To refresh the memories of those who were born after 1985, the original In Search Of series was a creation of The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling back in 1972. But Serling passed away before the series too to the air, and Leonard Nimoy chose to pick up the lead as host and move forward. Now with the recent death of Nimoy, Star Trek’s newest Mr. Spock, Zachary Quinto, will be picking up where Nimoy stopped and revive the series.
In Search Of is basically an investigative show that delves into the worlds of the paranormal and supernatural, two themes that have fared well in recent years among audiences of all ages. But beyond these popular themes, the program took on a historical slant as well, investigating unique and mysterious historical figures and digging to discover unique and unknown truths about them. But the show is not all fact and documentary, but also adds a solid amount of theory, a natural direction since there is no much we don’t know.
One reason Quinto opted to pick up the series is that he had become close friends with Nimoy during his initial work learning about his role as Spock in the Star Trek reboot. Apparently some of those conversations involved Nimoy’s thoughts on the 1972 show, a project that he likely had to shelve due to his increased presence in the series of Star Trek movies as both actor and director that ran from 1979 to 1991. Interestingly, Nimoy immediately took on a role in the television series, “Mission: Impossible” after leaving Star Trek, a series with a theme of investigating and executing missions of which the details were largely unknown to the MI team.
The old In Search Of format was largely narrative and re-creation of events, but it is not likely the new version will be plodding along at the same pace. Modern technology is likely to pick up the pace, and with the right amount of special effects it can be an even more compelling watch than its predecessor. Quinto said, “We intend to honor and perpetuate his (Nimoy’s) endless curiosity about the world — and universe — in which we live.” This time around the series will take on a more historical tone, as Quinto emphasized, “History is the perfect home for this unique and compelling series.”
This last statement makes it clear the program will take on a more intelligent and less entertainment theme, which is a move away from the action packed and CGI heavy movies that are more geared towards younger viewers. Nimoy may have expressed a desire to get back to the Star Trek TOS themes of the possibilities that science brings to the table of imagination and creativity instead of re-creation, prequels and sequels. Quinto also has the same mental approach to acting and television as Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry, as he was making references in an interview to the Star Trek franchise’s record for its groundbreaking approach to diversity and inclusiveness in the casting and storylines from TOS.
Airing on the History channel in the near future (no premier date for the series has been set as of this writing) it will be lining up with several of the channel’s nonfiction series, including Ancient Aliens and a series that has already been scripted and waiting for release, Blue Book. In Search Of will fit in well alongside Blue Book which is about the government investigation of UFO’s in the 1950’s and 60’s.
In case you haven’t noticed, the History channel holds a 5th place viewer rating behind heavyweights Fox News, MSNBC, HGTV, and USA. Pretty impressive when considering the total cable competition. Quinto is betting that the average TV viewer’s intelligence is much higher than the mediaheads give us credit for.
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