How the History Channel Transformed into Conspiracy Theory Central
Not long after the network began, The History Channel’s longest-running, signature show made its debut: Modern Marvels. The series, which looks at different features of modern life through a historical lens, boasts more than 500 episodes over more than a decade and a half.
Modern Marvels has remained so steadfastly popular that even old reruns still appear on the network during the day. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much of a perusal of TV Guide to discover that Modern Marvels is one of the few actual historical programs on History these days.
History started to make a turn away from its namesake in 2007 with the debut of Ice Road Truckers. The documentary series about truck drivers with apparent nerves of steel who drive over frozen rivers in the winter months to deliver supplies to natural gas companies located above the Arctic Circle makes no bones about its lack of historical references. Nevertheless, it has had its compelling moments — and made for some innovative production.
Alas, it would appear that there’s only so much driving across the Canadian Arctic that viewers can take, so History revamped the show into IRT: Deadliest Roads (because abbreviations are so badass), which put the truckers from the original series in tractor-trailers on dangerous roads all over the globe. Trust me: it’s even less exciting than it sounds.
Along with Discovery’s Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers – or IRT, if you’re really cool — helped usher in the era of extreme-job and extreme-lifestyle chic. Surf with your remote and you’ll find countless series that take wide-eyed looks at jobs and lifestyles that require specialized skills and more than a measure of bravery. History has contributed a couple more shows to that genre: Ax Men and Swamp People. As entertaining as the two series are, neither one dwells much on the history of lumberjacks or denizens of Louisiana swamps — other than legendary stories like that of “One-Eye”:
I should note that two reality shows on History actually make somewhat of a historical connection. You might learn a thing or two from Pawn Stars (unlike those other pawn shows) or American Pickers, but don’t let that deter you from watching. Pawn Stars centers mostly on the unique items that come through World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, along with owner Rick Harrison and the bozos who work there, while American Pickers concerns itself more with the unique finds from the guys at Antique Archaeology who bicker like a couple of old maids.
I recall reading something, somewhere (to be precise about it) that they brought in a new head (of programming? operations?) and she intentionally went in the new direction.
At least History 2 has more history stuff on it. But they really need to go HD as well.
It’s like you are a car manufacturer then you get a new CEO that tells everyone tomorrow we are make going to be the best bagel manufacturer in the world.
I think if you get a head of programming best get someone that likes history.
As a former big fan of the history channel, I last about 3 minutes with Life After People.
I do miss the show of the computer reenacted dogfights and tank battles. And the wild west series with the Carradine brothers was must watch tv for me.
Too bad it’s wandered so far off course.
I rather liked “Life after People”, although the underlying message that people are a cancerous life form was a bit galling. As someone interested in how things work, it was fascinating to come to understand how entrophy operates in different ways. Also, it was a constant reminder of just how marvelous we people are!
Otherwise, the history channel no longer appeals.
I only sporadically watched the History Channel. I did see a bit of the “Life After People” program. I could not get past the problem of the *History* Channel basing a program on something that was a hypothetical future scenario. Shark fully jumped.
Ah yes, Dogfights and Tank Battles…good times. They’re available on Netflix streaming (at least some episodes).
Mail Call was interesting too.
I also remember watching reruns of “20th Century” hosted by the late Mike Wallace…the Cold War, stuff going on in the Middle East, Central and South America.
These “reality” shows don’t interest me very much. Top Shot was ok for the first couple of episodes. Watching those guys shoot all those guns was cool, but I could have done without all the “reality show” drama.
Life After People is only a sliver away from showing giant robots hunting humans in rags among the ruins.
That’s already been done, but I think it was on either the Science Channel or “NatGeo.” It was a documentary w. neat-o special effects that claimed to be a serious look at how a real alien invasion might go down. Not very interesting. If you’ve seen “Independence Day” you’ve seen it all.
I’ve seen “Independence Day” but feel I saw nothing since I hate and despise that film. It’s not bad enough to be the equivalent of a cat clock who’s eyeballs go back and forth and tail wags and not good enough to pay attention to. In that sense, I need either “Gattaca” or the “Queen of Outer Space”.
I would like to see a film about giant robots hunting humans in rags. Especially if it was an all female cast. A modern re-telling of “Queen of Outer Space” starring Kim Kardashian would be even more compelling.
I also despise the film “Independence Day.” It was a total waste of two hours of my life. Will Smith must have been desperate for a paycheck to take a part in that useless piece of crap. He punches an alien in the face and says “Welcome to Earth!” What utter nonsense.
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean its crap.
Besides, this is a movie about aliens invading Earth. What the hell are you expecting, Shakespeare? Lighten up.
I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare when I saw “The Queen of Outer Space,” especially long about the 12th time around. However Queen had the good sense to be so bad it became good – “Independence Day” didn’t have that good sense.
“Payback’s a bitch, ain’t it?” Really? As Mr. Spock would say – “fascinating.” The original “The Blob” is Shakespeare compared to ID. Watching that film, I do lighten up, because no one has to stick a fork in me and blow off an alarm horn with sirens next to my head to wake me up.
I have two suggestions for Life After People: present day Detroit, and an America with deserted ivy-covered sky scrapers called ObamaLegacyVille. There, primitive humans collect books, and catch and kill anyone with the big ear gene so it’ll never happen again.
– aliens.
I think you missed the point of Lif After People. I was not some doomsday, speculative show. It was an observation on how much humans must work everyday to keep the illusion of civilization and modernity alive. It shows
Just how insignificant humans really are to the power of Earth and the atmosphere. The overall point is no matter what we do, nature is always at our doorstep and we must constantly battle it. We are not as removed as we think. I wish all Gaia worshippers and environmentalists watched this show to understand the Earth is perfectly capable of fixing itself and they are insignificant and irrelevant.
“Life After People” reminded me of what you can see nowadays in Detroit. If you aren’t familiar with civilizational collapse on such an epic scale, you will find many links in this article.
The rest of the US seems to be heading in much the same direction, and for much the same reasons.
I had it all figured out back in 2008.
“Life After People” was mainly aimed AT deep-ecos and Gaia-worshipers. It reveled in how quickly everything about our civilization would vanish and the Earth would “return to a pristine state” once we pestilential humans were no longer around to defile Holy Mother Gaia.
Having watched a few episodes, I concluded that the writers would probably have enjoyed Pompeii and Herculaneum immensely. And most likely have had multiple “Big O’s” over the Black Death.
Speaking of real history, besides “Dogfights”, “Tales of the Gun”, and the various Civil War and Western history shows (Ill always remember David Carradine in chaps and a Stetson- God keep, David), my favorite was “Searching For The Truth”. In one season, they:
1. Punctured the Atlantis myth (it was actually the destruction of the Minoan civilization; Plato didn’t know the difference between Egyptian and Greek dating systems, lunar months vs. solar years);
2. Deflated the Ark of the Covenant story (the best bet is, it still exists, in Ethiopia- sorry, Indy); and
3. Thoroughly deflated the whole “Da Vinci Code” nonsense. (DNA tests prove that the Merovingian bloodline was in no way related to anybody from the MidEast; which pretty much blows the Plantard hoax Brown based his story on right out of the water.)
What made it all extra delicious was that History also ran the old Alan Landsberg “In Search Of” series, hosted by Leonard Nimoy, that made big, mysterious, scary paranormal stories out of a lot of these same historical events. I noticed that on the days that SFTT was doing a given deflation job, an old ISO episode “mystifying” that same situation would often be played earlier in the day, with an ad for SFTT inserted. Sort of “Tune in this evening for the REAL story, folks.”
Oddly enough, one of the last “legitimate” HC series was “UFO Hunters”. While they tended to prefer “believer” explanations for the UFO cases they examined, their scientific and investigative procedures were solid for the most part. They only really went off the deep end in the second season, with the Dulce Base and Grey myth stories. Their work on the Heflin sighting (Santa Ana, CA, 1965) was better than the Condon Committee’s. And their show on the O’Hare airport sighting a few years ago was first-rate; in the end, they admitted they didn’t know what it was, either.
Finally, I have to give at least a “C” to “Mega-Disasters”. They did tend to indulge in some of the scares beloved of the deep-eco left (“Peak Oil”, “Glow Train”, and their AGW show come to mind), but their work on purely geophysical disasters was excellent. Yes, if the New Madrid Fault cuts loose again, the Mississippi Basin is going to be in a world of hurt.
They did get their comeuppance, though, with their show about the “Gamma-Ray Burst”. Less than a month after it aired, predicting that such a burst from a star even 30 light-years distant would essentially depopulate the Earth, Earth got hit with a powerful gamma burst from a star only 17 LY away.
If it hadn’t been for radio astronomy and a couple of satellites detecting it, nobody on Earth would even have noticed. And oh, yes, P.S.; We’re Still Here.
BTW, gamma radiation does a lousy job of penetrating… air. They really should have done their homework better. (I looked it up in “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons”, U.S. Department of Defense, 1962.)
cheers
eon
Hm. I mostly agree with you, but on this one:
I Don’t Think So. The kind of gamma ray bursts they’re talking about are the result of some kind of major catastrophic event, like a rapidly spinning supernova or the collapse of a binary star system, and produce a focused beam of gamma rays that is brighter than the rest of the universe put together.
There is a potential gamma ray burster that could be pointed at us, but it’s 8000 ly away.
Here’s a good article: http://theconversation.edu.au/flash-aah-aah-could-a-gamma-ray-burst-eradicate-all-life-on-earth-5291
eye gott heet wit gammmma berst – noo afect.
South Park nailed it best with their Thanksgiving special about the Pilgrims being aliens.
Amen.
note to pjm: save yourself a rant and just leave a link to southpark. the do it much better than you guys.
“Life After People” is just an excuse to destroy building and cities w/ computers. Michael Bay w/ a fig leaf of respectability.
But I love “Ancient Aliens”. Especially the orange guy that lost his comb. It just gets stupider and stupider. What’s missing is a show that points and laughs at those Ancient Alien Theorists.
And the alien theory is probably the most credible explanation we have for Nancy Pelosi.
Agreed!
I’m surprised hasn’t claimed his hair was done by ancient aliens.
One needs to remember that there is only so much available WWII battle footage. With all their WWII documentaries, I swear I’ve seen the same battleship firing and the same troops storming the beaches in different programs, with the narrator telling us it’s in a different place / year / battle…
As much as I love WWII history, there are about 6000 other years of recorded history (since the invention of written languages). It’s true that about 5900 of those years lack much in the way of video/movie/photo evidence but put some gifted lecturer (like Victor Davis Hanson) onscreen to bring that history to life.
I don’t know beans about documentary research but I’m willing to bet it’s just plain laziness. As a child I recall certain WWII clips and images used in documentaries and over the years, they would become more and more common and re-used and re-cycled until nowadays you can see them in your dreams.
The re-running of the old early ’70′s “The World At War” classic series narrated by Lawrence Olivier showed a ton of old footage that I had forgotten. I think the History Channel shop simply downloads their clips off the Getty images or Jupiter Images websites and uses them. I very much doubt they spend any money hiring researchers to rummage through musty film archives around the world.
Plus, it’s also interesting to see how the supposed “creative” process works. I managed to sit through the first few episodes of “Life After People” and I found the segment on the abandoned town of Pripyet where the Chernobyl workers once lived quite fascinating. Well? I believe there have been a number of shows since on the various Science and Discovery channels about Pripyet and the state of nature in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and now, later this month, the mutant monster-chiller horror movie (thank you, Count Floyd) “Chernobyl Diaries” will be opening.
We could always let Master Chuin host a show where he gives the history of his ancestors. That should be good for around a couple of hundred episodes and no one would dare suggest it be cancelled.
Still an improvement over it’s previous incarnation as the Hitler Channel.
The crazier the Alien theory, the wilder Georgeios Tsoukalas’ hair becomes.
He’s starting to look like the Heat Miser. I love the one where he’s talking about some account in the Bible that speaks of the appearance of angels…he says: “but I don’t believe in angels, so they must be talking about…ALIENS.” He’d make a great MSNBC host.
Do you think the Pragmatic Rationalist’s Channel would be popular? There could be shows like: Human Beings Built the Pyramids. Human Beings Who Believe In Ghosts Are Mental Cases. Angels Have No Wings: Or Anything Else – They’re Not Real.
Yes, that’d work.
I particularly love it when they say, “WE couldn’t move stones that large.” To which I say, “but Georgios – you don’t mind if I call you George? – we don’t build anything with 200 ton quarried rocks anymore. If we did, we’d figure out how to do so.”
Or, as one Archeologist said about the entire thing, “if there’s anything ancient people knew how to do, it was getting gangs of men together with ropes to move rocks.”
I used to have on-line dealings with some of the followers of Richard C. Hoagland (he of the “Face on Mars”). Trust me, their theories are *far* more “out there” and much more entertaining than the Alien Channel.
You are correct, we don’t move around 200 ton stones because we have no need to move 200 ton stones. But we do have crane systems that could pick up a 200 ton stone and place it with pinpoint accuracy: such cranes are used in ship building.
The Ancient Alien guys think you need flying saucers and anti-gravity rays to move around large objects. Obviously they have never seen a shipyard constructing an oil tanker or an aircraft carrier. Maybe they could sign up for a tour.
Marco, perish the thought. Because dimes to dollars, the next thing we’d hear is how we really had no idea how to construct such vessels…until Aliens told us “how to!”
I’m amused high tech aliens would only aspire to pile rocks on top of one another. Myself I would’ve carved a giant leering face on the moon. It’s probably only a matter of time before it’s covered in business logos. Since the first to break the ice will be hated world-wide, it’d be smart to put up Iran’s flag first.
I check in on History every so often to see if there’s any history on it, and of course there’s none. But conspiracy shows? Life After People? Where are you guys seeing this? All that’s ever playing on that stupid channel when I check in is fat, tattooed slobs running pawn shops… for eight friggin’ hours every night!
“All that’s ever playing on that stupid channel when I check in is fat, tattooed slobs running pawn shops… for eight friggin’ hours every night”
Beats the history-according-to-Howard-Zinn programming that used to be their staple.
Anyone recall that game show they used to have on History? Urgh! I remember once the answer was “Ben-Hur,” and the host found it absolutely necessary to mumble a disclaimer: “Charlton Heston was great in that, his politics aside.” Sheesh!
“Ancient alien theorists suggest that macaroni and cheese is simply too tasty to not be the creation of extraterrestrials.”
“It’s an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It’s a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it’s one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth. – G’Kar, Babylon 5, “Walkabout” (Season 3, episode 18)
That sounds like an homage, of sorts, to the theiry about gin and tonic put forth in Douglas ADAMS’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” novels.
I agree with you about Ancient Aliens, and you did me one better with the macaroni and cheese prediction. I had thought to myself that if there was a Season 4, they would go through every item for sale on eBay and ask “can something this clever have been made by simple humans? Ancient alien theorists believe . . . .”
The same can be said about the Biography channel.
They used to have shows on people like Leonardo da Vinci, Louis Pasteur and Alexander Graham Bell. Now it’s all about present day pop stars who will go unnamed.
But those pop-star documentaries are useful to remind those of us who are puzzled WHY those people are famous at all. Someone can be in the public eye for a year, and I will have utterly forgotten what his or her “hit” was.
And then there are the people who are… just… famous. You know: “reality TV stars.”
Oh, it’s all so postmodern. If you have history, you have vetting and that won’t do because fantasy is all the pomo “liberal” has going for him.
You know, I was wondering the same thing. What the heck does “Pawn Stars” or “Swamp People” have to do with anything, let alone history? Also, why would I want to watch some desperate people try to pawn stuff (probably to support their drug habit) or try to fight some aligator in a swamp? Pretty soon they’re going to have a new series called “Refuse,” the “dangerous life of garbage men and their trucks.” Please, this is getting insulting. There was a glimmer of hope when they had shows like “Mail Call” and “Locked and Loaded,” which actually taught you A LOT about history, and that show about airplane aces and their historical air battles. Those were well done, accurate, and actually showed history in an entertaining light. But now that Swamp People and Pawn Stars and Pickers seem to be taking over the channel, I think I’ll pass and go back to reading history books. Reading, how 20th century of me.
Libertyship76,
You have to go to the Military Channel and the Military History channel for Mail-call and shows like that. Does anyone know if Time-Life has stock in those channels? All their programming looks like what they offer as boxed sets on sale on TV. I wonder how many times I’ve seen that same plane run into the side of the tower of the carrier and break in two?
The History of Matches was good. I never realized there was so little to the story. Watching Concrete: The History of Concrete was good. Clever bastards Romans.
My best friend is a big fan of the History Channel. I love to twit him about the Alien Conspiracy Channel. He calls me a flat earther.
When was the last time you learned anything on the Learning Channel ?
I learned that the UFO-nuts now think that the Nazis were responsible for flying saucers.
Shortly thereafter, I gave up on The Learning Channel.
cheers
eon
I used to love the Learning Channel. All the shows about “Great Battles that Changed the World” and “Great Castles of Europe”, etc.etc. And remember that wonderful series called “Connections”. I don’t know if they do any of that anymore because I just have basic cable (and I mean BASIC). And I tuned it out when “Drama in the ER” and shows like that became it’s staple.
And while we’re at it remember when “Bravo” had something on it that was worth saying “Bravo” about??!?!
Hold a critic’s religion to the same standard as ET theories, and watch how offended they suddenly get.
Well, I think that the History Channel was moving in this direction for a lot longer than implied in this article. I have vague memories of Flying Saucer Week or Alien Week or whatever they called it before it became The Hitler Channel.
Whenever people used to sneer about “The Hitler Channel” I reminded them that a World War II and it’s run-up occurred during the first great flowering of the cinema and the “golden age” of tne newsreel. Nobody jumped on this harder than the Germans with their love of technology and (at the time) self-glorification. Both the Axis and the Allies left us thousands of miles of news footage (most of it now in the public domain) which leads naturally to a great emphasis on World War II. I wish that they would do more on the Peloponnesian War but neither the Spartans nor the Athenians left us much in the way of film.
I agree that today’s “History Channel” offerings are heavy on the paranoid speculation and light on the history. “Life After People” is simply creepy and serves as proof, if any was needed, that the eco-extremists wouold be perfectly happy bumping us all off.
They left petabytes of YouTube videos, but they were all stolen by alien space bats, who then burned down the Great Library of Alexandria as cover.
I suppose the point is that the History channel has ceased to be educational and is now more about entertainment? I find Ancient Aliens to be FAR more entertaining than “WWII 24/7,” which is what they might have called the History channel prior to Ice Road Truckers, so I suppose that’s an accurate description of the change. I also have little interest in modern history outside of Maoist China, so I have always leaned toward ancient history anyway, so maybe I’m just the target audience. I will say, though, that I do not like or watch any of the “people doing a job that happens to be difficult and fraught with peril” shows–I just don’t care.
I think it’s short-sighted to claim that these sorts of (allegedly) entertaining shows are not educational or historical. For example, I love to watch the pawn shows because they are educational in terms of negotiation strategy. I’m a trial attorney, and I negotiate monetary payments every day. It helps me to watch how other people do it, and whether they succeed or fail.
As for Ancient Aliens (one of my favorite shows out of everything on tv today), I have been clued in to, and further researched on my own, countless interesting historical aberrations and questions. Is some of it crazy? Absolutely. But part of the educational value is hearing the conclusions and analyzing the support. There are a lot of fallacies to identify, so it is a great intellectual exercise for people like me who analyze arguments for fun (and a paycheck). If I had children, I would have them watch episodes with me and then discuss how conclusions were drawn, what steps were skipped or contain weak links, and what conclusions they would draw from the available evidence.
If you’re interested in watching shows because of what they’re not actually about, I have a whole list of shows that could be watched because of what they’re actually not about. The old Our Gang comedies show how we used to build fences and curbs and Patton shows how quickly vultures die when you shoot their heads off with a machine gun.
Ancient Aliens is pure comedy. It had its moments, like with the antikithera mechanism (pardon my spelling) but that guy with the wild hair is a comic.
A few series that, historical or not, are worth watching: The Universe, Monster Quest and UFO Hunters. Another series no one mentioned: How the Earth Was Made. It was more natural history, more geological.
Life After People was fascinating because, as someone pointed out, it showed how much of what we value today will not survive the ravages of time. The pictures of the Russian city that was evacuated after the nuclear disaster were informative. They showed what twenty years of no maintenance would do.
History Channel has its moments. It’s not all bad. Most of the better shows are now on H2.
I’m sure most internet savvy individuals are familiar with Godwin’s Law, i.e. as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. I think there must be an analagous law for TV “documentary” shows stating that, sooner or later, all “documentary” channels eventually devolve to National Enquirer type nonsense.
The fascination with aliens is deep. I remember a cable show back in the 70s or 80s with Leonard Nimoy about how aliens helped construct the pyramids. Nothing new under the sun.
Nancy Pelosi was created from a confluence of repeated inbreeding among several unknown and extinct tribes, and a Basement plumbing cross-connection {i.e. : drinking your own sewage}Resulting in the horrendous outcome you see before you.
After Congress,look for her as a continuing ‘Monstah’ , from the studios of TOHO Limited, Pictures.{Home of Godzilla,etc.} Nancy’s moniker?
NAN-Idrah, the wide-eyed, do-nothing. Or,
Pela-Squah, the horrible. Or,
[Your comment/suggestion, right HERE}
Actually there was plenty on the History Channel besides WWII. There was Civil War documentaries, the Barbarian series, ancient history, history of weaponry, archeology, etc. The reenactments were not always cheesy, some were fairly cinematic especially when the subject matter was interesting.
I know plenty of people who miss the old History channel. History buffs often do not know who the other history buffs are. They don’t wear it on their sleeves but there is quite an industry out there servicing that interest.
My guess is that the change is strategy with History is not one of viewership but of costs. Documentaries are more expensive than they appear. Research must be done, scripts developed and pitched. The buyer needs to review, judge between competing documentaries and then schedule.
These cheesy reality show style series can be bought in bulk, regularly scheduled and can last for years. As minor, minor….minor…..minor….really minor celebrities they can be used in marketing and promotions in ways that frankly dead people can’t. They are probably improving their bottom line if not their product.
Oh. I thought it was the Histrionics Channel. Never mind.
MTV watched helplessly as rap music took over the genre. They were talking the other day on an LA radio station about MTV history and how they screened at first for no black performers at all. Michael Jackson and Thriller kicked that door in, and then once they *had* to start featuring black music, it was all rap all the time. I can also remember reading an article about MTV at that time, that they were going to start featuring hip hop “artists” on their biography programs, trying to get mass audiences “familiar” with the “music” and more accepting of it and the performers there-of. That, of course, never happened — the acceptance of hip-hop as a viable art form and that it be considered creative and its practitionrs “artists”. I’m not sure who the audience is for people like Ray J, Tupac and 50Cent but I’m certain-sure it’s not the same audience as Michael Jackson or Adele. Since they had not-ghetto folks all over America clicking their off switch rather than be subjected to intravenous feedings of ho’s and gangsta’s, MTV really didn’t have any other option than to move away from a music format into something more palatable to a cross-section of viewers.
MTV evidently came to the conclusion that if they had to show rap videos they’d just show no videos. It’s a boycott.
I stopped watching MTV when they dropped “Headbangers Ball” in ’94…
Yah, I don’t much care for non-music music channels, non-history History Channels, the non-SF SF channel, non-news “news” channels, non-caller call-in shows… (Used to like Holmes on Homes on H&G and other home repair and refurbishing shows, but haven’t happened to catch any in ages because that’s not what’s on when I happen to tune in.)
It’s not as though there isn’t plenty of material available (especially the way HC takes clips from previous shows, adds minimal fresh material, and re-edits them together to produce shows on topics that are sometimes only incidentally connected). But sheesh, look at
all the ebb and flow of kingdoms and tribes in Europe and Asia and Africa and Polynesia and the British islands;
the question of when the first Amerindians got to the Americas and by what routes and means needs updating each year or two;
the crusades;
spread of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism…, and the splits into various factions/denominations; heresies;
French & India/7 years war; the American Revolution;
all of the more or less well-documented shifts and complexities related to the US Civil War;
the Mexican Wars and Texas independence (there was a lot more to it than the Alamo);
evolution of political parties; Blenheim; Halidon Hill;
complex migrations and mixings of people (and recent light shone on it by DNA sequencing);
House of Wessex; Normans; Bretagne; Wales;
Irish history and mythological history and sorting it out with archaeology and such;
British, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Assyrian, Babylonian colonialism and empire;
slavery before 1600CE; history of languages — writing and spoken; history of agriculture;
Obummer’s genealogy, Romney’s, Gingrich’s, Biden’s, Rubio’s, Merkel’s, Shrub’s, William & Kate’s, Sarkozi’s, Mao’s, Stalin’s, the Kennedys’, Hu Jintao’s, McKinley’s, Lincoln’s, Washington’s, the Japanese imperial families (including Seiwa (sp?)), the French kings’ (and Burgundians, Normans, Gascony, Commines…), HREs’, Buonapartes’ genealogies;
the founding families of Plymouth colony, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Scots-Irish (to borrow DFischer’s classification);
Davy Crockett; Daniel Boone; Kit Carson; Bismarck; Daniel Webster;
Roman Republic; Roman emperors; Etruscans; DalRiada and tuatha de Danaan;
rival kingdoms/tribes through the Middle East from 10KBCE to 100CE (with lots of maps — still and animated);
the British window tax; French tax farming; Scottish Enlightenment;
development of universities since classical times;
Little Turtle, Corn-Stalk, Sequoya, Sowega, Kassel, Ross, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Sacagawea, Iroquois confederation (and both internal and external frictions), the various mound-builders… (I just read one of those fictionalized histories/blending of Amerindian legends by the Gears);
the various Amerindian language groups;
Mongols; northern vs. southern Japanese…
Oh, oh, I forgot another very important topic the HCs should be covering: inventors and inventions, disputes over which inventor was first, which one is/was the more practical, how they funded their experimentation and manufacturing etc., where did they get or happen to have the funding to even dink with whatever it was, what knowledge or dreams or experiences inspired the ideas which led to the improvement…
BBC already covered that. Watch “Connections” (original, plus Two and Three), and “The Day The Universe Changed”, written and hosted by James Burke. He was previously BBC’s science correspondent, and covered the Apollo lunar missions for them. In spite of his hair (which looked a bit like Prof. Kokintz in “The Mouse That Roared”), Burke was no mental lightweight.
His shows are some of my all-time favorite documentary series. Not only educational, but darned funny in places too.
cheers
eon
While the evolution of the History Channel is noteworthy, has anyone noticed what’s happening on the Weather Channel? It currently features shows about the US Coast Guard in Alaska, Canadian bush pilots, southern California lifeguards, and high-rise construction workers. Let’s also remember “It Could Happen Tomorrow.”
At least they still have the local forecasts on the 8s.
Excellent point. I have had the same thought. Where does one find weather now on the Weather Channel?
You have to be careful about the History , Military, and Discover channels put out a lot of disinformation. Good example the Military chane\nel saying that M-14 is fully automatic weapon. I am sorry I went thru basic training with a M-14 it was semi-automatic. The base that was assigned to overseas my weapon was a semi automatic M-14. Yes there is a automatic M-14 but it is the m-14a2, which was the replacement rifle for the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) so not all M-14 were capable of automatic fire.
I like Ancient Aliens is that it drives the debunkers crazy. T^he Ancient Alien show on Pulima Pinku was great. It showed that stone blocks couldn’t be made today. Let alone by a Indian Tribe using stone tools. You have to be careful and pay attention to these channels put out. UFO Hunters was forced off the air because of the program about Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, the second area 61.
I have been a history channel fan since the beginning. In 2008 we were transferred overseas for 3 years & came back last year. I was shocked by what happened to it & my other favorite A&E. Not even recognizable. Ive been thinking the same sentiments espoused in this article since I came home.
The programming on History channel (as well as all cable) is a moot point. These channels are un-watchable due to the frequency and duration of the commercials. Don’t tell me about DVR. It’s not worth the energy.
perry1949
A Remo Williams reference? How obscure.
I kinda liked Roger Daltrey hosting that show the few times I caught it.It was good to see him talk with intelligence ( as Alice Cooper also can) . . . try getting that out of these clowns that play (or attempt to) so-called music now. . .
Almost every show on BBC, History, Discovery, Science, Military, National Geographic, etc are available somewhere on YouTube.
As a middle-schooler I became absorbed with the book “Chariots of the Gods”. It purported to show evidence for contact between ancient cultures and alien astronauts. Then I discovered the author used pictures of “landing strips” that were actually the the size of a shoe and otherwise hoaxed the audience. That set me off on a life of being a debunker. I then consumed many hours driving across the country listening to the overnight Hoax To Hoax AM radio shows and found many other debunkers online.
Conspiracies are short-cuts people like because it gives them the answer they already believe in and it doesn’t leave as many loose ends as reality. First they believe, then they look for reasons.
Hey, remember when The Weather Channel showed you your local and national weather? The same morons that turned ESPN and CNN into preaching on-air re-education camps focusing on personalities bring their mad skills to overly-animated map pointers and idiots that can’t tell you it’s gusting to 50 mph, they must stand outside and show you how difficult it is to stand up in 50 mph winds.
If you watch TV you volunteer for the confusion and the brainwashing.
I stopped watching the History Channel a few years back, and when they interviewed me, I told them so. I think most would agree with the statement that the “History Channel was better when it did history.”
That said, the criticisms lobbied against it before its ‘transition’ are understandable. Ken Burns became famous precisely because he did not use reenactors, but apparently not famous enough to change the genre in any way. The simple fact of the matter is that documentary-making, when it is good, is hard. One of you stated that you noticed the same WWII clips over and over again. Let me tell you something: there are thousands of hours of WWII footage out there that is rarely, if never, shown simply because they are not convenient. This is also the reason that WWII is an attractive subject for an aspiring history-based channel: it is a subject with hundreds of hours of easily available, already cleaned and edited footage that will generate far less controversy than most other subjects. Furthermore, there are flocks of amateur WWII historians out there who are far more likely to grant interviews than those genuinely talented individuals.
This latter point is key. Going back to Ken Burns, the crux of his Civil War series was Shelby Foote, who to this day remains one of the ‘big three’ historians of the war (with Catton and McPherson). You never saw many influential historians on the History Channel for the exact same reason – it’s too much work. Kelly DeVries, a medieval military historian who has been on there some, once told a story where some ‘ultimate warrior’ type show called him to ask what the deadliest weapon was in a knight’s arsenal. The idea was to pit a stereotypical European knight against a stereotypical Japanese samurai. To paraphrase the conversation:
“A dagger.”
“A dagger?”
“A dagger.”
“We want the –deadliest- weapon a knight would carry.”
“A dagger. Knights trained extensively with daggers, so they could attack at weakpoints in their opponent’s armor like visors, necks, and armpits. They were very fast, very skilled, and very deadly.”
“I see.”
Their show went on to have the knight clumsily depend of his broadsword as the show favored the samurai (who wasn’t shown properly either). Too much work.
The fact is, we’ve traded lazy history for no history at all. That might not be so bad. They rarely discussed major historic debates, which to be truthful have gotten more absurd over the years, and they were too lazy to cover subjects requiring extensive research. And there was probably some cheapness involved too, as some really good shows like “History Rocks” never got off the ground because of the redtape involved in producing them.
I rarely watch THC anymore for the very reasons stated above. I have occasionally come across the “Ancient Aliens” program, which features the same cast of “experts” and “professors” and “authors” who all proclaim that aliens influenced the Egyptians, the Mayans, the Incans, etc, etc. It is also interesting to note that they introduce a third possibility regarding the initial human population of earth – aliens came here a long time ago and left behind some of their kinfolk to populate the earth. Must admit that it is more entertaining than the boring old evolution and creation scenarios.
I still watch History, since it is often still the best of what’s available when I just want something “in the background”. I don’t mind Pawn Stars – and to a lesser extent American Pickers – and one of my favorite TV shows is Top Shot (aside from live sporting events, it is about the only show currently on TV that I actually look forward to the next show). But it used to be so much better, falling to the crapification of TV in general. Modern Marvels is fantastic, and as 35 year aerospace engineer I think the Modern Marvels subseries Engineering Disasters should be required viewing for every young engineer or engineering student. I’ve got my DVR set up to auto-record any new episode of Modern Marvels, but sadly it’s been a LONG time since there has been a new episode.
Most of the old channels are jokes now. The Learning Channel used to be great, but it lead the charge with “reality” programming and of the worst kind. Took it off the favorites list years ago.
As for Ancient Aliens, it used to be good if viewed as satire or science fiction or just to get a laugh at one of the theorists I refer to as “Captain Kookyhair” since he seems to have borrowed his hairstyle from a character from either Deep Space 9 or Babylon 5. That guy was so far out he was a trip. But later seasons they had jumped the shark way into the deep end. Aliens coaching DaVinci and wiping out the dinosaurs so we could be here 65 million years later (really poor time management there grey dudes)? Can’t even stand to watch that series anymore since it has stopped being funny.
Personally I think the folks who like “Life after People” are the Green people.
The ones who think Humanity are a disease on the Pure Earth of legend, before mankind.
Sierra club types, Luddites, socialists, anarchists. PETA people. Plus UN junkie environmental mandate lovers. Who want to see the Planets human population at half a billion. They get a sort of surrogate thrill watching the handiwork of mankind fall into ruin. Despoiled by the protagonist. Nature. While the villains. Humans reduced to a memory, its monuments ravaged.
This brings them a sense of superiority, if not a pseudo Justice for their beliefs on the foulness of Humanity.
So many responses, and not a mention of H2? About a year ago, History International was downgraded to standard-def and started running all the old documentary series, some with new episodes every week. They call it “H2″ now. The Universe? On H2. How the States Got Their Shapes? H2. Modern Marvels? H2. All those old 1990s-era WW2 shows, and the repeats of Dogfights, Shootout, or the Battle: 360 material? All the good stuff moved over to H2. Yes, there is an evening or two per week that got reserved for the “Conspiracy Central” junk (and thankfully none of the reality drek made it over), but the good stuff still remains on the rest of the schedule.
Basically, the History Channel “sold the prime-location museum to the gift shop” (the chintzy drek that now populates the HD original channel) and took out a lease on a cheaper block (H2) for its own wares.
Ancient Aliens is more fun than Jersey Shore. I rest my case. Fun is the operative word here.
Mr. Queen, you seem to be an educated person. However, I implore you to cease and desist your role in the corruption of the American English language.
The offending phrase is “reality show”! There is absolutely nothing “real” about any of the labeled ones I have observed. Contrived Situation Show is not only more descriptive but infinitely more accurate. Loosely Scripted or Reaction Based likewise would be better labels.
Otherwise I enjoyed the article and your observations. All to often their history seems to be filtered through an accuracy strainer that has pretty big holes. In addition, the recent programming guru has a overly heavy hand with the controversy. ‘Top Shot’ started as a more or less friendly competition, but has recently been spiced up with too many Bad Guys killing that mood.
Unfortunately, the very nature of the programming invites comparison with “Discovery Channel” which has also had reputational erosion. All Our Loss.
How about The Gamma Ray Burst Channel? Hosted by Kim Kardashian.
This could have been an article about TLC (The Learning Channel) or Arts and Entertainment. Since when does Dog the Bounty Hunter have anything to do with Art? And how does Say Yes to the Dress have anything to do with learning?
I do like Larry the Cable Guy’s show, and it does occasionally have some history. But hey, I remember when A&E had Arts and Entertainment, and when you could actually learn something from The Learning Channel (they used to have a fantastic series on great books). Oh well — the idea that a million cable channels would give something for everyone has failed; rather than niche marketing — each one wants millions of viewers. Not one channel seems to be satisfied with a small but loyal audience. Well, maybe C-SPAN.
The sad thing is that these channels are providing what we Americans will tune in for. It is really not their fault that more people care about Kim Kardashians butt than about Alexander the Great or Leonardo DaVinci. It is just the decline of civilization. Has anyone noticed how many shows are only concerned with the dollar value of history? I think it all started with the PBS show “Antiques Roadshow” with their $50,000 chairs and $500,000 Indian blankets. Then came Pawn Stars and American Pickers….. now there are dozens of shows- Hardcore Pawn, Storage Wars, etc. where the whole point is not the historical value of something, but how many dollars some “sucker” will pay for this piece of our past. I wonder how much these shows have contributed to the hoarding which seems to be on the rise? I know when I was younger I tried to keep everything ( things like cereal boxes, Mcdonalds cups, etc.) because “it might be worth something someday!).
On the other hand, watching some of the hoarding shows has really helped me see where I was headed, and start to “de-clutter” my home. I have always wanted to see the guys from American Pickers show up at one of these hoarders houses!!!
Chris: You are spot on in your analysis of The “History” channel. Next assignment: Was there a mass extinction of the “Arts” on “A&E”? (Or is that, Arts After People)
2009 was the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII becoming King of England. It was not mentioned even once on the History Channel!! WTF?? One of history’s most infamous monarchs got the shaft!
There is no history on the history channel.
There once was.
I guess that is history.
So, therefore, am I.