Whither the History Channel

[Ursus]

This sarcastic blog post about sums it up.

 

In the last 10 years, the History Channel has gone from being one of the few interesting things on TV to a cesspool of reality TV shows and X-Files like expos on the paranormal.

[Nephele]

This sarcastic blog post about sums it up.

 

In the last 10 years, the History Channel has gone from being one of the few interesting things on TV to a cesspool of reality TV shows and X-Files like expos on the paranormal.

 

"Prawn Stars" hahaha! Having just seen District 9, I like that. I vote "Prawn" as the science-fiction racial epithet of this new decade.

 

As for The History Channel, for the longest time, I thought it was the WW II Nazis vs. Allies Channel. It seemed as though every time I tuned in, World at War was being repeated. That was awhile back, though, when I still used to watch teevee.

 

-- Nephele

[Ursus]

It did seem like it used to focus on WWII more than anything else. But that was better than 'documentaries' on UFOs or Biblical Prophecies.

[Aurelia]

My current favourite History Channel programmes:

 

- Ice Road Truckers

- Ax Men

- UFO Hunters

- Madhouse

 

Yeah... real winners... and very historically relevant...

[caesar novus]

They have a lot of short lived series with good scenes of Rome, and sometimes reasonable content. I finally got around to the Hannibal episode of Ancients behaving badly, and for once it had a very provocative story. Portrayed him as way over rated (by Roman propagandists, paid by Scipios family to make Scipio's victory seem more impressive), cruel, and obsessed by crazy gimmicks. Not only elephants but they went in detail to debunk usefulness of his snake weapons.

 

Wasn't it on history channel where they recently had an Italian Policeman evaluate Caesars death along with doctors over an hour, and judge it probably a death-by-cop version of suicide? All of these conclusions aren't really meant to take super seriously, but the way they get there shed light on various things. Apparently Caesar was losing control of himself (and his bowels) in public, so could have knowingly walked in harms way to invite a heros exit from the stage rather than the embarrasing one approaching him.

[Nephele]

I don't watch The History Channel on teevee, but they do produce some outstanding shows that I purchase on DVD. Such as Cities of the Underworld.

 

-- Nephele

[davus]

It did seem like it used to focus on WWII more than anything else. But that was better than 'documentaries' on UFOs or Biblical Prophecies.

Oh yes, we didn't call it the Hitler Channel for nothing. I'm looking forward to Hitler's UFO Prophecies.

 

There does seem to be something about TV that just dooms history coverage: is it the need for visuals (if I never see another Viking jumping off a ship it'll be a billion years too soon) or just the medium's association with light entertainment? I'd like to see a return to the pre-"reconstruction" format - just talking heads, maps, contemporary images and original artefacts - with the space to develop a proper analysis rather than spending half the time watching someone with a false nose lancing bubos (ok, serious reconstructions of how things were done, worn etc are sometimes ok, but I've seen enough guys hitting each other's swords in a field to last a lifetime).

 

With no live dead people to watch and little contemporary footage of ancient or medieval life, I think it's a shame more isn't done on the radio. I've heard some excellent programmes on BBC Radio 4. Tound-table discussions of the state of play involving the leading researchers in the field would be fascinating - and doable.

 

And I want the Open University back on UK TV. It's never been the same without it.

Edited January 12, 2010 by davus

[caesar novus]

I thought Hitler had recently virtually disappeared from the History Channel, just as I had tired of him. Also from the "History Intnl" channel, which just went Hi-Def in my area and gives a vivid wide-screen re-showing of documentaries. I do miss one black and white (bbc?) documentary series of WW2 done with great gravitas that now looks too dated for modern TV... if I could just remember the name, maybe it is available on the internet.

 

These expensive digital HD broadcast standards have been forced on the channels by gov't, so they gotta take advantage of increased visual potential to attract audiences to pay for it. A successful resulting series is "how the earth was made" which is just breathtaking. I think the first capsule summary of earth history show is repeating tomorrow along with a fresh one. And for once it isn't a bunch of pseudo science to promote climate alarmism; for instance they utterly debunk the theory (or mindless hysteria) that severe drops in US great lake levels are related to global warming (the land is rising by an inch per year and draining the lakes by sometimes lots more).

 

Straightforward historical alternatives DO exist, of either talking heads or audio only. One source is video or audio broadcasts of academic courses, such as Open Yale Courses and others http://academicearth.org/subjects/history although they often are polluted by evangelistic leftism. The Roman course on that page is a jewel (and maybe the Greek one?).

 

History is very popular outside of academia, and you can poke around nonfiction http://www.booktv.org/Schedule.aspx in the podcast or youtube categories at the top. Also I think you can get to cspan3 video which has recently focused on all American History at least during the weekends.

 

Oh yes, we didn't call it the Hitler Channel for nothing. I'm looking forward to Hitler's UFO Prophecies.

 

There does seem to be something about TV that just dooms history coverage: is it the need for visuals (if I never see another Viking jumping off a ship it'll be a billion years too soon) or just the medium's association with light entertainment? I'd like to see a return to the pre-"reconstruction" format - just talking heads, maps, contemporary images and original artefacts - with the space to develop a proper analysis rather than spending half the time watching someone with a false nose lancing bubos (ok, serious reconstructions of how things were done, worn etc are sometimes ok, but I've seen enough guys hitting each other's swords in a field to last a lifetime).

 

With no live dead people to watch and little contemporary footage of ancient or medieval life, I think it's a shame more isn't done on the radio. I've heard some excellent programmes on BBC Radio 4. Tound-table discussions of the state of play involving the leading researchers in the field would be fascinating - and doable.

 

And I want the Open University back on UK TV. It's never been the same without it.

Edited January 12, 2010 by caesar novus

[caesar novus]

I thought Hitler had recently virtually disappeared from the History Channel, just as I had tired of him.

Aha! It looks like the disappearing military side of the History Channel has re-emerged in a Military History channel http://military.history.com/global/listing...sp?NetwCode=MHC

 

The good news is that Rome appears well represented, as well as other conflicts outside the 1900s. The bad news is the channel seems to specialize in quirky reruns in dated styles. I get it only in low def, and at weird times relative to the hour (they don't even keep to their posted tiimes). I think this is a way to recycle stuff that attracts few advertisers, who now flock to History documentaries about lumberjack or trucker rednecks. They just charge it to your cable bill, so be on the lookout for Rome stuff you might be paying for anyway.

 

Advertising keeps TV accountable, I suppose. Now the free spending demographic apparently isn't interested in History any older than a few months ago ice-road or tree harvesting season. Similarly, the Travel channel has almost entirely excluded any travel content except for (on-the-road) Food. Imagine if they would spend one show a week on Roman archeology, but no... their demographic wants what goes in the mouth rather than the brain.

 

Accountability leading to mediocrity isn't all bad; it also prevents excesses. I heard a good case made about why oil states like Russia, Venezuela, etc tend to have such bellicose gov'ts... with oil money gov'ts don't depend on taxation of their middle class, and therefore aren't accountable to the moderating influence of that population's interests.

[Melvadius]

There does seem to be something about TV that just dooms history coverage: is it the need for visuals (if I never see another Viking jumping off a ship it'll be a billion years too soon) or just the medium's association with light entertainment? I'd like to see a return to the pre-"reconstruction" format - just talking heads, maps, contemporary images and original artefacts - with the space to develop a proper analysis rather than spending half the time watching someone with a false nose lancing bubos (ok, serious reconstructions of how things were done, worn etc are sometimes ok, but I've seen enough guys hitting each other's swords in a field to last a lifetime).

 

With no live dead people to watch and little contemporary footage of ancient or medieval life, I think it's a shame more isn't done on the radio. I've heard some excellent programmes on BBC Radio 4. Tound-table discussions of the state of play involving the leading researchers in the field would be fascinating - and doable.

 

And I want the Open University back on UK TV. It's never been the same without it.

 

I woulld agree that there can be advantages to radio programming the current 'a History of the World in 100 objects' is a case in point even if each programme is only available on BBC iplayer in the UK for a week after it is broadcast.

 

As far as the OU is concerned most of their course content is now sent out to students on DVD's or CDs so there is no longer a need for them to broadcast it late at night for home recording. They are however supporting continuing to support the production of a number of fact based programmes including documentaries throughout the year the 'Coast' series is a case in point.

 

[N.B. my computer was acting up so I have now added in some appropriate links]

Edited February 1, 2010 by Melvadius