'm really starting to wonder if the old adage about the video game industry being really small isn't more true than I could have imagined. This show is a great example. Everyone of these shows starts the same way and with the same people.
Here's some examples:
Nolan Bushnell (Check)
Ralph Baer (Check)
Peer Schneider from IGN (Check)
Heather Chaplin from Smartbomb (Check)
Aaron Ruby from Smartbomb (Check)
N'Gai Croal from Newsweek (Check)
Henry Jenkins from MIT (Check)
Tommy Tallarico (Check)

So what am I saying here? Well, it just seems crazy that in an industry where there are hundreds of people creating, writing, and marketing video games that these guys are all ways the ones that the writers or directors of these shows turn to. And who exactly is Stuart Moulder? I know I could just Google him but saying in his byline that he is a video game consultant is a little bit of a cop out isn't it?
Also why are all shows about video games made by the mass media are all ways about either the history of them or the controversy surrounding them?
Now, let me just say a couple of things about the show itself. How in the name of god do you get to equate video game history with global political history? It's like trying to compare the evolution of the potato chip with the history of Ireland. You can do it, but is anyone going to believe it?
Other than this theoretical flight of fancy. The rest of the show is basically a rip off of the old Game Makers shows on G4. These shows have albeit been abandoned because of different buyouts and marketing problems that they rarely air. But if they aired next to this show, the folks at Rise of the Videogame would be accused plagiarism. Oh and by the way, each one of those Game Makers shows which was formerly called Icons was a 1/2 hour This show that covers all most 5 or 6 of those shows in only an hour.
I think as big as this series supposedly is, they could have done without cutting corners and perhaps found some NEW information or gone more in-depth than those old ICONS or Gamemakers shows did. But, I guess that was too much work. Perhaps for Ken Burns next show, he'll call it, "Video Games!"
Oh, following their geopolitical scheme; what political statement does Tetris make about the world in which it was made?
Saying that games are Art and Culture is fine. But don't try and wrap some political or subconscious trappings on to Pac-Man, Pong, or Tetris.
Next up Nintendo and Donkey Kong.... I can't wait...