In early June, after much hype, including from Tucker Carlson, the U.S. government finally made public a comprehensive report on Unidentified Flying Objects. And the results were truly shocking: It found there was no concrete evidence that any UFOs — like the one that scared the bejesus out of some Navy pilots, who recently spoke with 60 Minutes — were flown by outer space visitors. Sorry, everybody.
Of course, that doesn’t mean aliens haven’t been hanging in our orbit. And with perfect timing, J.J. Abrams, courtesy his company Bad Robot, is bringing a four-part documentary series about UFOs to Showtime. It’s called, simply, UFO, and as per a press release, the show, which will drop in its entirety on Aug. 8, will examine “the history of the phenomenon through cultural and political touchpoints, including shocking testimony from eyewitnesses across the country.”
It will also look at “our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena to further their own agendas.”
On its face, this doesn’t sound like your run-of-the-mill UFO show, and not the kind of fodder that would run on The History Channel and feature mostly crackpots. It sounds like it’s taking a more clinical approach, seeing why people continue to believe in something for which there’s no hard proof, even if, in some instances, there’s also no clear explanation of what on earth people witnessed.
Then again, Abrams does love to make movies and shows about aliens, doesn’t he? Sometimes the E.T.s are belligerent (the Cloverfield saga), sometimes they’re kindly (Super 8). So maybe he’ll go full Fox Mulder and tell us they’ve always been with us.
UFO will premiere on Showtime on Aug. 8.