Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A History Of The World In Six Glasses’ On Fox Nation, Where Dan Aykroyd Serves Up A Bubbly Tribute To Drinking

Based on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name, this new Fox Nation series features six episodes hosted by Dan Aykroyd behind the bar as he serves up drinks and history lessons to a rotating selection of guests among Jim Belushi, George Wendt, Jon Lovitz, and Kevin Nealon. How did beer, wine, coffee, tea, soda, and spirits change the world? First up: Beer. Cheers?!

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN SIX GLASSES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A drone shot of Los Angeles zooms in on Molly Malone’s Irish Pub, where inside, we see Aykroyd already behind the bar, telling George Wendt and Jim Belushi: “It took me about 30-plus years to figure out the acting thing was not really going to work out for me, so, here I am. This is my new station in life.”

The Gist: The credits tell us Belushi is Aykroyd’s official co-host, and before we’re off to the races, drinking-wise or historically speaking, we visit with author Tom Standage, who wrote the book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, who explains he wrote it because he saw a connection between how technology changed history and how societal drinking changed history, and how beverages developed via tech.

We learn about a beer theory of civilization, which more or less posits that humans accidentally discovered beer while storing and mixing grains, and that that discovery caused us to stop moving nomadically around the world to settle down in one place so we could make and drink beer. The earliest beers were supposedly lower in alcohol content but richer in actual grains and nutrition, so it provided real sustenance.

With Wendt sitting at the bar, there are multiple references to his beer-drinking “Norm” character on Cheers. We see footage of Norm entering the TV bar with quips and Wendt explaining that the bit worked too well so they were stuck with it in each episode. We learn he never drank real beer on the show but rather, poured-out cans of Kingsbury, warm with a pinch of salt to give it a foamy head.

Aykroyd and Belushi share their first memories of drinking beer: Aykroyd claimed his mom slipped him thimbles of suds to put him to sleep as a toddler, while Belushi says in the eighth grade he and his buddies paid a guy to acquire bottles of Colt 45 for them.

After learning about the trappist monastic tradition of brewing, they try some Chimay ale from Belgium.

Belushi stages a prank on Aykroyd and Wendt by having them guess the difference between beer from a bottle or a can while blindfolded, without ever switching out the mugs.

Aykroyd later demonstrates how to pour a proper pint of Guinness, and in another segment, brings out a Guinness machine that draws their portraits in the foam.

As for the history of beer, it jumps from Egypt to European monks to the Mayflower to Yuengling brewing to prohibition to microbreweries. We learn most of this through voiceovers, quick quotes from historians and spokespeople for brewing companies, and stock footage. Oh, there’s also a running beer tally graphic that appears onscreen every time Aykroyd pours a new brew.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: This show comes out of a long line of historical tributes to food and drink.

Our Take: Perhaps all of the Cheers content in this first episode is predictable and forgivable knowing that this series is written and directed by Rob Long, who joined the classic NBC sitcom as a writer and EP for the last few seasons. Long, who hosts the “Martini Shot” podcast for entertainment industry site, The Ankler, also is no stranger to Fox Nation viewers as he’s often seen as a talking head on Fox News shows such as Gutfeld!

So while there’s plenty (and perhaps too much made) of Wendt’s past as “Norm,” the series hinges more on you wanting to rely on Aykroyd as a mix of Ted Danson’s Sam Malone and John Ratzenberger’s Cliff Clavin, serving up drinks while getting into the weeds with trivial facts about them. Anyhow, the series is less actual history of why these drinks altered the course of civiization and more simply an appreciation of them as beverages. At least in the case of beer.

There’s only one overtly brief mention of political philosophy, when Akyroyd says:“Once something emerges that’s useful and fun, the government gets involved. And pretty soon beer was taxed, and beer bureaucrats popped up. Like everything fun, beer got regulated.” Except for Sumer, where he says the society provided beer rations for every citizen. “It was like socialism run by a college fraternity.” 

Although the weirder political message is more subtly and broadly American. At one point, Aykroyd makes fun of the Belgian representative for Chimay for his accent, saying his accent is not a bit. There’s also no mention in the beer episode about Oktoberfest, the world’s largest annual celebration of the beverage in Germany, but instead we get to hear a craft brewer talk about his industry as an example of American exceptionalism? Um, ok.

And yet the most prominently displayed beers outside of the Guinness segments are Miller Lite and Miller High Life.

This show features record scratch freeze-frame moments, and I wanted to use them on that.

Sex And Skin: Nope.

Parting Shot: Aykroyd, Belushi and Wendt each holding a differently-branded bottle of beer, as the beer tally clicks to 10, toasting in multiple languages, ended with what else but “Cheers!”

Sleeper Star: This series wouldn’t have happened without author Tom Standage, and in separate interview clips, he not only carries most of the heavy explanatory lifting, but also manages to nab some spotlight for himself, such as in the opening episode, where he claims he initially hated the taste of beer, until about 16 or 17, when he tasted it again on a hot day: “Oh yes, I can see the point of this now.” 

Most Pilot-y Line: Aykroyd’s opening line (mentioned above) is kinda service-y, but not as overtly as when he says later in the segment, “I like to find esoteric material and then talk about it all day,” and then holds up the book that inspired the series.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even if you don’t care about beer, you probably consume more than the occasional glass of liquor, soda, wine, tea, or coffee, and if you’re old enough to know who Aykroyd and Belushi are, then you’re going to love spending time with them even vicariously away from the bar.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.