Pals have by now begun texting him.
Some have not found Theo Wilson in several years. Some dwell across the nation and other folks also connect with Colorado household. To each and every of them, the encounter on Television appears to be like common, so they want to know.
Was that him on Heritage Channel in a professional concerning episodes of “Ancient Aliens” and “Swamp People”?
Of course, Wilson responds. It was him.
It is his deal with in the commercials promoting a new display, named “I Was There,” which counts ABC’s “Good Morning America” anchor George Stephanopoulos as executive producer and which aims to revisit historical gatherings, disasters and triumphs in a way that, as the title implies, destinations viewers there in the moment.
“We’re getting the largest turning details in historical past and dissecting the shed surprises of what transpired,” Wilson, the show’s host, states whilst hunting at the camera in the course of a promo. “You have to see it to feel it. Now, you will.”
In an job interview, the Denver-space native and resident shared another version of the show’s elevator pitch.
“It’s the historical gatherings you do know from an angle you never know,” he mentioned.
In the very first time, each individual of the 12 episodes will look back again on functions these as the Salem witch trials, Bloody Sunday and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The show will air two unique episodes on Sunday and Monday prior to the formal premiere Feb. 28. Potential episodes will air on Monday evenings.
The promo delivers a peek into the show’s exceptional format, featuring dramatically re-established scenes applying actors and CGI know-how. Then there is Wilson. He pops in serving the role of what he calls a “time-touring tour tutorial.”
As scenes unfold, Wilson can be observed standing in the theater as he narrates specifics about the gun John Wilkes Booth utilised to assassinate Lincoln or sitting down in the church pew conveying a minister’s sermon during the time of the Salem witch trials. These snippets are blended with documentary-fashion interviews with gurus and archival footage.
Other episodes will address the Hindenberg disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing and the story guiding outlaw robber Jesse James.
This will be the 1st Tv set gig for Wilson.
He landed the display just after landing a deal with an agent just after his 2017 TED Discuss titled “A Black Gentleman Goes Undercover in the Alt Right” went viral.
The agent preferred his voice and glance. Wilson has a background in using his voice as a founding member of a Denver slam poetry team that won the Countrywide Poetry Slam and as the recent govt director of Shop Speak Reside, an business that uses the barber shop as a setting for group dialogue.
Wilson’s track record also incorporates a link to record. He’s the grandson of a Tuskegee Airman and the son of an avid historian.
“Growing up in that, you master from osmosis,” he said. “You just take place to know things. So you are the child who raises his hand in history course.”
Wilson claims “I Was There” is not just about telling tales from the past. It’s also about what we can find out from how historical past repeats by itself.
A news launch for the exhibit poses two questions: “What would it necessarily mean to be transported to that period of time and stay by way of it? What will we convey to foreseeable future generations about what we lived through when they say I ponder what it was like to…?”
Wilson hopes viewers retain those two queries in head as they observe.
“I hope individuals consider curiosity from it,” he mentioned. “When you are chatting about record, you hope men and women get a clearer lens to watch the existing.”