Into the Unknown

Into the Unknown features a lot of fascinating stories and legends behind some of the most scenic and adventurous places you can travel to, and I think even people who aren't into the paranormal should enjoy going along on the journey, Cliff Simon is an outstanding host and I think the episodes are balanced and well-made.

This is not some stupid, uneducated show that fakes or hypes evidence. This show is as much about the folklore, as it is about one man's JOURNEY to discover the unknown. This is not, "Auf Bigfoots Spuren (2011)". I think this might have been better on, "The Science Channel," because it is a bit more high brow, and focuses more on educating the masses, instead of what the Travel Channel does, which is dumb them down (also has NOTHING to do with travel anymore). People who say it is "boring" or lacking, should go watch something like Die Monster-Jäger - Bestien auf der Spur (2013), it will be more their speed. Almost half of the show (like the old "Die Geister-Detektive (2008)" when Nick was still on) is about the history & folklore of a place. But people who don't understand or need the backstory, or more likely, can't sit still long enough to listen to it, won't like this. It's depressing to lose shows like this, with smart, adventurous people. I believe the host of this show died doing some kind of extreme sports. He was out living a real life, while the rest of us just sit and watch, with phones in our hands. We need more shows like this, and like Lost in the Wild (2019).

In this show, host Cliff Simon conducts superficial investigations into paranormal or odd activity occurring in wild places. In the first episode, he investigates the legend of the rougarou in Louisiana. The entire first half of the episode is spent talking to eyewitnesses or relatives of eyewitnesses of the beast, before boots finally hit the ground. Then a cursory search is conducted and you can guess what he finds. The second episode on Mt Shasta is better, but still feels like a mere scratching of the surface of the mystery. The "investigations" in this show are shallow and have no hope of finding anything interesting. That Travel Channel decided to debut this show at an 11pm ET timeslot tells you everything you need to know about "Into the Unknown".

Cliff is doing a great job but I wish he could stay a lot longer in these quest's to gather more information on the subjects and find solid evidence.

Sure, I'm interested in paranormal and all kind of mysteries. I had big expectations for this show, but it didn't live up to them.

The host is shown to be something like little arrogant wanna be superhero. That Cliff Simon I know is NOT like that. Or maybe I haven't seen that side of him before? I don't know if that was intended but that is the impression I get from the show.

Then the music that has put on the footage. No. It just annoying. Maybe it should create some tension or excitement, but the problem is that I don't know if the sounds I hear are coming from the "soundtrack" or do they belong to the actual footage. This makes the show look and feel phony. And editing is bad. They used same waterfall footage in two different episodes. In Brown Mountain lights and in the Night Marchers. Why? Come on, that's underestimating the viewers.

If this wasn't hosted by Cliff Simon I would have stopped watching after one episode. This is my honest opinion. Did not meant to be rude. Just constructive criticism.