UFO Hunters

UFO Hunters, an American reality television series, debuted on The History Channel on January 30, 2008, and was produced by Motion Picture Production Inc. The show lasted three seasons. Executive producer Jon Alon Walz secured the series for History after a bidding war with the Sci-Fi Channel. Before this, Walz and his production company had created several UFO and paranormal specials for History, such as "Russian Roswell," "Deep Sea UFOs," and "The Pacific's Bermuda Triangle." William J. Birnes served as the show's star and co-creator.

The concept was first tested in a 2006 History special, "Deep Sea UFOs," which featured two of the eventual four cast members. Despite using images from a 2005 History special with the same title to promote the premiere, UFO Hunters was not a direct spin-off of that earlier program. The show’s tagline was "Hoax or History?" It should not be confused with a similarly titled one-episode special that aired the same day on the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy), created by the producers of *Ghost Hunters*. The series was shot in standard definition and upscaled, with many episodes presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, rather than being produced in high-definition or 16x9 widescreen. In the US, History released only the first two seasons on DVD, in correct airdate order but in full screen (1:33:1) rather than widescreen. In the UK, the third and final season was released on DVD, but episodes were in the wrong airdate order. In a 2011 interview, Birnes claimed the show was canceled by top History executives after the Dulce Base episode aired.

Each episode followed investigations, called "cases," led by Birnes and his team: researcher and diver Pat Uskert, mechanical engineer and MIT researcher Ted Acworth, and investigative biologist Jeff Tomlinson. Tomlinson left after the first season, and Acworth was replaced by mechanical engineer Kevin Cook in the third. The team interviewed witnesses of close encounters with UFOs, USOs, and supposed extraterrestrial life, analyzed evidence like photos, video, or physical material, and collaborated with other researchers to determine if a report was real or a hoax. They revisited famous cases such as the Roswell crash and other historic sightings. The opening theme song, "The Only One" by the band Operator, was later removed and replaced.

Season 1 aired from January 30 to May 7, 2008.