Making History is a comedy about a janitor named Daniel Chambers and his friends’ adventures across different periods of time via time travel as well as their efforts to handle the consequences of their actions. As a result, it is more than a little bit irreverent, which can appeal to those who are looking for that sort of humor. Unfortunately, Making History was cancelled in May of 2017, meaning that the nine episodes that have been made so far are all of the episodes that will be made for the foreseeable future.
Here are five things that you may or may not have known about Making History:
Small Time Machine
Time machines have been depicted in a wide range of manners in a wide range of media. However, Making History stands out in that its time machine might be one of the tiniest. After all, it is a literal duffel bag, except that it actually has less space than a duffel bag because there are mechanical components in it. Something that can make for simple amusement when more than one person is squeezed into the time machine.
John Hancock Gets Addicted to Cocaine
At one point, John Hancock gets addicted to cocaine, which is unsurprising because of the drug’s effect on the part of brain responsible for regulating rewards. With that said, it is interesting to note that cocaine was actually used in a wide range of products before it was banned. For example, a chemist named Angelo Mariani started selling wine that had been treated with cocoa leaves in 1863, thus creating a product called cocawine. Furthermore, Coca Cola’s original recipe in 1886 included a small amount of cocoa leaves, though that changed with the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Ironically, there were even doctors who attempted to treat morphine addiction with cocaine, which might not have been the best idea in hindsight.
John Hancock Forces Sam Adams to Participate in “Bumfights”
For another example of Making History‘s particular sense of humor, John Hancock forces Sam Adams to participate in a “bumfight” at one point. Suffice to say that this would not have been regarded much better in the past than in the present, but it is interesting to note that Colonial America had a much higher tolerance for bloodsports than us in the present. For example, cockfighting used to be so popular in the colonies that it was second to none save for horse races.
John Hancock and Sam Adams Duel
Finally, there is a scene in which John Hancock and Sam Adams duel for the hand of a woman. This is something that would have been common in the past, but it is interesting to note that the purpose of dueling wasn’t about killing the opponent so much as upholding one’s honor by showing the willingness to risk one’s life for it, which isn’t to say that fatalities didn’t happen in the course of the practice.
The Black Sox Scandal Was Real
As strange as it sounds, the Black Sox Scandal in the show was a real event that happened at the 1919 World Series, involving a faction of Chicago White Sox players who were dissatisfied with their treatment by the team owner. For example, the term Black Sox is sometimes said to have originated in the team owner’s refusal to pay for the laundering of the players’ uniforms, meaning that the players chose to let them get dirtier and dirtier. Even when the team owner decided to get the uniforms laundered, he did so by charging the cost against his players’ salaries.
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