User reviews

First a quick review. This documentary takes on a great topic, then beats the hell out of it. The threat of a pandemic is real and seeing what is being done to help prevent it is interesting and educating. The people who work hard to help prevent widespread disease outbreaks are often motivated altruistically and use science as a main tool. You get to see a lot of this in the show, Which is good, but it tends to be redundant . You also get to see a lot of things you may not be expecting such as personal lives, descriptions of religious beliefs, extracurricular activities, etc. This may not be such a bad thing, but it is done to an extent that leaves the movie jumping between important scientific endeavor within the context of public health, and somewhat disjointed and rather uninteresting topics outside the realm of what the movie claims to be. A "6" is an honest ranking that doesn't pump it up, and doesn't push it too undeservedly low. Next, comments on the widely varying reviews. Because this movie/series Decides to touch on topics and ideas that are outside the realm of public health and safety, many reviewers seem to feel a need to criticize it for going against, or supporting certain political, religious, or other believes. Giving this show a 1/10 or a 10/10 rating is absolutely silly. It seems that anti-vaxers can't stand it because it goes directly against their "beliefs" regardless of reality and science. People giving it a 10 seem to be doing so simply because they don't like that some people gave it a low ranking. If you like good documentaries you'll probably feel it's ok, not great. if you are in public health or science in general, you may like it even more. If you're politically sensitive or anti-vaxer, you probably won't like it.

I'm usually pretty generous with my ratings (not to the extreme, but I'll lean one star to the right when in doubt), but this just seemed way off to me. And, yes I watched the whole season. There was virtually very little to zero science. It was mostly a reality show following healthcare providers and researchers. The healthcare providers were just very generic (a doc in a rural community, one in a sort of refugee detainment center, etc.). Some of this was loosely tied to how hard it is to get flu vaccines in and funding in rural communities, but very loosely. If anything it started to feel more politically tied than flu/outbreak/pandemic related.

The real issue is after watching that entire season, I don't feel like I know that much more about the flu itself. What's being done to create vaccines? Other than one makeshift crew in San Fransisco we know nothing. How exactly does it mutate? Wasn't discussed that I heard. What makes one emergent strain more likely to spread than another? What do the "H" and the "N" along with the corresponding number mean when a virus is labeled? I really don't know.

Maybe if a reality show following people who work around the flu or work in prevention is what you're expecting you won't be disappointed. But I really was expecting more of a scientific documentary. And, to be honest, I wouldn't have minded the following of their stories if I'd felt I learned more about the flu and how to prevent an outbreak.

Too much focus on irrelevant things and personal lives. A bit of context is ok but so many boring details without purpose have ruined this series. Better editing would have done wonders to keep it interesting and engaging.

A good show to watch to make people aware of a situation that can turn into a reality, this show, highlights and shows all of our past mistakes and also make sure to show how to tackle these issues and how to stay cool calm and collected under bad circumstances. This is not acting and this is not made up, this show, are showing us the real and cold world, how people are living. how people are working, dying and much much more. They really highlight the real heroes in our world, and show us how much people are actually working for our greater good. A really good choice to release this show right now because of what situation the world is in right now, this show is eye opening and made me and will probably make others realize aswell how easy it is for us to get ourselfs into such a situation. Make sure to stay quarantined guys!!

This has little to do with science or the flu. It's just a bunch of mini stories about people who work in the industry. This is cringe level stuff: the 45 year old guy who wears leather jackets and rides a skateboard. The young female scientist with a nose ring who seemingly knows nothing. The Indian woman who says she is working on 30 projects at once but pretends to feed her children each meal and read them bedtime stories after playing building games with them. If these are the people on the front lines, we're in deep trouble.

These stories told in various places in the world could easily have been told in chapters on each individual reason and story from that region and the individuals on the front lines (as this series claims). Instead, each of 6 chapters is fragmented, trying to tell 4 or 5 stories at the same time. Worthwhile but will practically make feel like you have ADHD trying to watch because you have to switch mental gears every 10 minutes or so. I don't mean that as a joke about ADHD, but it's like trying to focus on a strobe light.

This series started interesting. But the constant juxtaposition of religion and the science was distracting and bothersome. We started fast forwarding those segment which become more and more numérous. It ended up hindering our appreciation of series.

So It's very interesting, science of the diseases, how pros work in the field, how researchers work... But they pack so much unrelated stuff there! Like there's lots and lots of talks about god, religion, lots of happy family time of every main character there, the actual pandemic related info is only like 10% of the series.

I want to watch it, because I want to learn more about pandemic in a video format, but they stuff it with so much filler, that I'm not sure I can continue..

This is a documentary about how different organizations are trying to prevent an Influenza outbreak. I agree that there is a lot about politics but that's because this documentary is trying to illustrate just how much power that politics and/or can have on the global medical platform.

There are no frills or fanciful embellishments. This is not a documentary about the survivors' guide to a virus pandemic; it is a documentary that deals with the real work that these incredible people are doing to keep the world healthy. It shows the dedication and sacrifices that doctors, nurses, politicians, scientists, emergency aid workers and volunteers are making to save even just one person. I think it's a pretty awesome documentary; I have learnt a lot through it and that's the main reason for documentaries. 8/10

As I started to watch this series I was so excited to see what people do to prevent an outbreak. The time they actually talk about pandemics and all the work they are doing was really informative and interesting to watch. And I appreciate it raises awareness of vaccination and public health issues. But whenever they add their personal life and religious beliefs, it was so irrelevant and off topic. Rather than these kind of conversations, they would explain us some scientific details and different studies that are done on the field. It could have been better, but still worth a watch.

It seems like a mix of advertisement, religion and politics done as a reality show. The doctor's daughter doesn't believe in god while the mother does, is completely irrelevant.

It does actually talk to some extent about how they try to predict outbreaks, how they do research, how it affects patients. But there seems to be an equal amount of useless stuff.

I am stunned by the so many bad reviewers and the rating it received (at the time of writing it had a rating of 5.9*).

I do not know what these people were expecting but this docuserie tells the story of people working on the front line to prevent any pandemic and keep our world safe.

Why you basher cannot even appreciate or value this docuserie on face value? Quiting after a few episodes and than rating it low telling everybody it is bad eventhough you bashers havent seen it all.

Please, give it a shot as it gives you a good inside view of the working life of all those people working to keep our world safe of a pandemic.

I watched this series to learn more about pandemics, but they spend an inordinate amount of time showing health care professionals at home with their kids, illustrating their daily routine. I don't know how this tells the story of a pandemic. Perhaps the thinking was that it humanizes the doctors and shows viewers that doctors are real people with families too. I don't really care and just skipped through the filler material. Although there is some good information in the series, it's spread out among all of this B roll footage. If I were the editor of this series, I'd cut about 60% of it out and just focus on the most relevant information, which is about pandemics, not doctor's feeding their kids breakfast while they get ready for work.

This could have been a great way to inform the world about the dangers of influenza, but there are too much focus on their private lives, which is useless and boring.. It feels like they are using the documentary to brag about themselves..

This docuseries has been released the same week the Wuhan virus has become pronounced in China. Time will tell if this becomes a true threat.

The focus of the series is really the front line workers in the field of investigating, researching, and treatment of deadly pathogens. What strikes me is the commitment and strength shown by those involved around the world. We are under threat in a race against time and education is the key. Vaccinate yourself and your family and treat everyone around you with respect.

Also I've read a lot of the other posted reviews. Watch for yourself and don't give in to other's sense of disgust of all things scientific.

Even though there were some very good information given the series was too long and drawn out to be really interesting. I watched for the science but received more insight into people's personal lives and their religious beliefs than I cared for. I honestly can't believe I managed to finish the series because it is truly boring.

Why the focus on the flu? Because in the modern age this is the most dangerous pathogen capable of rapidly spreading across the globe in a matter of weeks, possibly infecting and killing millions. And because it constantly mutates, there is no universal vaccine to stop it. These facts alone should concern anyone.

What's educational about this series is that I did not know the how much of it is zoonotic - e.g. capable of spreading from animal to animal including humans. The current 2019-nCoV that started at a wild meat market in Wuhan is only an example of what's possible with the flu. And that should scare everyone.

At first I was engrossed in the stories of these people on the front line, fighting the good fight. Then I started to realize how little of it was focused on the facts and science, which they purportedly champion. I also noticed that a few of the characters were highlighted for their "faith", despite being men and women of science and medicine. Then as episodes progressed, more and more of our "heroes" were ALSO highlighted for their faith. Is the point of this series to educate the public on the science of Influenza and ebola and the human and political challenges we face, or to note how doctors and scientists can still be people of faith? If it's the second thing, that's not a show I'm interested in watching. I mean, they even showed the daughter of one of the main doctor characters jokingly say, "I know, mom. I don't believe in God so I'm going to hell..." And the mother goes, "Well..." Why show that?! That's horrible! Now I have a great dislike for your supposed "hero" of the piece, even though she's doing good work, truly. It was also straight up depressing to watch the loony anti-vaxers talk. Yeesh. This show was angering and frustrating to watch. I admit I didn't finish the last episode. The show doesn't know what it wants to be. I feel tricked. "How To Prevent An Outbreak" Really?!?!

Such and important issue, and such a long and repetitive doc, this should be a movie format documentary, not 6 chapters, it is incredible tedious...

Its a shame, I think instead of raise awareness it lowers it as people may feel they seen enough, at least for some weeks.

Very disappointed, felt like a waste of time

All of these people saying this is "politically charged" and "propoganda" have no clue what they're talking about. Yes we have better technologies now, but not everyone everywhere has access to those, and what happens when our systems become overwhelmed? We are so lucky to have access to these things here in America and I think people tend to take that for granted. My mother retired from CDC as a microbiologist working in AIDS research for thirty years. She worked there my entire life and I grew up seeing everything from this side of the fence. They sent her all over the world and see saw these things first hand. It's just simply the reality of everything.

A nice concept that could be very interesting. But halve way into episode 2 I just quit because it's filled to the brim with stuff unrelated to any pandemic. I don't care about the complete documentation of the personal lives of every doctor or person in the docu. This could have fitted in 1,5 hours if they leave out all the nonsense, I don't have time for this!

This documentary was extremely well done, giving a glimpse into the lives of people who are on the frontlines of keeping the world safe from global pandemic. The negative reviews were confusing to me - I think some were expecting an over dramatic doomsday film (hint... it's a science based documentary - not Hollywood) and the rest were anti-vaxxers insulted by facts. Anyone who thinks an educated, well vaccinated community has no connection to the prevention of pandemics does not get it and looks as nutty as the folks burning down WHO buildings in Congo. The unvaccinated were given a platform in this film as well as the pro vaxxers. They were each able to state their case in a fair manner and they certainly did not make the placenta eating anti-vax earth Mama look bad - she was able to say what she felt just as the Oregon senator was. This documentary was real, raw and hopeful, giving a look into the science behind a universal flu vaccine. I really enjoyed following the scientists in their studies in Guatemala. It was interesting and felt very real and not sensational.

It's watchable and it has some interest for me but I wouldn't say it's a gripping Award-winning documentary not by a long shot and it's slow and it goes over the same old ground again and again the series doesn't progress as it goes I'm totally disappointed because I had very high expectations with such a great title And YES I've seen much better docs on viruses on YouTube

You read the the title of the series and think "uuuh just my kind of documentary", but the sad truth is that you will get overwhelmingly disappointed. All you get are a few life stories of Indian doctors and researchers, but no real information about the pandemic phenomenon, no infographics or animations - no nothing. Really uninspiring and a waste of a great concept.

If I had watched when it first came out 2 months ago, I might not have watched the entire first episode. However, now it is the middle of March immediately after the President declared a National Health Emergency, and I watched the story lines being laid down in the first episode with great interest. These are not actors, they are real people. This is real life. This is about what has happened and what may be about to happen to each of us personally. What a great docuseries! I will probably binge watch this weekend...