The 'History Channel'

[SteamWake]

Someone please explain to me what does...

"Monster Quest" & "UFO Hunters" have to do with history ? :rotfl:

Sigh.....

[U-84]

I know eh?...I used to watch the History channel all the time, until they converted from actual history to Ice Road truckers and MOdern marvels how to build a bridge. (OMG)..I mean, if ur gonna show someone how to build a bridge, put it on the discovery channel, or a engineering channel. :damn:

[Torplexed]

I'm surprised they're not airing this dreck on the Sci-Fi Channel...which rarely shows Sci-Fi anymore.

It's the same with the TLC, and the Discovery Channel which have fallen into the rut of useless programming for the sake of ratings and advertisement, and they're just following the example established by MTV and VH-1, which now rarely ever show music videos. They've all reinvented themselves into something less informative, but far more marketable.

[Syxx_Killer]

I used to like the History Channel. I rarely watch it anymore. I think they renamed the original History Channel - History Channel International. HCI shows more historical stuff than HC does and used to.

[SteamWake]

I used to like the History Channel. I rarely watch it anymore. I think they renamed the original History Channel - History Channel International. HCI shows more historical stuff than HC does and used to.

Really? Huh I dont get that here.

Funny my freinds used to make fun of the history channel as the "World War 2" channel or the "Nazi" channel.

Now its just goofy sensational stuff.

Hope my friends are happy now.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Demographics, my friend. Evidently, there weren't enough people interested in history to make some of the shows profitable. That is to be expected with a TV audience.
As for me, I prefer a book when I want to learn something about history. It's a lot more in depth, I can look it up whenever I want, and even the local library has a much wider selection than even the most expansive satellite TV package. :DL

[rubenandthejets]

There is some good stuff on the cable History channel here in Japan, but yes, the dross is certainly increasing.

"Enterprise 360" was kind cool, but the purple prose certainly got a work out.
Even the actual history programs have to sound like "World's Most Amazing ......." to compete. I gave up on "Enterprise 360" because I just couldn't take the "wall of death" "blazing inferno" "hot lead spewing" superlatives anymore. At least the veteran interviews were interesting.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I'm surprised they're not airing this dreck on the Sci-Fi Channel...which rarely shows Sci-Fi anymore.
Yeah... That's just retarded. Mostly horror and such, and it's all so corny/cheap/horribly done. (Usually a combination of all three...) Generally involving vampires or some mutant animal thing as well... Always good for a laugh, though!


Anyways. Usually I stick to Discovery and flip around through the movie/comedy channels, although sometimes Modern Marvels is kind of interesting. Generally I prefer books to listening to a narrator run through an overly dramatized script. (For example, anyone seen Jurasssic Fight Club? Not that it's very historical, but gawd! I couldn't take more than 5 minutes of that :lol:)

[AngusJS]

I especially like how they blatantly stretch 30 minutes worth of content into 1 hour shows. Their favorite tactic is to repeat the same simple information that you heard during the previous segment after a commercial break - because you're so stupid you need reminding.

Somehow, other shows like Nova and Frontline manage to produce good, informative documentaries without resorting to this pathetic padding.

Seriously - it's like they took the dumbest college graduates who did nothing but BS their way through papers and gave them jobs producing TV shows using the same methods.

And then there's the damn sensationalism. Does every show have to be baseless speculation about not just disasters but mega disasters and such reality-free topics as Nostradamus and the Apocalypse?

Since when is real history boring?

[UnderseaLcpl]

I especially like how they blatantly stretch 30 minutes worth of content into 1 hour shows. Their favorite tactic is to repeat the same simple information that you heard during the previous segment after a commercial break - because you're so stupid you need reminding.



That's not to remind you, it's to catch the attention of viewers that have just changed the channel and waited through what was left of the commercials. It's actually quite effective, they say.

But you're 100% correct about Nova being awesome and sensationalism being garbage.

[SUBMAN1]

Someone please explain to me what does...

"Monster Quest" & "UFO Hunters" have to do with history ? :rotfl:

Sigh.....

Simple. People have been talking about both for ages! :D

-S

[nikimcbee]

Someone please explain to me what does...

"Monster Quest" & "UFO Hunters" have to do with history ? :rotfl:

Sigh.....

Great minds think alike,:03: I was kicking around the same isea of a thread. What's up with all the marathons of these weird shows. While they are interesting. (on a side note, they showed because of global warming:har: , how pythons are going to take over the East coast, as far north as New Jersey and go out to california):haha:

All the cable channels are just showing junk.:-?
The history channel, Is obsessed with: doomday shows, monster shows, and any aspect about hitler.

Today on the history channel: Hitler's diet. Talk to a 4th cousin who cooked for der furher.:yawn:


Then there's the discovery channel. They seemed to be hooked on all the "extreme" shows ie, the survival shows, the blowing things up shows.

TLC seems to be hooked on all the wacky family shows: Hi, we're the Bunas and we have 23 children and god has told us not to eat any food that has a vowel in it.


Now just wait, PBS, give them 5 years, will have their own rip-off shows.

Here's Euro survivalist. Here's Philippe, a vegan socialist who will survive the next two weeks in a chimpanzie forrest colony-collective teaching them about bree, fine french wine, and avant guard art of the neo-socialist era.

On the other hand, Nat Geo has had some very good shows IMO. I like the true science shows, not the hype shows.

[antikristuseke]

Most of the stuff I have seen from the history channel has been quite poorly researched with many glaring errors, so I avoid their stuff most of the time.

[HunterICX]

Never liked the stuff they broadcasted on History Channel
its either poorly researched and examined or its the Hollywood style narrating and re-acted scenes(or fancy CGI) which perhaps is nice for entertaimentent but at a huge cost of the Historical data/information/etc the stuff that is the reason I want to see a documentary.

HunterICX

[Schroeder]

@Hunter

Oh, so true.
Don't remind me of "Dogfights".http://www.smilevalley.de/smileys/Kotzen/28.gif (http://www.smilevalley.de)

[AntEater]

Older documentaries were better, before writers were replaced by CGI.
Back when stage6 was still existing, I watched tons of documentaries like Ken Burns' civil war and such...
Not to mention the old school (pre Guido Knopp) german documentaries.

[Schroeder]

Even the BBC has dropped dramatically. Just watched some episodes of "The Century Of Flight" (actually it was the German version and I'm not sure whether this is the original English title) and I have to say it was extremely superficial.:dead::down:

[Tchocky]

Currently re-watching The World At War :DL

Also keep meaning to see Heimat

EDIT - wah! Avatar!

[bert8for3]

I became sufficiently aggravated a while back with History Television here (AFAIK not related to History Channel) showing CSI NY that I wrote to them (politely), basically saying that CSI NY has zilch to do with history and why were they showing it. I actually got a reply, which caused me to rotfl. The reply was along the lines that CSI NY actually portrays history (modern, mind) in its depiction of the struggle of law enforcement officers against criminals in the post-9/11 world. Right.

[Rilder]

Yeah its utter ****. Half the stuff is complete fallacy.

Ancient Discoveries is especially bad, Give me a video camera and I could put out a more informative broadcast.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Older documentaries were better, before writers were replaced by CGI.
Back when stage6 was still existing, I watched tons of documentaries like Ken Burns' civil war and such...
Not to mention the old school (pre Guido Knopp) german documentaries.
Ken Burns put out some of the best documentaries, IMO. Too bad more documenters don't follow his example, instead of opting for hype and garbage. :nope: We have his Baseball series, for example, and the way music, old photos, and sound effects are all combined is much more effective than the (Usually poor) graphics shown nowadays.

[Syxx_Killer]

I used to like the History Channel. I rarely watch it anymore. I think they renamed the original History Channel - History Channel International. HCI shows more historical stuff than HC does and used to.
Really? Huh I dont get that here.

Funny my freinds used to make fun of the history channel as the "World War 2" channel or the "Nazi" channel.

Now its just goofy sensational stuff.

Hope my friends are happy now.

Dish Network has it. I actually like it better than the normal History Channel. HCI doesn't seem to have any new shows (I haven't seen any). I think all they do is show stuff that used to be on the HC. There's only so much Monster Quest, UFO Hunters, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers I can take! :nope::damn: I used to like Modern Marvels, but that doesn't even seem like it used to.