Chasing Mummies (History)

This entertaining educational series focuses on two things: ancient Egypt and the outsized, bombastic personality that is Dr. Hawass. He clearly loves his work, but he has no patience for fools, incompetence, or people who have the misfortune to be around when there’s any kind of accident. He frequently loses his temper, and his wrath is a force of nature to behold. He can quickly shift gears from kindly professor discussing the important attributes of some priceless antiquity to outraged boss berating an unfortunate colleague. It’s not always fun to watch, and while Hawass certainly has made many contributions to the field, it’s not clear that his work entitles him to behave like this.

It may come as a surprise to some people that there are still people finding and excavating new tombs in Egypt, and the sequences filmed underground are fascinating. There's still much to be learned from these sites, which sometimes look like a scene out of Indiana Jones; Hawass even has the appropriate hat.