"History Channel?" No. Hysteria Channel.

[Archae]

All day today it'll be those "Ancient Aliens" bullshit shows, and tonight?

"Endtimes" religious scare dramas. Yes. Dramas.

[brooklynite]

1. This is news?

[GummyBearz]

2. Sad..

I remember when it first came out and had a good amount of interesting programming (at least to people interested in history)... now its a lot of crap. H2 was better but I stopped getting it a couple years ago.

[NutmegYankee]

3. Sometimes it's nice only have antenna TV.

I gave up on the History (Hitler?) channel long before that though.

And to go with the theme tonight:

[exboyfil]

4. When the History, Science, and Nature

shows first came on the air, I was very excited. They had strong content.

I just watched a show on Netflix called Dino Fish about finding the first living coelacanth in the 1930s as well as diving to observe them in the wild. The documentary also talked about how human encroachment is endangering the population. Along with this pretty good content came lots of sensationalism as well as referring to the fish as a living dinosaur. There is a specific definition for dinosaur and a fish definitely does not fit that definition.

I wish the shows had gone towards more science content instead of appealing to the worst aspects of our culture. I have difficulty even watching good shows because I already know the science which is presented (exception being history of scientific discoveries - I learned a great deal from Cosmos that I did not know before). There is still some very good shows out there though.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Now that mega media conglomerates own them all, channels aren't allowed to tell the truth.

We are screwn.

[Archae]

5. And the "reality" shows have taken over.

Art and Entertainment? No. "Duck Dynasty."

Discovery Channel? No. "Moonshiners"

The Learning Channel? No. "Honey Boo-Boo."

[NutmegYankee]

7. That was a major reason I ditched cable.

Nothing but hundreds of channels of overpriced trash. I just use a long range antenna now and get the broadcast stations ( in 1080i HD) for the basic News/weather/sports.

The over the air broadcasts have really improved in quality. When the stations went digital, they also went HD.

[Recursion]

8. I liked them better when they were "All WWII All the Time". And I didn't like them much then

It's sad when "Pawn Stars" is the best they can do. (Though I kind of like that show.)

[edhopper]

9. Doesn't this say it all

[img][/img]

[ElboRuum]

11. Not everything...

...here is Centauran Ambassador Londo Mollari...



Is it me or is more than just a passing resemblance here?

[ElboRuum]

10. All of the "learning" channels...

Like History, Discovery, NatGeo, etc. have become lowest common denominator pander-fests. To see things which would have been normally aired on these channels, you have to go with "upper tier" options which usually require additional payment. So-called "premium packages" have H2, Science, and other such "real" versions of these channels, which you used to get for nothing but basic, now you have to pay extra.

Reality shows and stupid shows which are such a speculative mess (like Ancient Aliens) are cheap to produce, require little if any vetting, may not require much in the way of screenwriting, and as such are cheaper to produce and are predicated on the simple theory of McDonalds TV: Fit for consumption for no one, having little of substance, but definitely affordable by everyone, and having just enough flavor to entice you to view it occasionally.