Continuing, this week’s trend of articles about shows you should be watching on channels you probably don’t watch is America: Fact vs. Fiction on the Military Channel.

America: Fact vs. Fiction is perfect for history buffs and high school history classes with two weeks left until summer vacation. The shows target audience unusual because those who are true history buffs will already know a lot of the facts presented on the show, but those who could learn something from the America: Fact vs. Fiction will never know that this show exists. However, people who love history will enjoy trying to catch mistakes in the information the show claims is true.

Most episodes have nothing to do with the military, so it could be misleading that the show airs on the Military Channel. Past episodes have been about planes, the Founding Fathers, pilgrims and witches, and Halloween and Edgar Allen Poe. The military was probably brought up in the planes episode and the Founding Fathers episode (which I have not seen), but the other episodes have tenuous connections to the military. Does it really matter that Edgar Allen Poe served in the Army when the point is to prove he wasn’t the creepy madman everyone thinks?

In the Presidential Conspiracies episode, host Jamie Kaler address Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency and the parallels between Lincoln and Kennedy presidencies. If you have ever read a book about FDR, then you already know that he most likely didn’t have polio and didn’t end the Great Depression with the New Deal. The truth is that most historians believe he had Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, and the U.S. involvement in World War II actually ended the depression.

How about those Lincoln and Kennedy coincidences? Mostly false, the rest are nothing out of the ordinary. Yes, both men were succeeded by men with the last name Johnson. It’s also the second most common last name in the United States, behind Smith. That’s like claiming there is a first name conspiracy because 5 presidents were named James, 4 John, and 4 William. Odds are it was going to happen because those are incredibly common names.

A stranger Lincoln coincidence is that John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth saved Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, from being crushed by an oncoming train. It has nothing to do with Kennedy, but it is uncannier.

Even though history buffs probably knew those facts, they probably didn’t know that FDR campaigned hard for Herbert Hoover. America: Fact vs. Fiction says that FDR then realized Hoover was a Republican, which is not the case. FDR was not a moron. Hoover almost became a Democrat, but decided to join the Republican Party instead. FDR may have campaigned for the man during the time Hoover was trying to make up his mind as to which party to join. Either way, unlike what is generally believed, FDR and Hoover weren’t polar opposites. As Kaler joked, it’s “one myth crashing faster than the Dow Jones in 1929.”

What myths should America: Fact vs. Fiction tackle next?