Parents' Guide to

I Was There

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Creative history docuseries has disturbing imagery.

TV History Educational 2022
I Was There Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

I WAS THERE is a documentary series that puts audiences at the center of some of history's most impactful moments. With the help of reenactments and CGI, host Theo Wilson is able to travel back in time to watch key historical events as they are taking place. With the help of archive footage and interviews with present-day historians, each occurrence is put into a broader context, and the significant political, economic, scientific, and cultural details that contributed to what ultimately transpired are highlighted. From the 1937 Hindenburg Disaster to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, it reveals details about what led up to these moments, who the key players were, and some of the lessons learned after the fact.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

The interesting, albeit harrowing series contextualizes roughly 21-minute critical deconstructions of momentous historical events by introducing them as a present-day time travel expeditions. In addition to offering background information, Theo Wilson points out key people and incidents that created the circumstances that eventually led to these disasters by visually "immersing" himself into these digitally reconstructed spaces. These recreations also offer some visual references that help describe what it may have been like to be there while these events were unfolding, and makes each narrative a little bit more entertaining. But many of the reenactments, some of which are combined with real archive footage, are not always easy to watch. Nonetheless, for history buffs, I Was There offers some brief but surprisingly detailed historical interpretations that you can learn something from.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the way we think about history. Why do different people have different accounts of the same historical events? How do we know who's right and who's wrong about what happened? What's more important, the historical events themselves, or what we learn from them?

  • Why were the historical events discussed in I Was There chosen for the series? What makes them significant? Are there other major historic events that you think should be included in the show?

TV Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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