Lost Cities with Albert Lin

I honestly wanted to like this show. The host has absolutely no charisma, and what he does with the technology is inconsequential for the seemingly inauthentic reactions he gives.

This series has so much potential. But it's all about Albert Lin. In the episode I watched there were so many shots of his face. And even his shirtless torso. Why was it necessary to waste 5 minutes of the episode watching him surf? Everything is so contrived. And his reactions fake.

But the worst part was Lin's time on the research vessel in the Black Sea. They were trying to make it seem like he was part of the team, but he was obviously just in the way. He kept saying WE'RE looking for or WE found... who is we??? You have absolutely nothing to do with this expedition. These are not your discoveries. You have done absolutely nothing but show your face on camera. It angered me. You made this archeologist's life of research all about you. It's incredibly vain.

I was surprised to find out this was produced under the National Geographic banner. Its that bad.

Lost Cities with Albert Lin doesn't incorporate much science or history. I don't know how he became the host of this series. He doesn't seem to have the background needed for a show like this - and neither do the writers. He likes trying to say dramatic things though. And he fails.

Albert Lin looks at a map and makes a ton of assumptions about what happened there - hundreds, thousands of years ago. He goes off a desert path, up a rocky hill, and is SURPRISED to find rocks and thorns. Yeah - he really does seem like an "indoor" type of guy. Worst - the science is lacking. Like when they find a skull in a "cave" on the side of a hill, its declared - with no investigation or evidence - that the skull predates the Incas. I guess its possible, but the trouble is - the area has been occupied by humans for thousands of years. How do they KNOW that the skull is that old?

The entire show operates like one of the Ghost Hunters. See an image on a screen. Go to that location. Make a bunch of assumptions. Pretend to be in awe.

This show unfortunately is more entertainment than real archeology. I had high hopes when I read that he would be using Lidar but its been more hype than substance. Lin definitely likes his tech toys but I'm often not sure what real benefit some of them bring. The first episode he must have used the word "treasure" over twenty times. As a history buff I'd be far more excited by scrolls than gold. Still it's worth a watch and in truth no worse than most so called archeology shows today. Just don't expect any in depth searching. Other than the Lidar they never dig a site.

It could be a 7 star show but the host is very difficult to like, you see him more walking, jumping than anything else. Constantly over reacting, fake astonishment or disgust. Come on the show is not about you. For a 10 star show, producers need to put more emphasis on science, scientists, history or archeology. BBC is so much better.