Sean Pokress interviews Jason Murphy, co-creator of 'Hacking the System', about his new show.
If you watch the National Geographic Channel frequently (I personally love “Wicked Tuna”...and I have no idea why), you’ll notice that they seem to have the market cornered for shows teaching you how to survive in the wild. Now, after debuting last year as a two-part special, Nat Geo is ready to bring this genre back into civilization with their new weekly show, “Hacking The System” (premiering January 19th at 10p EST; check your local listings).
The show, hosted by Brian Brushwood, is a bit like a do-gooder’s version of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook”, in that it teaches the viewers simple “hacks” to make their life easier, create useful tools in case of emergency using simple household items, and helpful methods to avoid getting scammed by criminals. Each episode focuses on a specific theme (the first episode deals with personal security), and exposes the tricks and trades of those who use social manipulation as their weapon of choice.
The TV Dudes caught up with co-host and segment producer Jason Murphy to discuss the creation of the show, what stunts almost went too far, and whether or not he’ll ever be allowed back in the Republic of Malta anytime soon.
TV Dudes: Please tell us about your role(s) on the show.
Jason Murphy: My credited roles are 'segment producer' and 'co-host'. The co-host part is pretty self-explanatory. I'm Brian's sidekick, the Chewbacca, providing him someone to bounce ideas off of on camera. 'Segment producer' is a bit more nebulous of a description. Those responsibilities see me coming up with a lot (but certainly not all) of the ideas we use in the show through research, anecdotes, etc.
TVD: Who came up with the original idea for “Hacking The System”?
JM: Brian was contacted by Ping Pong, the production company, to pitch some show ideas and drafted me for help. We had a couple of meetings (ie, beer) in trying to come up with something. And ultimately, during one of our conversations, Brian came up with something that stuck. Ping Pong saw something in there and was able to carve out a viable show (and eliminate some of our more outrageous ideas).
TVD: How excited are you now that the show is finally premiering?
JM: I'm certainly looking forward to it. After all of this time and work, there's a certain unreality to it. Not like I'm looking at a unicorn, but in a 'water flowing underground/Talking Heads' kind of way. "This is not my beautiful TV show! How did I get here?"
TVD: When the show originally aired last year as a two-part special, did you have any idea if Nat Geo was going to pick it up as a regular series on their network?
JM: None. We had to wait a few months to see how things panned out. We knew that the pilot was successful and that we'd managed to get it trending on Twitter, but we weren't privy to the behind-the-scenes decision making. That's way above our pay grade. My thoughts, not speaking for Brian, were "Well, it *should* get picked up with that performance, right?"
TVD: What changes, if any, has the show gone through since it's been picked up?
JM: None, really. The new episodes are very similar to what we saw in the first two. It's a bit more polished now though, with some different settings and conceits that we weren't able to cover in the specials.
TVD: The show exposes many different "life hacks" the viewers can use in their everyday life. Which ones were you surprised to learn the most?
JM: There's something we do with human urine while camping. I'll leave it at that.
TVD: The show also exposes some of the hacks criminals use against their victims. Are you now more afraid of what can happen to you than you were before the show started? And have you used any of the tools and techniques Brian Brushwood shows the viewers to protect yourself?
JM: The one that really stuck with me is covered in the first episode, Personal Security. There are so many vulnerabilities in your everyday life, exposing your sensitive data to anyone who wants to use it for ill. It's not impossible to protect against, but it's rather intimidating. So rather than just one 'hack', I'd say it's the assortment of methods the bad guys can use to get at you. They are many and varied. I don't want to get into too many details, but while you might not be able to make yourself bullet proof, you can inconvenience criminals enough to discourage them.
TVD: Some of the stunts on the show require yourself and Brian to commit possible crimes (like in last year's episode, where you broke into a family's house in the middle of the night). Not to spoil anything, but have you or Brian come close to being arrested filming one of these stunts this year?
JM: The entire team was exceptionally careful, so we managed not to run afoul of the law. However! There were a few moments when bystanders called us out. We'll go over that story on our livestream on diamondclub.tv. People can watch along with us and we can regale you with stories of the things that almost went horribly awry.
TVD: Has there been any stunt proposed so far that you or Brian have flat out refused to do?
JM: There was one that made me particularly nervous, but I went with it anyway until the sharper folks at Nat Geo shot it down. One of our producers suggested that we craft our own body armor and test it by Brian shooting me. With a gun. It gave me cold sweats, but I was trying to put on a brave face. Fortunately, National Geographic immediately axed that one.
TVD: Okay. Well, has there been any stunt that Nat Geo has told you they will not air, due to legal concerns?
JM: Hmmmm. What's the best way to answer this? How about this? No. No stunt that we have filmed has been shot down due to legal concerns. *Looks around nervously. Walks away whistling.*
TVD: How about, has anybody, outside of law enforcement, caught you guys while you were filming a possibly criminal stunt?
JM: We attempted to stage a coup d'etat of Malta. We would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling United Nations!
TVD: Even though the show is meant as a way to protect the viewer from being taken advantage of, do you worry that someone may use the knowledge divulged through the show for criminal purposes?
JM: It's certainly crossed our minds, but we're careful to provide deterrents for anything nefarious. And if something is a little too nefarious . . . well, let's just say that my suggestion that we make white phosphorous was immediately disregarded in the production meeting.
TVD: Do you feel a sense of irony that this show is premiering while real life hacks are dominating the news cycles, whether it be with the NSA looking into your information, the Sony email hacks, Wikileaks, etc?
JM: It is rather timely, but I think the level of cleverness involved in a lot of these is something that people will always be interested in, provided that we can keep things engaging. While a lot of the legitimate computer hacking in the news is fascinating, the process doesn't make for very good television, so we only touch on that a little bit.
TVD: And, finally, what was your reaction to the "promo" TV Dudes head-honcho Grant Davis made for the show?
'Hacking the System' premieres tonight, January 19th, on the National Geographic Channel at 10PM EST.