This may shock you, but not everything you see in TV documentaries is true.

In fact, the majority makes no effort to be true. Instead, it tries to portray whatever's fashionable at the time,

since that's how you get eyeballs and make your money back. So what is a skeptical filmmaker to do?

Well, that's what we're going to find out today,

on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Docu dangers.

Why Science Documentaries Usually Suck.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from usually suck.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience,

real history from fake history,

and helps us all make better life decisions

by knowing what's real and what's not.

Skepticism, as someone once said, is where science literacy intersects with consumer

protection. The better we understand the tools to tell what's real from what's not,

the more successful we can be in every facet of life. That's what we're about here at Skeptoid. As you may know, besides this podcast and some other things,

we have pursued this kind of outreach through feature documentary films.

Our most recent have been principles of curiosity, 2017, science friction

2022, and the UFO movie They Don't Want You to see,

2023.

Today I want to focus attention on the main problem

...