I recently heard about a History Channel show called How the Earth Was Made. The series focuses on the geological histories of interesting topographical features (Hawaii, Loch Ness, etc.) Geology is a wonderful science and I was excited it had finally gotten a TV show.
Silly me.
The series is absurdly sloppy. The narration is frequently misleading (thanks to omissions, over-simplifications, or ill-advised transitions) and occasionally completely wrong. Unfortunately sensationalism is to be expected these days, so when figures are quoted, they'll probably be the most extreme. I understand. Snowball Earth is better for ratings than Slushball Earth. Fine. But that is no excuse to confuse centimeters with inches, or pliosaurs with dinosaurs (especially when the creature in question is actually a plesiosaur!). Come on!
I suppose it is possible every History Channel show is like this and I just never noticed; I am much more familiar with geology and paleontology than, say, World War II. Hmmm…