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The History Channel - The clue is NOT in the title!
Bill Clinton
Posts: 9,389 Forum Member
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The History Channel, the channels whose former history programmes have become history themselves because they seem to be never on the channel, instead we're treated to low grade barely qualifying as factual entertainment tat about some antique auctions in Storage War & Pawn Stars, American Restoration & Ice Road Truckers, it's all lightweight stuff that barely gives you any knowledge about the world let alone history. Its best programmes even if you include Ice Road Truckers, Life After People & The Universe which are good programmes to have on TV have sweet FA to do with history so could it be the time for them to have the honesty to rebrand?
Literally now, full days can go by without anything in the slightest bit substantial about actual history, I used to think the H stood for Hitler & the World War II Network because it seemed to do that to the exclusion of nearly everything else with straightforward documentaries about it on the main channel have gone because of the Millitary History channel which now seems to be the only actual history channel they actually operate, but in comparison to todays schedules it seems like a golden age. Even when an actual history documentary seems to surface it has to be about something sensational, I'm talking Ancient Aliens here, National Geographic is much the same, instead of really informative in depth factual documentaries they go for sensational subjects only in prime time, I count Banged Up Abroad as a favourite series of mine but that doesn't mean all I want from Nat Geo is prison escapes, tales about hard drugs & prosititution and getting banged up in a foreign regime, some more BBCish in depth content that really gets us in touch with our world wouldn't go amiss a well especially on a channel called National Geographic.
History is much the same story except its lightweight programmes are typically just that, dumbing down is banded around a lot, but with the factual channels trying to be a poor mans Sky1 style entertainment channel instead they're a classic example in action, World War II, Victorian England, The Roman Empire, The Korean War, Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, Ancient Chinese Dynasties on the History Channel? You're having a laugh.
Literally now, full days can go by without anything in the slightest bit substantial about actual history, I used to think the H stood for Hitler & the World War II Network because it seemed to do that to the exclusion of nearly everything else with straightforward documentaries about it on the main channel have gone because of the Millitary History channel which now seems to be the only actual history channel they actually operate, but in comparison to todays schedules it seems like a golden age. Even when an actual history documentary seems to surface it has to be about something sensational, I'm talking Ancient Aliens here, National Geographic is much the same, instead of really informative in depth factual documentaries they go for sensational subjects only in prime time, I count Banged Up Abroad as a favourite series of mine but that doesn't mean all I want from Nat Geo is prison escapes, tales about hard drugs & prosititution and getting banged up in a foreign regime, some more BBCish in depth content that really gets us in touch with our world wouldn't go amiss a well especially on a channel called National Geographic.
History is much the same story except its lightweight programmes are typically just that, dumbing down is banded around a lot, but with the factual channels trying to be a poor mans Sky1 style entertainment channel instead they're a classic example in action, World War II, Victorian England, The Roman Empire, The Korean War, Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, Ancient Chinese Dynasties on the History Channel? You're having a laugh.
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11.00 Storage Wars Texas
12.00 Storage Wars
13.00 Pawn Stars
14.00 Storage Wars
15.00 American Pickers
16.00 Ice Road Truckers
17.00 American Restoration
18.00 American Pickers
19.00 Pawn Stars
20.00 Storage Wars Texas
21.00 Ancient Aliens (only one a bit more about history than a few antiquey objects! but isn't even a proper documentary wouldn't mind if it was just one programme amongst many other good history content programmes but..)
22.00 American Restoration
23.00 Storage Wars
00.00 Rinse and repeat
What is this channel? Discovery Real Time?
And to rub it in even further, American this that & the other, on a channel which could be optimised to better suit a British audience.
And at the risk of sounding closed minded how could a programme with the title "Storage Wars" possibly be anything close to compelling viewing?
And finally given that this is not a free channel and also that in order to obtain the factual channels you have to pay for the entertainment extra package at £5 extra a month would it be unreasonable a higher quality of programming than this from channels such as History?
Sad indeed, I thought at one time Sky themselves had involvement in some of these factual channels and if ownership has changed it might as you say explain a lot, Sky turned Challenge around quite well so appear to know how to make a more specialist channel more satisfying.
Competitors to the BBC and in particular, their often outstanding factual content make the BBC look good time and time again, I wish it wasn't the case and that there was a good balance of programming, a few Storage Wars here and there would be easier to take so long as there was also a healthy amount of actual history on the channel. Loved Life After People & The Universe, can enjoy Ice Road Truckers but it shouldn't be taken as a licence for them to abandon history. Could they rebrand as a factual entertainment channel?
The Discovery set although it also often frustrates by offering lightweight programmes like American Chopper on the main channel instead of more hard hitting cutting edge content is looking the best at the moment, they're sticking to the point of their Discovery History & Science channels, have the excellent "How The Universe Works" & the recent Stephen Hawking series and actually put history programmes on including getting the rights other programmes outside their own to fit the channel such as the likes of Tony Robinson's Crime & Punishment aired first on Channel 4.
I have to say if I got BT Vision or something similar where only the main Discovery Channel is carried I'd be disappointed, because the best choice is on Discovery History & Science.
Bio is another lop-sided one
Friday
http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/tv-guide/comedycentral/
Saturday
http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/tv-guide/comedycentral/2013-02-09
Sunday
http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/shows/tv-guide/comedycentral/2013-02-10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utDHcbiOfKY
:yawn:
Whilst Pawn Stars, American Restoration and American Pickers are among my favourite tv shows, I do concur that one would not expect them to be broadcast on the History channel; history is the past, these programmes and their content are current.
Many US cable channels have drifted away from their original remit, with MTV being the most famous example. Court TV turned in to TruTV showing "World's Craziest Police Videos" and vaguely crime related programmes. Cartoon Network has introduced non-animated shows. CMT (Country Music TV) is often named as a channel people would like to see relaunched in the UK, but that too is full of reality, cooking, drama, films, with country music relegated to off peak slots.
To the History Channel: The nazis were bad. WE GET IT!!!
Totally agree. I mean if its called The History Channel then it MUST be The History Channel eh Mr Clinton
Seems to me, from a distance, that those with freeview/freesat get darned sight better channels (on the grounds that almost beggar-all to watch is better than beggar-all to watch) than on pay-tv???
Because the History channel is only a very small part of the subscription channels available on Sky.
So they lose my advertising revenue. It doesn't bother me over-much while there are alternatives like Discovery History and Nat Geo - randonly looking at 10pm Saturday they are showing Unsolved History (1906 San Francisco earthquake), Lost Tomb of Genghis Khan (Do not open! He will leap out!) and China's Lost Pyramids. At the same time Yesterday is showing First Light (WW2 doco-drama about the Battle of Britain) so there is plenty of real history there.
In the last couple of days I've seen several trailers for Nat Geo on Sky Pick (cheapo channel on Freeview with a couple of things I watch among a lot of utter dross). These trailers made me realise how much crap Nat Geo shows and my feeling of missing something worthwhile has ebbed away.
Now you tell me History is mostly crap too and I don't regret being a Freeviewer at all.
Thanks!
Agree with this. Bio used to be a great channel, but not any more.
NOTHING at all hidden today or tomorrow though
Yes, some of them are a few years old now (mid 2000's), but that doesn't take away from the actual facts that they are presenting (when it is about something that happened a few hundred years ago, what is five or six years difference between the first showing of a programme and the showing of it now?), so that is now one of my most watched channels.
One I remember was Custer's Last Man about Frank Finkel, a man who claimed to be the sole survivor of Custer's forces at the Battle of the Little Big Horn
For example, Challenge might show Millionnaire from 12pm until 6pm - great if you like that show, but if you don't, there's nothing there to watch for six hours - even if you are a fan, it's unlikely you could tolerate it one after the other.
Whatever happened to variety
To see non military related programmes like The Universe and Ancient Discoveries, watch Military. For non history related programmes like Pawn Stars and Ice Road Truckers, watch History. Very logical.