History Bites

History Bites
History Bites Logo
Created by	Rick Green, Writers: Duncan McKenzie, Danny DiTata, Jeremy Winkels, Eric Lunsky, Amy McKenzie, David Ravvin (season 1)
Starring	Rick Green, Ron Pardo, Janet van de Graaf, Teresa Pavlinek, Peter Oldring, Sarah Lafleur, Danny DiTata, Jeremy Winkels, Eric Lunsky, Amy McKenzie, Duncan McKenzie, Sam Kalilieh
Narrated by	Rick Green
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	102 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David C. Smith
Distributor	S&S Productions
Release
Original network	History (Canada)
Original release	1998 – 2003

History Bites is a television series on the History Television network that ran from 1998 to 2003. Created by Rick Green, History Bites explored what would be on television if the medium had been around for the last 5,000 years of human history. Typically, a significant historical event was chosen and mock news, sports and entertainment programming was created around it. Each episode included several segments of Green offering historical background of the episode's chosen era and otherwise showed frequent shifts from one comedy sketch to another (as well as returning to certain sketches repeatedly) representing a channel-surfing viewer who never watched any one sketch for more than a few minutes at a time.

Reruns of History Bites are currently being shown on History Television and The Comedy Network.

Contemporary movies, television shows and personalities (Martha Stewart, Don Cherry, Tom Brokaw, Dennis Miller, Larry King and Andy Rooney, among others) were comically adapted to the chosen era. For example, the legendary revenge story of the "47 Ronin" of early 18th century Japan was told in the style of a made-for-TV movie modelled on the real-life film The Godfather. Television sitcoms such as Seinfeld and All in the Family were also frequently parodied, with the characters commenting on time-appropriate events, be it Joan of Arc's virginity or the benefits of joining the elite Persian Immortals. Game and reality shows were parodied as well, including a depiction of the Donner Party as participants in an 1846 version of Survivor, and almost every episode featured segments that parodied Jeopardy!, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and/or The Weakest Link, in which contestants answered trivia questions about the common beliefs of the featured era. Anachronisms were frequent and deliberate, adding to the show's distinctive humour. For example, in one episode set in AD 100 and focusing on gladiatorial combat, the "Zamboni family" was responsible for tidying the Colosseum between bouts, in reference to modern Zamboni machines that repair rink surfaces during intermissions at hockey games.