Have you ever taken a good look at a map of the United States and found yourself wondering just how all those various states got to looking like they did? Why aren’t all the states just split into handy squares like Wyoming and some of the others are? Well, as it turns out, there’s a reason that most of the states look like they do, and that’s just what the folks at the History Channel, who sent out a copy of How The States Got Their Shapes Season One for use to review, will be looking into as part of their new series.

How The States Got Their Shapes Season One is pretty much exactly what it says on the box. You’ll get to see just how the various states of the United States got to looking like they did, and as it turns out, there are a whole lot of forces that came together to give the states their various shapes. Politics, war, infighting, meteor strikes, and geographic factors all combined to give the states their respective shapes. And moreover, you’ll not only get information about geography, but you’ll also get a whole lot of cultural information, and, as the name implies, history.

There is a whole lot going on in here, actually, including a whole lot of things that you probably never knew. Frankly, I found myself agape half the time, seeing all the stuff I never even knew, like the tornado that socked Washington D.C. one year when the British invaded. That storm killed more British soldiery, according to the video, than the American troops did. It’s actually almost a certainty that, by the end of any one particular forty minute installment of How The States Got Their Shapes, you will learn something.

And even in the midst of all this learning, there will be plenty of great surprises, too. And there’s nothing like a good surprise to make a show well worth watching. When you spend a lot of time being surprised by television, you know you’re in for something interesting. Perhaps the best part of How The States Got Their Shapes is that, before they settle in to start talking about a state, they’ll actually offer up a set of questions that they’ll answer throughout a segment, like “How does a tree related to the shape of South Carolina” or “What does a rollercoaster have to do with the shape of Texas”. This gives you an idea of what you’re walking into, but only just an idea.

A constant string of surprises and new information makes this one a whole lot of fun to watch.

The Screenhead Ten Scale, as a result, gives How The States Got Their Shapes an eight out of ten for bringing along lots of information and plenty of great surprises to keep the audience very much engaged.