Treasure Quest: Snake Island

Finally a professional team of treasure hunters that are also interested in the history of the Jesuits and native South Americans. These guys have found lots of treasure in the past and have found some interesting stuff since the season 3 start. Very well done.

Way too much repition....after every commercial do we really need a update of what we just saw 5 minutes ago????

Jacques Cousteau's National Geographic specials were popular forty-plus years ago when I was still in college. One of the guys in the dorm, Russ D, was an avid diver and a major fan. (He later worked for Westinghouse in an engineering position that required diving -- Br'er Rabbit in the briar patch.)

We were looking forward to Cousteau's search for Inca gold, and eagerly gathered around the color TV of a dorm member whose father owned an appliance store.

It turned out that the lake supposedly loaded with jewelry and other artifacts was sorely lacking in gold. But it //was// full o'frogs. For the rest of the hour, we were treated to a show about giant frogs. "Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs. Glorious frogs, marvelous frogs." (You can learn more by Googling "In the Land of Giant Frogs".)

Russ nearly had a fit. "I don't want to see a show about frogs!"

I can't help but think of that episode when watching "Treasure Quest: Snake Island". Given the way Discovery (and other cable networks) have created despicably dishonest "documentaries", one wonders whether someone had the brilliant idea of a series in which people visit an island infested with (supposedly) poisonous snakes, looking for treasure that never existed.

In fairness, the thing looks legitimate. Mehgan Heaney-Grier is a real free diver (best-remembered for her shows with Manny Puig and Mark Rackley), but I suspect she's present mostly as eye candy in what would otherwise be an all-male program. The other participants don't seem to be acting.

The first three episodes have been nothing if not attention-grabbing. The explorers have quickly located significant clues to the treasure's location. Whether they'll eventually find it...

Assuming this is a legitimate story, I predict they will. Cork, et al, wouldn't let the series be aired otherwise, as it would allow their unfinished work to be exploited by someone else.

My nine-star rating is strictly for entertainment value. Discovery has so badly poisoned the reality-TV well that one has to be suspicious of //everything// it shows.

A show which clearly jumps to the most (il)logical conclusion that ANYTHING found on the island MUST be related to hiding treasure (as opposed to the thousand of other more practical reasons), is made for the idiots who believe it. The saddest thing is that budding archaeological aficionados (like my 6 year olds) may believe that this is how science and theory works - fitting every finding to your conclusions.

As far as filming goes, it's godawfully slow, with implied cliffhangers before every commercial and way too much recapping, to hide the lack of content. All the stars are probably interesting in their own rite, but are cheapened by the inauthenticity of the program.

Utterly flawed, if not entertaining for that very reason.

Have a little self-respect Discovery Channel.

Don't waste your time on this one. It even gets a lot worse after season 1. There's an interesting story behind season 1&2 and another behind season 3 but that's it. There are fake treasure hunting professionals involved as well.