| UFO Hunters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Directed by | Jon Alon Walz |
| Starring |
|
| Narrated by | James Lurie (season 1 & 2) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (list of episodes) Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox television with "list_episodes" parameter using self-link. See Infobox instructions and MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE. |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jon Alon Walz |
| Editor | Jeff Tober |
| Camera setup | Multiple |
| Running time | 42 minutes |
| Production companies | Motion Picture Production, Inc. |
| Original release | |
| Network | History |
| Release | January 30, 2008 – October 29, 2009 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
UFO Hunters is an American television series that premiered on January 30, 2008, on The History Channel, produced by Motion Picture Production Inc., and ran for three seasons. Jon Alon Walz was the executive producer of the show and was responsible for selling the series to History Channel after a bidding war for the rights to the show broke out between History Channel and Sci-Fi Channel.
Prior to selling UFO Hunters to History Channel, Walz and Motion Picture Production Inc., created and executive produced several hit UFO and paranormal specials for History, including "Russian Roswell", "Deep Sea UFOs", and "The Pacific's Bermuda Triangle". William J. Birnes was the star and co-creator of the UFO Hunters series.
The concept for the show was tested in a segment of History Channel's 2006 UFO special entitled "Deep Sea UFOs", produced by Motion Picture Production Inc, which featured two of the final four cast members. UFO Hunters was not a direct spin-off from a 2005 History Channel special with the same title, but they did use images from the 2005 special to promote the premiere of the new series. The tagline of the show is: "Hoax or History?" The series should not be confused with a similarly themed and titled UFO Hunters, a special that debuted the same day and time on the Sci-Fi Channel, (now SyFy), and created by the producers of Ghost Hunters, but which only aired one episode.
The series was one of the first fully HD-produced, 16x9 format, reality series on cable. In the US, History Channel only released the first two seasons on DVD in the correct airdate order. However, the format was only released in full screen (1:33:1) instead of wide screen. In the UK, History Channel released the third and final season on DVD, but the episodes were released in the incorrect airdate order.[1] In a 2011 interview with podcaster Jim Harold, William J. Birnes claimed that after the Dulce Base episode aired, the show was canceled by top level executives at History Channel.[2]
- ^ "History and Sci Fi channels to debut dueling 'UFO Hunters' on Feb 6". Reality TV World.
- ^ UFO Hunter Bill Birnes Paranormal Podcast, jimharold.com; accessed February 26, 2014.