Decline of the History Channel

[Murky]

Do we really need niche channels? If a TV channel wants to air history documentaries does it need to be called the History Channel?

Personally, I find most of what's on TV these days to be boring. The commercials on cable are so annoying that it's just not worth the time investment. Occasionally there will be a good show, documentary or series but those can be purchased individually via streaming or on DVD/Blue-Ray. When I do watch TV it's usually PBS for its commercial free news and documentaries.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

And the fact that my cable TV provider wants to remove Viasat History from the package in favour of the Hitler Channel only makes me hate it more.

You also have Viasat History? Its a really good channel, I think its Scandinavian but its on English , they have really good REAL documentaries, and its not all Hitler WW2, I remember watching a great documentary on Sub Saharn African culture, it was new and interesting or Asian Monarchys, a show where the history of the remaining Asian Monarchys and their nations is explained, I learned so much about Bhutan a country you wouldn't think is important for a documentary.

EDIT: Al Jazeera Balkans also has good documentaries about the Middle East or Dictators (Not Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Husein, Pol Pot...)

 

[classical_hero]

I am surprised I am the first one to do this.

 

[Winner]

You also have Viasat History? Its a really good channel, I think its Scandinavian but its on English , they have really good REAL documentaries, and its not all Hitler WW2, I remember watching a great documentary on Sub Saharn African culture, it was new and interesting or Asian Monarchys, a show where the history of the remaining Asian Monarchys and their nations is explained, I learned so much about Bhutan a country you wouldn't think is important for a documentary.

Yes. Not that I have much time to watch it, but there you can actually learn interesting things you didn't know before.

EDIT: Al Jazeera Balkans also has good documentaries about the Middle East or Dictators (Not Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Husein, Pol Pot...)

I only wish there were more good documentaries about the Israeli-Arab conflict. It's such rich and interesting history, and even the military enthusiasts would like it.

 

[warpus]

Not quite the same, but check out Taco Mac's story. They didn't have the money to take down the sign of the Mexican restaurant they bought, despite the fact they were starting a beef-and-buffalo-wings pub.

That's funny, but it looks like they were able to use the confusion to their advantage

Eh. It's not like they are the first. State Farm was originally insurance for agricultural equipment and they expanded out to be a lot more yet kept their name. Recognition is a big deal.

I did always wonder about that company. And you're right - brand recognition is a big deal, but in the case of the history channel.. it's just beyond silly. I get why they don't want to rebrand - they'd need to spend a ton of money promoting the new brand and getting brand recognition. But instead they are stuck with a ridiculous scenario where they have a channel named "History" where no history-related content is shown except a couple shows that just barely qualify.

In the case of state farm.. well.. If the company name was "Farm equipment insurance" it would be more like what the History channel is doing.

 

[GamezRule]

That graph should be at least 25% WW2.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

I only wish there were more good documentaries about the Israeli-Arab conflict. It's such rich and interesting history, and even the military enthusiasts would like it.

I must admit they are more one sided, I've seen a few but since most Isreali sources dont want to be on al Jazeera the talking is mostly done by members of the PLO, Hammas, Egyptian generals and politicians.

 

[G-Max]

Mythbusters is awesome, and I used to be a huge Futureweapons addict. Unfortunately, a certain song about doing it "like they do on the Discovery Channel" no longer makes any sense whatsoever.

Changing your name just becausecyou may see a contradiction is not a good busness. Name is a brand.

I remember this from my childhood:

"Alpha Beta is now Lucky"

Also, TNN morphed into Spike TV

And the fact that my cable TV provider wants to remove Viasat History from the package in favour of the Hitler Channel only makes me hate it more.

You guys have a Hitler Channel? That's pretty cool.

Okay, the first Antilogic Challenge (of which I am the only participant, but you all are welcome to join in) has been issued.

I am going to watch every episode, all three seasons, of Ancient Aliens, and try to keep my sanity in the meantime. Use of hard liquors is currently up for debate.

I once went on an Uwe Boll marathon. As it turns out, his movies aren't that bad. In the Name of the King: a Dungeon Siege Tale is like the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy distilled down to two hours and with ninjas added (because hey, everything's better with ninjas). In fact, John Rhys-Davies was in both LotR and Dungeon Siege! Bloodrayne has the most sympathetic protagonist I've ever seen in movies, wielding weapons that reminded me of the assassin katars from Diabo II, in a story that reminded me of the Khalim's Relics quest from the same game, plus a Kristanna Loken sex scene (yay!). Postal is - and I absolutely do not exaggerate here - about as funny as The Hangover. House of the Dead was actually a clever self-parody with genre-savvy characters. Alone in the Dark and Far Cry weren't great, but compared to mainstream crap like AvP:R, they're at least watchable.

I must admit they are more one sided

So is the conflict itself...

EDIT: I repeat, Kristanna Loken sex scene.

 

[Racsoviale]

I once went on an Uwe Boll marathon. As it turns out, his movies aren't that bad. In the Name of the King: a Dungeon Siege Tale is like the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy distilled down to two hours and with ninjas added (because hey, everything's better with ninjas). In fact, John Rhys-Davies was in both LotR and Dungeon Siege! Bloodrayne has the most sympathetic protagonist I've ever seen in movies, wielding weapons that reminded me of the assassin katars from Diabo II, in a story that reminded me of the Khalim's Relics quest from the same game, plus a Kristanna Loken sex scene (yay!). Postal is - and I absolutely do not exaggerate here - about as funny as The Hangover. House of the Dead was actually a clever self-parody with genre-savvy characters. Alone in the Dark and Half-Life weren't great, but compared to mainstream crap like AvP:R, they're at least watchable.

Half-Life:suicide:

....you are not serious about this entire quote, are you?

 

[BvBPL]

You can watch the best, most informative TV, but you're still sitting on your bum, watching TV, with drool coming out of the side of your mouth. TV is great for entertainment, but you if you want to learn something then go read a book.

 

[G-Max]

Half-Life:suicide:

....you are not serious about this entire quote, are you?

OH GOD, I'm grossly sorry. I meant Far Cry. I'll fix it.

 

[Antilogic]

You can watch the best, most informative TV, but you're still sitting on your bum, watching TV, with drool coming out of the side of your mouth. TV is great for entertainment, but you if you want to learn something then go read a book.

Nah, man, I just learned about how the Pyramids were actually an ancient power plant, and like they poured a bunch of dilute HCl down into the queen's chamber where it reacted to form H2 and salt, then the H2 floats up the grand gallery to the upper chamber which housed some kind of reactor-thing-a-ma-jig that burned the H2 and converted it to microwaves, which are then beamed to space and then back down on other solid granite obelisks. That's why they are made out of one block, 'cuz then it's like a crystal, dude!

Also, this series is a total acid trip. The talking head says this power plant could run non-stop for decades or hundreds of years... but I am forced to wonder where the ancient Egyptians were producing this much HCl.

 

[G-Max]

I am forced to wonder where the ancient Egyptians were producing this much HCl.

Vomit, obviously... they'd get hundreds of slaves constantly vomiting into the pyramid.

 

[sophie]

I remember history channel used to be good with some decently substantive programmings, now all they air are nonsensical trash. I first sensed a problem when they developed an obvious crush on Hitler and everything WW2 related; it then progressed to an obsession with Nostradamus and all that doomsday stuff. The last straw for me was the Ancient Aliens. I just couldn't tune in to a channel that talk about such nonsense.

Meh, History Channel was never really that great. The people they get to speak on the subject (even when they had "good" programming) were rather hackish and often had bizarre pet project theories. A game I used to like to play with those series was to listen to the "historian" and identify why they were on the program; it usually doesn't take too long to figure out. The shows (the biggest ones that come to mind were "Engineering an Empire", "Barbarians", and especially "The Dark Ages") were overly sweeping in their arguments, often highly generalized (to the point where no good information can be drawn from it), and in some cases just flat out incorrect. My favorite thing they did was when they took one aspect of a historical figures, and just ran with it, expanding it to the point where absolutely everything the person ever did was driven by that one thing, often to the point where other historical events were omitted to fit the narrative.

Really History Channel now is the same thing it's always been: great for entertainment purposes, but don't ever use it for education. The only difference is History has now thrown off the guise of framing their programming in a historical setting and now are just doing blatant conspiracy theories, rather than veiled ones.

 

[warpus]

Meh, History Channel was never really that great. The people they get to speak on the subject (even when they had "good" programming) were rather hackish and often had bizarre pet project theories. A game I used to like to play with those series was to listen to the "historian" and identify why they were on the program; it usually doesn't take too long to figure out. The shows (the biggest ones that come to mind were "Engineering an Empire", "Barbarians", and especially "The Dark Ages") were overly sweeping in their arguments, often highly generalized (to the point where no good information can be drawn from it), and in some cases just flat out incorrect. My favorite thing they did was when they took one aspect of a historical figures, and just ran with it, expanding it to the point where absolutely everything the person ever did was driven by that one thing, often to the point where other historical events were omitted to fit the narrative.

Really History Channel now is the same thing it's always been: great for entertainment purposes, but don't ever use it for education. The only difference is History has now thrown off the guise of framing their programming in a historical setting and now are just doing blatant conspiracy theories, rather than veiled ones.

They used to show very interesting WW2 documentaries, from what I remember

 

[Spidernova]

I sometimes see a cool WW2 documentary program. But every time it comes on, which is rarely, it's always the episode about the battle of Stalingrad.

 

[Antilogic]

Vomit, obviously... they'd get hundreds of slaves constantly vomiting into the pyramid.

Makes about as much sense as what they are saying.

Meh, History Channel was never really that great. The people they get to speak on the subject (even when they had "good" programming) were rather hackish and often had bizarre pet project theories. A game I used to like to play with those series was to listen to the "historian" and identify why they were on the program; it usually doesn't take too long to figure out. The shows (the biggest ones that come to mind were "Engineering an Empire", "Barbarians", and especially "The Dark Ages") were overly sweeping in their arguments, often highly generalized (to the point where no good information can be drawn from it), and in some cases just flat out incorrect. My favorite thing they did was when they took one aspect of a historical figures, and just ran with it, expanding it to the point where absolutely everything the person ever did was driven by that one thing, often to the point where other historical events were omitted to fit the narrative.

Really History Channel now is the same thing it's always been: great for entertainment purposes, but don't ever use it for education. The only difference is History has now thrown off the guise of framing their programming in a historical setting and now are just doing blatant conspiracy theories, rather than veiled ones.

"Engineering an Empire" was one of the last shows I enjoyed from that network. Along with "Dogfights".

 

[mangxema]

Meh, Discovery isn't that bad. But that's probably because I've only really known it to be a crossbreed between reality TV and science.

Discovery was cool when I was a little kid. Or maybe I'm thinking of TLC, back when those letters actually stood for something.

 

[DroopyTofu]

If anyone gets History 2, they still run some of the good older shows like "Cities of the Underworld" , "Dog Fights" , "The Universe" and some others I can't remember. I enjoy those threee and its far superior to the standard history channel.

Oh, vote for worse show on the History Channel. Pawn Stars. I'm not sure how it evenly remotely relates to history. THat and "Ice Road Truckers".

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Pawn Stars pays lip service to some American history when they explain the background behind an item. No justification at all for the latter, though.