How much do you think about your favorite beverage, be it a Bud or a steaming cup of tea?
FOX Nation reminds us there’s a rich history behind the beer, booze and pop we consume, more than enough to power a six-part TV series.
“A History of the World in Six Glasses,” based on the book of the same name by Tom Standage, lets five funny men give context to our drinks of choice.
The first episode focuses on beer, the so-called “Happy Accident.” The installment pairs Aykroyd with fellow “Saturday Night Live” alum Jim Belushi (a fellow Blues Brother) and “Cheers” favorite George Wendt.
Future episodes recruit fellow “SNL” stars (Jon Lovitz and Kevin Nealon) to toast beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and soda.
The breezy lessons touch on the first discoveries of beer along with the role Monks have played with the beverage over the centuries. Monty Python-like animation powers the lessons, along with a cavalcade of media clips aimed at maximum mirth.
Beer is a working man’s beverage, a blue-collar necessity that gives everyone a chance to relax and unwind. It’s a social elixir, of course, letting us reunite with old chums and flirt with new potential flames.
There’s nothing revelatory here, but the zippy style makes even basic decrees go down easily.
The more intriguing segment follows the early 20th-century Prohibition era and the clever ways some breweries adapted to survive. Ice cream floats kept some companies alive.
Our hosts come across as genial, even familiar. Surely their paths have crossed over the years, no? Akyroyd and Belushi have been touring as the Blues Brothers, with Jim replacing his late brother John, for years.
A forced sense of chumminess could have spoiled the fun, like leaving a beer out to get warm and flat. Instead, they’re comfortable in their skins and with each other.
They genuflect to Wendt in episode 1 given his “Cheers” lineage, and we even learn about the “beer” Norm drank over 11 seasons of the classic NBC sitcom.
Product placement is inevitable, with Guinness getting plenty of screen time.
FOX Nation viewers might expect the tales to swerve into political banter, but all you get in the first episode is a one-line swipe at first Big Government and, later, socialism. Short. Sweet. There’s little appetite here for political talking points.
After all, everyone can enjoy an ice-cold beer.
If you’re looking for a treatise on alcoholism, go elsewhere. Only once in the beer episode does someone mention the darker side of drinking.
This is an upbeat, tongue-in-cheek look at a beverage with serious historical chops.
Chops. Not hops.
FOX Nation’s “A History of the World in Six Glasses” debuts Jan. 8