The newest episode of HISTORY Channel’s The Mega-Brands That Built America may be the most obscure of Season 3. The average TV viewer likely doesn’t spend time thinking about photocopiers and printers, let alone want to know their origin story. To most people, they’re symbols of the office workplace that they don’t enjoy being in. So how does a TV show make that worth someone’s time?

The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 3, Episode 5, “Rise of the Office Machines” has a sizeable task ahead of it. And indeed, the first few minutes of the episode could be straight out of a 1940s or 1950s information film, as the show has to explain the minutiae involved in making copies. But viewers should hang in, because once the narrative is able to get back to what the show does best—telling the human story behind the technology—it picks up steam (at one point literally, because there’s an unexpected fire).

Today, the Xerox brand is so well known that “xerox” is commonly used as a verb, even though it’s actually the name of the company. “Rise of the Office Machines” explains how that came to be, and its appeal comes from the fact that it’s not a traditional one-horse story. Unlike prior episodes in the season and even in the series, it doesn’t follow one person who came up with the big idea and then pushed it through against all odds. It’s about one person who had the idea, another who facilitated it, and another who missed the opportunity.

It’s interesting that this episode follows “Hardware Warfare,” which touched on the necessity of collaboration in order to succeed, because “Rise of the Office Machines” goes in the other direction. It’s a story that could have been about collaboration, but blossomed into a full-blown rivalry instead. As Xerox battles IBM, audiences will find themselves rooting against a villain, as opposed to simply following the rise of a brand. And as the episode unspools, they will be taken by surprise when they see just how massive the story actually is. It goes far beyond what first appears.

It also has a very fine line to walk, because the technology world is the most dry and most inaccessible of business worlds to play in. Even though technology is now the foundation of our lives, people often can’t or aren’t interested in getting their heads around the technical terms and figures. Past the opening act, The Mega-Brands That Built America does a pretty good job at limiting the barriers to entry. Its biggest asset is that it leans into humor perhaps more than any other episode; the phrase “scorch eliminator” will stick in viewers’ heads well after the credits roll. And that is a very smart way to make history fun.

The rise of technology has been covered ad nauseum on the big and small screens, from massive movies like Steve Jobs to cult classics like Pirates of Silicon Valley. “Rise of the Office Machines” can’t compete with those in 42 minutes. Instead, it taps into something those other stories have missed: it brings humor, enthusiasm and a bit of wide-eyed confusion. The Mega-Brands That Built America is stepping into a very complicated space, yet it reminds viewers why those stories have been told over and over again.

The Mega-Brands That Built America airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HISTORY. Episodes from all three seasons are also streaming on the HISTORY app, history.com and on demand. Photo Credit: A&E Television Networks/Lucky8, courtesy of the HISTORY Channel.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.