A lot depends here on whether this programme is to be evaluated as a piece of televisual art - let's say - or as a milestone representing something entirely new in our experience of issue presentation over decades and decades.
As a TV programme, we have to say that "Unidentified" visibly and at times near-embarrassingly expands a very small amount of information into its full episodes. That means a considerable degree of repetition, and a certain lack of artistry.
Our chief protagonists are a surprisingly Lou Costello-like Luis Elizondo, whose earnestness at times seems to verge on the nervous. He gets plenty of airtime, but mostly comes across as uptight if well-meaning. This is then in marked contrast with Christopher Mellon, who seems more relaxed and comfortable in his own skin, but also willing to act, and determined to understand - and be concerned about - what might be going on.
And so to the actual story, which connects with the apparent admission by the United States Navy that UFOs - or UAPs - actually exist. Frankly, this is where things get really weird. While various official people might conceivably have referred to this kind of thing back in the '40s, say, it would be reasonable to suggest that any of us interested in this issue (even as sceptics) have been waiting for DECADES to hear some even minimal confirmation that UFOs are real phenomena. And probably never expected to get any - for whatever reason. Surprising then - to the point of stopping one in one's tracks with one's mouth open - that when this finally comes along after all these years, as it did around September 18th 2019, it does not make front page news (though does feature on the pages of serious papers, as well as on mainstream TV networks).
Interestingly, "Unidentified" was first shown in May 2019, so the above "official" response in some way followed on from it, and served as a response.
Somehow that is all as anomalous as the phenomena themselves - apparently revolving around craft equally capable in water and in the air that accelerate instantaneously to high speed, but can also sit motionless when they so wish, and appear to generate no heat as they do this, and also defy typical laws of aeronautics regarding lift, acceleration and rotation in the air.
This is GIGANTIC stuff, and yet all seems a little underhwelming, possibly because all concerned are as determined as possible to avoid stigma, to NOT suggest that aliens are involved, and to imply that these craft could conceivably be the work of America's enemies, or even some secret home-grown programme.
Both Elizondo and Mellon purport to be rebel outsiders trying to make an impact on government and the military, but in truth they are highly unlikely candidates for this role, as the former headed up AATIP - the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, while Mellon - one of THE (rich and famous and influential) Mellons is a Washington man through and through, who was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Pentagon.
All of that actually makes things FAR MORE interesting from the point of view of the discerning viewer, as that basically means that the military (or at least large parts thereof) now WANTS this to come out, even though they have apparently done their best to avoid investigation hitherto. Indeed, the sharp-witted will also identify flawed logic in the main approach of the programme, which apparently sees Elizondo try his hardest to get military personnel who witnessed things at first hand to go on the record. Given that both he and Mellon did work that saw them acting as collators and recipients and evaluators of intelligence from a vast range of sources (including of the above kind), their interest in "the sharp end" looks feigned and must actually be so. Perhaps they want these people to speak for the benefit of the viewer (it's a reasonable suggestion), but the latter may still end up feeling that the tail is wagging the dog here.
Elizondo occasionally strays away from this format, as on his visit to Catalina Island and then - with one of the credible witnesses - to the great white shark habitat of Guadalupe Island off the coast of Baja. This spectacular island is claimed to be the site of certain magnetic anomalies, and Elizondo finds pilots, fishermen and marine biologists only too willing to report strange sightings. It's reasonably compelling.
Fearers of the military-industrial complex idea might well feel here a perfect new excuse for the USA to raise its military spending further - and indeed more innocently than at times, since there need not be too much collateral damage in addressing the threat referred to here. On the other hand, that by no means suggests that the phenomenon involved is fake news; and indeed the whole issue here is that a real matter of importance does seem to be being referred to.
Does this then pave the wave for more official announcements from the US administration? I would not be entirely surprised. The whole delicate-ish tone of the programme suggests that we might be being prepared gently for something - an utterly amazing and fascinating prospect. Ironically, the History Channel (seemingly having so little to do with actual history) runs "Ancient Aliens" simultaneously with "Unidentified", and much - though perhaps not quite all - of the content in that series seems overstretched and largely unscientific. There seems to be little overlap between the shows, but not quite zero - most especially when we come to Antarctic-related, Admiral Byrd-type issues, and the (here tangential) presence of Linda Moulton Howe (a Stanford-educated Emmy-winning journalist and environmental campaigner, it should be recalled).
Might there not be some mileage for somebody to have a situation in which people remember that "Unidentified" is from the same "stable" (as it were) as "Ancient Aliens". That plays things down quite nicely, does it not? Notwithstanding the far-different approaches taken (with "Unidentified" trying quite hard not to overblow its claims).
For those of us scientifically-trained, who spend a lot of our lives checking if anything at all is anomalous in any way, "Unidentified" offers a dual feast of that, given the anomalies relating to both the subject matter and the means of presentation/disclosure. Somehow something is "going on" here, and that surely ought to make "Unidentified" required viewing, of limited artistic merit as it may still look.
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