# The History Channel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189 "2009-10-01T01:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/1 "2009-10-01T01:26:58Z")
I don’t know about y’all, but I smoked a lot of pot in high school and college. I got A’s in History, but maybe I missed something, what with all the bong tokes and such… and there was this one hippy chick that always wore these cute little dre Wait. Where was I, now? Oh yeah. I did get A’s, but I might have missed some class. It’s hard to remember. Was there a chapter on [Bigfoot in New York](http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=331792)? The documentary just ended on the History Channel and I’m wondering why my college textbook never covered that. Somebody needs to write a letter to the textbook people. The Big Apple bigfoot was in 1976, so maybe the historians were humming “Eye Of the Tiger” while watching Rocky run up the steps, but you’d think one of 'em would have written about Chewbaca’s first visit to New York. Just what has the American educational system come to when they neglect an historical event of this magnitude? I’d post more, but the History Channel is showing something about Nostradamus. And, _man_, my textbook didn’t cover that guy _either_. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/2 "2009-10-01T01:42:25Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > The Big Apple bigfoot was in 1976, so maybe the historians were humming “Eye Of the Tiger” while watching Rocky run up the steps… He ran up those steps to “The Theme From ‘Rocky.’” “Eye of the Tiger” wasn’t used until “Rocky III.” (snerk) Shows what YOU know about History. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/3 "2009-10-01T01:56:34Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Just what has the American educational system come to when they neglect an historical event of this magnitude? Quiet! I’m trying to watch this documentary on LOLcats! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/4 "2009-10-01T02:05:14Z")
Although I had early clues that The History Channel was just another The Pandering Channel, they really broke away from any pretense at ‘history’ with their documentary on The Amityville Horror, timed to coincide with the re-make of the movie. Not only has the story been thoroughly de-bunked, the perpetrators of the hoax confessed to the scheme when they were sued by the new occupants of the house who weren’t told they were about to become the victims of mass gawking. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/5 "2009-10-01T02:09:13Z")
After that was an episode of Nostradamus Effect titled “Hitler’s Blood Oath.” They are fucking with us at this point, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/6 "2009-10-01T02:24:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > they really broke away from any pretense at ‘history’ with their documentary on The Amityville Horror, timed to coincide with the re-make of the movie. Not only has the story been thoroughly de-bunked, the perpetrators of the hoax confessed to the scheme when they were sued by the new occupants of the house who weren’t told they were about to become the victims of mass gawking. After the _Amityville_ family confessed they made the whole thing up for money, acquaintances of mine on several occasions used The Amityville Horror in arguments as the first really solid, _actually documented proof_ of the supernatural. One of them in particular was just _furious_ when I pointed out the father of the family admitted it was all made up. Apparently she’d been using _Amityville_ as her trump card for years to prove ghosts existed. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/7 "2009-10-01T02:48:47Z")
I think I almost liked it better when they were the Hitler channel. But really, the channel is much like mainstream news channels these days, mostly entertainment. The channel has always been a bit suspect but they’ve finally slid full tilt into the realm of outright nonsense and Hollywood shills. I was irked when they kept presenting the Priory of Sion as a debatable subject. Their own shows even contradict each other. I still watch it though, it is entertaining. Their subjects can be thought provoking, but you have to take their shows with a grain of salt. I just wish they’d stop telling us the end is near come 2012. What disappoints me is I remember \*\*History International \*\*as having mostly decent quality foreign documentaries maybe 6 years ago, now it seems they just rehash original programming from the History “family”. What’s so “international” about that? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/8 "2009-10-01T14:14:28Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > What disappoints me is I remember \*\*History International \*\*as having mostly decent quality foreign documentaries maybe 6 years ago, now it seems they just rehash original programming from the History “family”. What’s so “international” about that? They have an office intern run the tape across the Canadian border and back before they show it? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/9 "2009-10-01T14:47:50Z")
[quotes] In 1976, in upstate New York, several police officers reported seeing an animal that they couldn’t identify. It was described as a "large creature, seven to eight feet tall, walking like a gorilla hunched over and making a sound like “a woman screaming.” [/quotes] That’s history? That’s more like my dating life prior to 1992. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/10 "2009-10-01T15:41:21Z")
> [@homeskillet](#): > > I think I almost liked it better when they were the Hitler channel. Yeah, they may have been a little heavy on the Nazis back in the day, but at least that was actual history. I’d much rather watch a documentary on the SS, or the Battle of the Bulge, or Hitler’s henchmen than yet another show about link about UFOs and Chupacabras. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/11 "2009-10-01T15:52:17Z")
::coughs spasmodically:: Here. ::Passes thread from The BBQ Pit to the Cafe Society moderators:: **Gfactor** Pit Moderator P.S. Be sure to hide the roaches. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/12 "2009-10-01T15:56:23Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > [quotes] > In 1976, in upstate New York, several police officers reported seeing an animal that they couldn’t identify. It was described as a "large creature, seven to eight feet tall, walking like a gorilla hunched over and making a sound like “a woman screaming.” > [/quotes] > > That’s history? That’s more like my dating life prior to 1992. 😃 That had me laughing. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/13 "2009-10-01T16:48:57Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > 😃 > > That had me laughing. Well played. I’m glad one of us can find humor in it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/14 "2009-10-01T17:28:53Z")
People making fun of The History Channel? When it runs such Fine and Praiseworthy programs as **Clash of the Gods**? Shame on you! And I’d say the same thing even if I didn’t have a stake in this. Honest! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/15 "2009-10-01T17:56:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > People making fun of The History Channel? > > When it runs such Fine and Praiseworthy programs as **Clash of the Gods**? > > Shame on you! I watched and couldn’t figure out which one was you. There was a gazillion floating heads in white shirts and on tie! O.K., maybe 3. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/16 "2009-10-01T17:58:11Z")
well… better bigfoot than andre bloody rieu! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/17 "2009-10-01T18:32:18Z")
History Channel has ruined it reputation. It’s possible to do quality shows on many of these “quack” subjects. But HC has done so many quack shows that now I wouldn’t watch one even if the subject sounds interesting. They can’t be taken seriously because they’ve run around yelling about the sky falling so many times. My roomie and I are avid military history fans. And we love “Full Metal Jacket.” But R. Lee Ermy’s latest show is so bad that we won’t watch it. HC has even gotten bad at the “Hitler Channel” stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/18 "2009-10-01T18:39:04Z")
I confess that I love their bad science shows. But yes, it is hardly history. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/19 "2009-10-01T18:49:01Z")
I remember pundits claiming the science programs the tax payer funds on PBS are no longer needed because of TLC & The History Channel. ---
**Author:** ![SweetLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@SweetLucy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SweetLucy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/20 "2009-10-01T22:37:06Z")
I’m getting quite tired of all the 2012 hysteria, myself. I also doubt that the Knights Templar and the Freemasons were so omnipotent and omnipresent that everything since the 1300’s has been their doing (at least this seems to be the gist of many of History’s documentaries). I’m a bit ticked that UFO Hunters was cancelled, though. National Geographic Channel has some good stuff, but it’s hard to find amid all the shows about gangs, prisons, and dog whisperers (I guess if you like dogs, that’s not a bad thing 🙂 ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189.md?page=2)