Ten Steps to Disaster

We were excited to see a new series on Smithsonian Channel, in the same genre as Air Disasters. This series is not even close. While Air Disasters and other similar shows do a great job of sharing bona fide data and interviews with professional investigators (eg. NTSB), "Ten Steps to Disaster" is filled with finger pointing, leftist exaggerations and a dearth of verifiable/peer reviewed data. You know a show is in trouble when they use paint-brush slogans such as "everyone was terrified" and other unsupportable references. In particular, the episode on the Texas power grid failure seems more an angry rant filled with confirmation bias than a show worthy of the Smithsonian Institute's normally high ethical standards for true research. Save time, pass this one by.

Just wanted to counter the only other review I see here, referring specifically to the "Texas Blackout (Freeze)". Everything in this episode was factual, and there were no leanings, left or right, in the telling of the story. No "angry rant" detected. I attribute the opinion of the previous reviewer to the fact that right-wingers don't like it when the "mistakes" of right wing politicians are pointed out. "Mistakes" not really the right word. There were no "mistakes". The decisions of the Texas governor to ignore the problems with the grid were purposeful and financially motivated. People died.