Nothing inspired this thread, I’m just curious about what some ‘Dope’s’ think about these channels. Has making the subjects of history and science ‘more marketable’, greatly tarnished the full truth and facts provided? What about airing old programing, are they edited or do they often have commentary with updated info after the show? Do they often screw up on their shows, with facts that aren’t accurate?
It would also be fun to list some of the more inacurate and ubsurd things they have said.
There’s one very easy answer to this one: the History Channel has run (I’m not sure if they still run it) <i>In Search Of…</i> which tackles subjects from the Philadelphia Experiment to Bigfoot to aliens who visited the Native Americans in the most gullible manner possible. That show stuck in my mind ever since I saw that last episode, where they showed purported Native American etchings on rock of aliens, which more resembled what you’d get if you gave a modern 12-year-old a hammer and chisel and let him go crazy.
Arg blargblarg. I’ll get you next time, UBB code. Next time!
History channel (when it’s not covering Hitler’s cousins toothbrush) sometimes makes me gag. On the bad info side
UFOs In the Bible. Secret Societies (you mean rich educated kids go onto being politicians with ridiculous amount of power? Get out!) Any sort of conspiracy theory one they run. A couple of Bigfoot shows where they don’t interview ANYONE that disagrees. Any of their wayyyy outdated Histories Mysteries (at least I think that’s the one that occasionally has shows that looks like it was filmed in 1970 with a guy that sounds like Spock doing a voice over)
On the bad taste b/c of commercialism. The History of Cleavage. The history of Sex I could see the point but cleavage? Give me a break.
I recall a TLC (?) special about how the Sphinx was supposedly 15,000 years old that featured “evidence” that had already been proven spurious at the time the show was aired.
I seem to recall seeing promos for a TLC show about “alien hand syndrome”, which supposedly resulted in people’s hands acting independently of their wills, causing them to try to strangle themselves, etc. Never did catch the show, even though I wanted to for amusement purposes.
I love the bad-science shows on those channels, they are great entertainment.
I started a pit thread about this…kind of.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=223072
I’ve seen History Channel shows about the US Navy in the Pacific in World War II, using stock footages of Royal Navy battleships in the Indian Ocean.
How about “The Pet Psychic” on Animal Planet?
That is “Spock”.
heh thanks Muad’Dib I always kind of wondered if it was him or if I was hearing things. (though not caring enough to watch the credits to find out I was rarely able to make it past the 1/2 way point at most of those shows.)
I’d have to second most of what’s been said - especially the stuff about ‘paranormal’ activities, aliens, Bigfoot and the like. This stuff should be on another channel. To me, the word ‘History’ implies known facts - and in the telling of which, any unknown factors are stated to be just that - unknown factors.
Paging Dr. Strangelove . . . .