# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/21 "2009-10-01T22:48:12Z")
I don’t think the UK/Ireland version of The History Channel is as piss poor as its US counterpart but I find it strange that they don’t buy more shows from the BBC/ITV/C4/RTÉ et al. There are some fantastic history programmes made by all those stations that rarely get repeated. One would think the History Channel would be the perfect forum for this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/22 "2009-10-01T22:56:32Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I remember pundits claiming the science programs the tax payer funds on PBS are no longer needed because of TLC & The History Channel. And DIY Network. Don’t forget them. :rolleyes: ---
**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, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/23 "2009-10-01T23:10:10Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I remember pundits claiming the science programs the tax payer funds on PBS are no longer needed because of TLC & The History Channel. I find PBS’ quality of programming much better than the cable channels, on the whole. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/24 "2009-10-02T02:12:35Z")
How about [Gangland?](http://www.history.com/content/gangland) A series that showcases every obscure pack of louts in every sizable town in the US. “And the Janesville Stinkies were there to make sure everybody knew who ran the central part of the eastern part of southern Wisconisn” I’m its sake I’m glad the HC is a bunch of silly shit, so that the punks gathered around the TV watching their episode are hammocked between Nostradamus and Pawn Stars, not Hitler and Ghengis Khan ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/25 "2009-10-02T03:12:50Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > 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. Not only that, he ran up the steps in Philadelphia, not New York. (For that matter, the Rocky theme is actually called _Gonna Fly Now_.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/26 "2009-10-02T03:44:44Z")
Someone tell me what the hell “Iceroad Truckers” has to do with history? (“Clash of the Gods” is a good series in regards to the history of Greek mythology. That and our very own **Cal Meacham** was on the “Medusa” episode.) Mythology history (NOT the Nostradamus crap), such as say, folk traditions and the like, can be interesting. Like talking about WHERE certain traditions we have today come from. History International\* is better, but it’s only available with digital cable. The original channel has just gone to shit. \*For example, I saw a program earlier today on the Red Baron. He was actually pretty hot. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/27 "2009-10-02T03:57:24Z")
I remember back when they were practically the only cable channel that had actual content at 3:00am. When everyone else was airing infomercials, they’d have bad war movies on. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/28 "2009-10-02T04:00:24Z")
Any channel that can do four hours on the Pompeii sex industry will always have a viewership. 😃 I do wish they’d stop with the Dan Brown worship, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/29 "2009-10-02T05:38:11Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > 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. The History Channel incarnation of UFO Hunters was actually pretty good and interesting. The team was balanced a bit, a couple of the guys seemed to jump on the “it’s proof” bandwagon pretty fast but I think there were also a couple who never came to that conclusion throughout the run (at least in the season I watched). I recall one episode where one of the guys decided a couple of their interviewees might be alien human hybrids and a second guy basically pulled him aside and game him the biggest “are you fucking retarded?” Rant I’ve ever seen. Their tech guy was cool too, he could come up with an model recreation for just about anything, usually ending in “oh by the way, [air currents | aviation training | whatever] acts like this regularly so… yeah, debunked.” It was probably one of the best shows on ETs I’ve seen. Of course, they may have canceled that too. I don’t check the channel much anymore so I don’t know. Edit: And Monster Quest isn’t so bad if you ignore the over-dramatic narrator. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/30 "2009-10-02T05:39:40Z")
They had an hour on the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1847, yestreday. I never heard of it before. That was a good show. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/31 "2009-10-02T06:15:00Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > \*For example, I saw a program earlier today on the Red Baron. He was actually pretty hot. He also never married and is not known to have been… intimately involved with anyone, of either gender. Shot down by an Australian with a machine-gun on the ground, and his plane was stripped before the engine had cooled down. Bits of the plane are on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which is well worth a visit. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/32 "2009-10-02T15:09:27Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Someone tell me what the hell “Iceroad Truckers” has to do with history? It was originally a two-hour special about the history of the Alaskan trucking industry. ---
**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 2, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/33 "2009-10-02T15:39:37Z")
I have to admit though I do like **Pawn Stars** on History, sort of an amalgamation of Antiques Roadshow, Mythbusters and The Real World. It has a little history in evaluating some of the historical items up for sale. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/34 "2009-10-02T20:27:13Z")
> [@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. O man…I read that and my inner voice sounded exactly like the narrator on that show. {screams and runs away} ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189/35 "2009-10-03T01:53:00Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > He also never married and is not known to have been… intimately involved with anyone, of either gender. Shot down by an Australian with a machine-gun on the ground, and his plane was stripped before the engine had cooled down. Bits of the plane are on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which is well worth a visit. Yes, that’s what they said. Apparently, according to his Wiki entry, he didn’t want to leave any woman a war widow, considering the survival rate of pilots. I also saw a piece one day on the true story of the Bridge on the River Kwai. Apparently, the movie downplayed some of what the men truly went through. It made the Hanoi Hilton sound like a cake walk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-history-channel/512189.md?page=1)