As The Mega-Brands That Built America Season 3 winds down, the HISTORY series takes a bit of a gamble—literally, since it includes Proctor & Gamble. But people will tune into Episode 9, “Wipe Out the Competition,” perhaps wondering why anyone needs 42 minutes on the history of household paper products.

It’s a fair question. This is an episode that could either be completely trivial, or kind of gross and corny. And especially after one of the show’s best installments, it feels lke an odd choice. The point of the series is to make the seemingly basic more universal, but there’s a limit to that—one can’t undermine the credibility of the show by stretching to make something seem more important than it actually is. So “Wipe Out the Competition” has an uphill battle, especially when it starts with some jokes about an unfortunate name.

The episode gets past that by talking more about the manufacturing and design innovations that are created by brands like Scott and Kimberly Clark. It fairly efficiently moves beyond the genesis of toilet paper to talk about the broader impact of these companies, which is one of the things that “Pants on Fire” also did very well. People gradually find themselves learning about multiple products, and then get launched into the effect that a world war had on domestic manufacturing.

There’s still a moment or two of cringe; men may want to step out when the episode moves onto the topic of feminine hygiene. But The Mega-Brands That Built America doesn’t lower its tone or lean into any kind of shock value. “Wipe Out the Competition” winds up covering an impressive amount of ground because its narrative is so broad. Other episodes this season have zoned in on one particular product or product type, and told a story that is relatively straightforward. This episode moves across multiple products as it looks more at the proverbial big picture.

As a result, audiences will walk away from this penultimate episode thinking less about a particular product or brand, and more about the ideas that we now take for granted. Things like the pop-up tissue box or the shape of a paper towel roll. These are things we use on a daily basis, but those ideas had to come from somewhere. This episode might seem random at first glance, but The Mega-Brands That Built America stitches together enough of a story to keep viewers interested.

The Mega-Brands That Built America airs Sundays at 10:00 p.m. 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)2020-2025 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.