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movies/tv About the History Channel


heavens-champion

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Ah the history Channel. This started to happened years ago actually. I remember that my dad used to watch the history channel all the time and I even found it quite interesting to listen to, because they would actually go into some really cool subjects. Then they went the way of MTV and started to do nothing but reality TV and stuff having almost nothing to do with their subject. Sure, some shows like Pawn Stars try to pretend that they have to do with history but it is the reality show part of it all that takes center stage. I personally find those shows to be awful.

 

My only explanation for this is the huge push in reality television years ago. That was a sad and dark time in television. Ironically it is around the same time I stopped watching TV altogether. The History Channel was a massive fall from grace.

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It's really unfortunate that the History Channel has gone so far down hill.  It's either Reality shows, inconclusive UFO documentaries, or Nazi documentaries that scrape the bottom of the barrel now.  The Discovery and Nat Geo channels are both much better alternatives.

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Essentially the same reason why the SPEED Channel when from racing to car stuff before eventually dying; money and shifting demographic interests. Honestly; it's really hard for me to watch History these days thanks to junk like Doomsday prophecies, worst case scenario natural disaster scenarios, UFOs, ghosts, and other things; even with legitimate WW2, Rome, and other stuff.

 

However with as big as History is, they probably see that there is a more profitable venture in going for that certain viewing audience. :(

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If it's not reality shows, then it's either aliens or doomsday/end of the world documentaries, with an occasional WWII hour every couple of weeks.

 

I used to enjoy the History Channel, but then they fell victim to the unfortunate "reality TV boom" and went down the crapper like many other TV channels around that time

 

All things considered though, I'll admit

 

I actually DO like Pawnstars

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The history channel used to be my absolute favorite channel.  There used to be so many great shows about history on it and since I am a WWII buff I loved it greatly.  Now though it's just a bunch of badly scripted reality shows.  

 

I went down to the States a few years ago and found something called the Military channel which was all about war history.  I think it's gone now but it had way more history related stuff then the actual history channel.

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My best guess is that a good chunk of the cable crowd shifted to the Internet ages ago so now they have to pander to other audiences.

Edited by Crescent Light
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When the History Channel was at its best it still only gave a version of history that twisted a lot of facts into what's trendy or socially acceptable to to modern audiences. History can't teach anything if it's being changed according to passing trends. But even so, I enjoyed it because some historical events, especially the ones from last century, can't be remolded into something else because there are still people alive who experienced it first hand. But their shows about ancient history and archaeology often present opinions as fact and that's not acceptable. 

Many other channels like Discovery, AHC, Science, etc. have some decent shows from time to time, but it's true they have all fallen into a serious rut. If there weren't any ghost hunting shows they wouldn't know what to air at all. It's really one-note and, even though I like some ghost hunting shows, they're getting boring. UFO shows are the same retreads of inconclusive nonsense they've been airing since the '90s. I also have an interest in UFOs but not the same old junk they keep repeating. I don't even bother with things like hunting Bigfoot, Yeti or the Loch Ness Monster because they're all just about hobbyists with money who couldn't find their own butts with two hands and a flashlight. Most of their shows are padded out and cut to create phony suspense to keep the audience tuned in through the next commercial break, but never yield results. 

Pawn Stars is interesting but again, it's one theme taken too far.  

H2 is now gone and replaced with Vice, which just seems like a desperate attempt to find a new demographic. 

 

My best guess is that a good chunk of the cable crowd shifted to the Internet ages ago so now they have to pander to other audiences.

This pretty much says it all and I agree. It certainly explains the seeming desperation to find something marketable, no matter how far they are from what the original concepts were for these channels.  

Edited by Dreambiscuit
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Well, I still watch Alone and Mountainmen on History, though really they are completely unrelated to any sort of history and are more or less survival shows. Forged in Fire is not bad but is a bit reality show gimmicky, especially the first season...and hardly has anything to do with history, again. I think Blade Brothers on Discovery is better.

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This is exactly why I no longer purchase cable TV.

Inevitably with the development of techbology certain parts of it would need to die off. Cable TV is steadily getting smaller because so many people have access to a phone or computer and many sites allow you to readily pirate shows to watch. It's even done on YouTube, and usually any efforts to stop it faces heavy backlash by viewers. The purchase to watch method doesn't work well, either; which is why certain channels have given up and just plainly upload their episodes onto their own websites.

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Inevitably with the development of techbology certain parts of it would need to die off. Cable TV is steadily getting smaller because so many people have access to a phone or computer and many sites allow you to readily pirate shows to watch. It's even done on YouTube, and usually any efforts to stop it faces heavy backlash by viewers. The purchase to watch method doesn't work well, either; which is why certain channels have given up and just plainly upload their episodes onto their own websites.

I think the best way is to go back to good old fashioned commercials. I'm willing to support shows I like by watching them on the legitimate channels where the network makes money.

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