# I love "How It's Made" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993 "2010-02-07T03:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/21 "2010-02-09T04:56:05Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I love that show, but it always irritates me when the narration is badly out of sync with the action on the screen. One of the worst examples of this is the episode where they show the factory that makes player piano rolls. The worst part about the narration is the grating voice of the woman who does it. Ruins the whole show for me. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/22 "2010-02-09T05:38:47Z")
Woman? The version that airs on the Science channel has two male narrators – they apparently switched to a different narrator at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/23 "2010-02-09T14:47:32Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I love that stuff too and especially the show. It really bothers me when I have no idea how something is done no matter how mundane. I recently started work as the only IT analyst in a large pharmaceutical plant owned by one of the largest and most famous companies in the industry. I do white collar work that is heavily influenced by really skilled blue collar workers in an industrial setting. They make replacement body parts there for people needing things like hip replacements custom fitted. I have a large office but everyone that needs to walk around the shop floor including the executives has to have on steel toed boots or shoes and sometimes safety glasses and a hard-hat. > > I love seeing how they make that stuff and ship it out to patients needing body part replacements sometimes as soon as the next day. It is really stressful though knowing what is at stake. Systems fail every day and I have to get them back up or someone somewhere laying in a hospital bed isn’t going to get what they need. > > I used to work in a similar but slightly less critical role in the supermarket industry. Most people don’t even think about supply chains and how the food gets to their table but it is complex and requires lots of brainpower from people in many different roles. I have tried to explain it to people in the simplest terms possible but their eyes tend to glaze over when I get 1/4 of the way through it and I am not a boring person. > > I have learned that the things that make the world go round are really, really complicated when you start to look at the systems as a whole that make it happen. Hey thanks, I just got my new knee 3 weeks ago and I already feel like I’ve been set free. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/24 "2010-02-09T16:39:57Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Woman? The version that airs on the Science channel has two male narrators – they apparently switched to a different narrator at some point. If it’s the same show that I see on the Discovery channel they’ve gone through many different narrators throughout the years. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/25 "2010-02-09T16:50:33Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > … when they talked about how a Rolls Royce takes at least two weeks to hand build … That was a cool episode; the two guys welding in unison, the choosing and cutting of the leather, the attention to detail and perfect mirroring of the wood grain, etc. Love the show, especially when it’s paired next to Dirty Jobs. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/26 "2010-02-09T16:53:19Z")
I’ve watched the show a few times; I find the topic interesting, but the pacing and narration are _sooooo_ slow, it drives me crazy. It’s like a sleep aid for engineers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/27 "2010-02-09T18:07:29Z")
The woman tends to be the narrator on youtube, but the male narrators are on tv for the same segments. I thought they were ending this show in favor of Factory Made. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/28 "2010-02-09T18:07:57Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > They should really consider extending the time for some clips or at least making extended versions available on the website. Actually, they sometimes have 2 segments for a given subject such as coffee or sugar or tubas, or watches - here is an [episode guide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_How_It's_Made_episodes) which indicates Series 14 has at least 4 2-parters. Now, the episodes where they assemble large vehicles (such as front loaders, or personal jets, or the aforementioned Rolls Royces) I think the vast amount of actual assembly consists of repetive actions, so they just show highlights and expect the viewer to be smart enough to fill in the rest (it is a Canadian show, you know). OTOH, they had some segments where they kinda ran out of topic in the first minute (screwdrivers? or packaging? anyway, it was fairly simple) so they spliced on another simple manufacture process to fill up the time. Even better, at least in the earlier series, they often followed thru over segments - like when they showed Leather Shoes in one segment - where did the leather come from? why, they covered that in an segment in an earlier series. Anyway you can follow the show’s history in the [wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_It%27s_Made), but the US release version has had 2 sleepy-voiced monotonic announces, Brooks Moore (most of the series except for 2 series - the ones w/ the Fish Hook/Rubber Ball/Artifical Leg opening, which was voiced by the equally monotonic Zac Fine). What’s always amusing is listening to Brooks trip over himself trying to avoid saying metric units (although in the last few series they seem to give Brooks leave to say centimeter and liter from time to time). The shows released in Canada used Female narrators, the latest being Lynn Adams - those shows pretty much use standard metric measures thru-out, except when covering small craftsmen shops in New England or the like. BTW, Series 12-ep 13 ‘Motorcycle engines’ had a surprizing rocking background song (mellowed down in a later segment), although I kind of like most of the synthesized background music they use. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/29 "2010-02-09T18:08:11Z")
How cool. I just learned how cheese is made. I feel educated! ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/30 "2010-02-09T19:56:06Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > How cool. I just learned how cheese is made. I feel educated! That’s “edumacated” to you Rushgeekgirl! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/31 "2010-02-09T20:12:22Z")
A similar show, that often gets into more detail, is _Factory Floor_ with Marshall Brain on National Geographic channel. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/32 "2010-02-09T21:14:00Z")
I especially like the guide info on Comcast. Example: Episode 10: “Pencils, Waffles, Walnuts, Stickers.” Description: Pencils, waffles, walnuts, stickers. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/33 "2010-02-09T21:39:20Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > The shows released in Canada used Female narrators, the latest being Lynn Adams - No love for [Mark Tewksbury](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2347121/)? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/34 "2010-02-10T02:32:53Z")
The worst part of the show are the STUPID puns they feel they have to get in at the start of each segment. But I do love the show. I have a series recording set up, and watch every one of them. It helps that my day job is building software for factory automation - it’s nice to see the stuff actually get used. They’ve even shown a factory or two that runs on some of the software my office has produced. So that’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/35 "2010-02-10T02:58:01Z")
Perhaps Factory Made will do all those “metal goes in this hole and comes out of this hole as a thingamigger that’s mounted on the whosits with this here machine” type segments and How It’s Made will feature more things like handmade candles, sneakers, instruments-- things we can actually see made. This is the opinion of a non-engineer girl and should be taken viewed as such. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/36 "2010-02-10T14:03:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It helps that my day job is building software for factory automation - it’s nice to see the stuff actually get used. They’ve even shown a factory or two that runs on some of the software my office has produced. So that’s cool. That is cool. At a kiddo B-day party I was talking with another dad that designs systems to process (separate) recyclable materials along a conveyor. It took advantage of the physical properties of each, using magnetism, bursts of wind, fricton, etc to isolate each to its respective bin. It was fascinating to hear about really, which I guess begs the question - Would a _How It’s Recycled_ spot fare well too? I’d be a gamer for one episode. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/37 "2010-02-10T14:45:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It helps that my day job is building software for factory automation Can you give us a hint? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993/38 "2010-02-10T15:08:37Z")
Some of the puns are pretty good. A little geeky humor never hurt anyone. It’s a great show, but I find so often that I’ve already seen the episode. Were there not that many made? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-how-its-made/527993.md?page=1)