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“History repeats itself” goes the cliché, but so, ominously, does climate change. That’s the upshot of an ambitious new two-hour special about oil scheduled to air Sunday at 8 p.m. on the History Channel. “Crude” breathlessly charts the ubiquitous resource’s rise from humble plankton origins to staple of modern civilization, and predicts the boomerang fate of an era as Jurassically toasty as the ones that created black gold. Along the way, “Crude” delivers a mix of geological background, milestones of the drilling-industry timeline, and eager but not shrill notes on environmental impact. Doubling and tripling back, the jumpy presentation at times loses track of the material, aggravated by the narration’s unctuous hyperbole. But this attempt at jazzing up petrochemicals employs some fascinating facts and neat telescoped views of history (as well as my favorite television documentary standby, a spry oldster eyewitness with jug ears).
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