|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That combined with all the books instantly falling into the bargin bin at Books-A-Million does give one a bit of grim satisfaction. And sadness over the squandered resources.
But hey! This means we might actually get some real shows about actual history back on the air to fill in that empty space!
That or Area 51 Logging & Pawn.
....
So is the Smithsonian Channel any good?
|
|
I want more TV shows with cute cats in them.
And gamers represented well!
Probably won't be on History Channel, though. I would be okay with shows on the US Presidents! Well, maybe not Teddy Roosevelt. Too exciting for History Channel. And Lincoln, while awesome, has had a lot of specials lately.
We're still waiting for the new Mythbusters season or hockey to start.
Oh! Oh! And season 3 of JourneyQuest, and the Gamers 3 movie!!
I used to love the history channel. But I haven't had television for years.
Has it seriously devolved into nothing but conspiracy theories? That's... sad.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I used to love the history channel. But I haven't had television for years.
Has it seriously devolved into nothing but conspiracy theories? That's... sad.
Many cable channels are running away from their original premise. SciFi (now SyFy), MTV, Discovery, Cartoon Network, and, yes, the History channel. It's not solely conspiracy theory nonsense (they recently had a program called "Mankind" that aimed to give a sweeping overview of all of history) but there's quite a lot of crap and very little history. Sad.
|
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Many cable channels are running away from their original premise. SciFi (now SyFy), MTV, Discovery, Cartoon Network, and, yes, the History channel. It's not solely conspiracy theory nonsense (they recently had a program called "Mankind" that aimed to give a sweeping overview of all of history) but there's quite a lot of crap and very little history. Sad.I used to love the history channel. But I haven't had television for years.
Has it seriously devolved into nothing but conspiracy theories? That's... sad.
Yep. TCM is literally the only channel I can think of that hasn't sold it's soul yet.
As for History, it's all Swamp Ice Pawn Ax Restorer Quest now.
I miss the Hitler Network. Sure I'd have liked to see more than just Hitler, Hitler on Drugs (probably the funniest documentary on Hitler I've ever seen), Hitler on Ice, Hitler on Hitler, Drugs on Hitler, Hitler's Wonder Weapons, Hitler's Secret Volcano Lair, Hitler's Square Foot Garden, Hitler's Malt Shoppe, Hitler's Testicles, Hitler's Dog, Hitler's Personal Moustache Groomer Makeover Show, and Hitler's Crazy Workplace Comedy, but at least Hitler was interesting.
Which is more than I can say for those shitty Bible This, Bible That pseudodocumentaries that promoted terrible century old archaeology as cutting edge revelations that also aired in the Hitler Network days. I think I saw two good docs about the Bible in the whole time I watched the Hitler Network: one mostly about sex and the other about the formation of the canon. The latter aired I think two times total. Sex and the Bible became an overnight favorite.
Hitler on Hitler wasn't that on the Adult Channel?
That and the Panzer Commander and the Milkmaid.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Add to that the fact that the best news reporting, and certainly commentary, is done on Comedy Central, and you have more of the problem.
Don't forget Ammo & Explosions!
|
Hate the History channel anymore. Where is the history?
Pawn Stars? - NOPE!
Deadliest Catch? = NOPE!
Swamp Loggers? = NOPE!
Deadliest Roads? = NOPE!
Ice Road Truckers? = NOPE!
Bamazon? = NOPE!
Ancient Aliens? = MAYBE!
American Pickers? = MAYBE!
American Restoration? = MAYBE!
Sons of Guns? = NOPE!
The Story of all of us was a maybe but half the crap they spoke about is false and has been proven untrue.
Hatfield's and McCoy's was historical and pretty good
What happened to shows about the Civil War, The Revolution,. Hell history is loaded full of great stuff for movies and TV but everyone wants to do Twilight vs Harry Potter meets the remake of True Grit, the real red dawn
I saw last night as I was eating that they have a show about Vikings coming up as well as the Bible. I'll pass on the bible but the viking stuff I am all over.
|
|
Most of the history shows are relegated to it's sister channel H2, much like MTV did with MTV2.
Unfortunately just like MTV2 in more ways than one. They haven't wasted much time ruining that one too, which is a shame since it used to be the decent alternative back when it was History International. Now at a glance it seems to be 50% crap, 25% Modern Marvels marathons, and 25% historical programming of varying quality.
Many cable channels are running away from their original premise. SciFi (now SyFy), MTV, Discovery, Cartoon Network, and, yes, the History channel.
Can't agree with the bolded one. Cartoon Network was established to air animated content 24/7. That original content was the animation libraries of Hanna-Barbera, MGM, Fleischer Studios, and Warner Brothers. Even with all of that content gone from the channel, it is still mostly 95% animated programming today. It has even become a producer of many original and acclaimed shows since its beginning. All that material from the original rotation has moved over to Boomerang, but the channel is still fairly well on its original track of 24/7 animation.
Yeah as far as I can tell Cartoon Network is still cartoons (yay Adult Swim stuff!).
And Discovery still has well discovery style shows, but MTV, History, and TLC are so far from what they started as it's not even funny. SyFy still has a good amount of SyFy shows, even if it sometimes feels like most of them are bad D&D monster jokes (Sharktopus anyone?).
|
|
Sadly, it's the 'cheaper' part that I think is the answer. A reality 'star' commands almost no salary at all unless the show becomes a big hit. Mostly, they are hoping to get famous. Few to no sets, plus low paychecks for the cast combine to make a program that costs substantially less than a sitcom, drama, or even a documentary. If a program costs 10% of a standard show, then even if it gets half the ratings the network has still made a large jump in profitability.Why and how did it get this way?
Is it a case of it being cheaper to make shows like this? I'm talking about the reality based shows.
This is the cold hard truth of it.
Coupled with the fact that people actually watch those shows and enable this downward spiral, it gets downright depressing.
The only exceptions seem to be those networks that have a "labor of love" thing going for them. Again, TCM is the only one that comes to mind for that.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
History documentaries (good ones) are really expensive. Even a single historical photograph that is "public domain" material costs money: there are archive fees, research fees, and lots of due diligence from the legal department to make sure the image can be used. And that's just one photo!
Also, the "easy to watch" factor. Sad to say, but people would rather look at fools making fools of themselves than get interested in history that actually matters, because doing that takes thought and reflection.
Sadly, it's the 'cheaper' part that I think is the answer. A reality 'star' commands almost no salary at all unless the show becomes a big hit. Mostly, they are hoping to get famous. Few to no sets, plus low paychecks for the cast combine to make a program that costs substantially less than a sitcom, drama, or even a documentary. If a program costs 10% of a standard show, then even if it gets half the ratings the network has still made a large jump in profitability.Why and how did it get this way?
Is it a case of it being cheaper to make shows like this? I'm talking about the reality based shows.
This is the cold hard truth of it.
Coupled with the fact that people actually watch those shows and enable this downward spiral, it gets downright depressing.
The only exceptions seem to be those networks that have a "labor of love" thing going for them. Again, TCM is the only one that comes to mind for that.
TCM is great, and I think of it as the "Film History" channel.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I hate that there's pro wrestling on Sci Fi."
"Why?"
"Because it's not Science Fiction!"
"So. Are 6'8" men with 4% body fat by way of super steroid crunchies too much science, or is the wrestling not fictional enough?"
Sadly, it's the 'cheaper' part that I think is the answer. A reality 'star' commands almost no salary at all unless the show becomes a big hit. Mostly, they are hoping to get famous. Few to no sets, plus low paychecks for the cast combine to make a program that costs substantially less than a sitcom, drama, or even a documentary. If a program costs 10% of a standard show, then even if it gets half the ratings the network has still made a large jump in profitability.Why and how did it get this way?
Is it a case of it being cheaper to make shows like this? I'm talking about the reality based shows.
This is the cold hard truth of it.
Coupled with the fact that people actually watch those shows and enable this downward spiral, it gets downright depressing.
The only exceptions seem to be those networks that have a "labor of love" thing going for them. Again, TCM is the only one that comes to mind for that.
AMC has some amazing programming, too.