# What happened, Nat Geo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** documentary-bio\ **Created:** [August 4, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140 "2026-08-04T12:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/21 "2026-08-05T19:33:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Making dreck is always faster and easier than making gold. Enshitification strikes again. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/22 "2026-08-05T19:44:28Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Obligatory Mitchell and Webb clip: A near perfect encapsulation of Mythbusters. Except for one thing. At the end, they need to take another gift, say, a carved soap block in the shape of, say, a dog, and attach 5 pounds of C4 and blow the shit out of it. Right after the break. THEN it’s a Mythbusters ep. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/23 "2026-08-05T19:54:57Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > > The original _Cosmos_, _Connections_, Sir David Attenborough’s various works, etc. > > I loved connections. I always thought that would have been a bear to research. I liked Connections when I first saw it. And then, sometime later I saw it or one of the subsequent series again, and it struck me that many of the connections James Burke was making were _really_ weak. BTW, it appears that the first three series are available on [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke/Connections/Season+1/). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/24 "2026-08-05T20:09:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > it struck me that many of the connections James Burke was making were _really_ weak. The first couple of seasons were pretty damn good. And then there’s this: > **[The Greatest Shot In Television](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoDQBhJCVQ%2F)** > > This is the single greatest shot filmed in television history. It's completely real, it's NOT a green-screen. One chance, and if James Burke had missed, ther... ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/25 "2026-08-05T22:20:11Z")
Nova has always been pretty good, EXCEPT for one thing that bugs me, and it’s the same thing that the OP complains about here: every episode starts with a long summary of the key points of the episode. It’s not just 10 or 20 seconds of “here’s what this episode is about”, it’s a full 3 minute recap (precap?) of the whole episode, giving clips and sound bites of the whole thing. When I watch a Nova episode, I routinely start about 3 minutes in and start watching after the Nova logo appears. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/26 "2026-08-05T22:25:38Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > EXCEPT for one thing that bugs me, and it’s the same thing that the OP complains about here: every episode starts with a long summary of the key points of the episode. It’s not just 10 or 20 seconds of “here’s what this episode is about”, it’s a full 3 minute recap (precap?) of the whole episode, giving clips and sound bites of the whole thing. I might guess that Nova’s producers did some research, and found that having that “teaser” gets modern audiences engaged from the start of the episode, and less likely to change the channel if they aren’t pulled in during the first two minutes. But, that’s a guess. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/27 "2026-08-05T23:21:35Z")
Agreed. Same with modern pop music. If the first 15 seconds of the tune aren’t catchy, the youngun’s (their primary target market) have changed the channel. And the producers know this and put the catchy part up front, not after a minute of leisurely build-up like 1970s pop. The “good” news is you can watch an entire modern episode in 3 minutes flat. Then turn it off for 27 minutes and avoid all the repetition, the talking about what they’re talking about, and best all, all of the ads. They gave us the tools to beat them like a red-headed stepchild. Use them. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/28 "2026-08-06T00:10:44Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > it struck me that many of the connections James Burke was making were _really_ weak. > > The first couple of seasons were pretty damn good. > > And then there’s this: > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoDQBhJCVQ/](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WoDQBhJCVQ/) Not to be a Debbie Downer, but since I’ve been a working Cinematographer for more than 40 years, a bit of bubble-bursting may be permitted. Yes, it was live. No, there were no special EFX employed. Almost all of the long speech takes place next to the horizontal Saturn rocket. The camera pulls ahead, he exits frame. What APPEARS to be a long tracking shot that finishes with split-second timing isn’t. He’s not moving. The countdown is being done next to the lens silently by the Director, or some other Production person. This fellow has done that final bit of reading two dozen times to get the pace down. Unless scrubbed, the countdown goes by a very specific timing. I love LOVE this bit. But it’s no big mystery or amazing take. It just takes some thought, planning and rehearsal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/29 "2026-08-06T00:37:06Z")
Plus, the rocket that they show launching isn’t a Saturn, and it isn’t a shuttle. I’m not sure offhand what rocket it is, but it has two side stages-- A Delta Heavy, maybe? So it wasn’t some historically special launch, and if he did somehow flub the shot, they could try again at the next rocket launch, whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/30 "2026-08-06T00:37:42Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > This fellow has done that final bit of reading two dozen times to get the pace down. Unless scrubbed, the countdown goes by a very specific timing. Much as Don Imus could recite the alphabet during the intro to “Build Me Up, Buttercup” so as end on a perfectly timed “V, W, X” “ **WHY** do you…” ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/31 "2026-08-06T15:33:48Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Not to be a Debbie Downer, but since I’ve been a working Cinematographer for more than 40 years, a bit of bubble-bursting may be permitted. No bubble-bursting for me. I’m not the one calling it “single greatest shot filmed in television history”, I just think it’s a cool shot and provided a link to it. My thought when watching it was that he was watching a producer was off camera with a countdown. Launches like that don’t happen every day and I think it was pretty neat that he nailed it, what ever tricks he employed. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/32 "2026-08-06T15:55:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Plus, the rocket that they show launching isn’t a Saturn, and it isn’t a shuttle. I’m not sure offhand what rocket it is, but it has two side stages-- A Delta Heavy, maybe? According to an IMDB “Factual Goofs” entry, it’s actually the August 1977 launch of Voyager 2 on a Titan IIIE launch vehicle. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818338/goofs/?tab=gf&ref\_=tt\_dyk\_gf](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818338/goofs/?tab=gf&ref_=tt_dyk_gf) > He then points to a rocket launching. In fact, the rocket being launched (carrying the Voyager 2 space probe) did not use hydrogen and oxygen as fuel at liftoff. It was a **Titan IIIE rocket** , fueled by nitrogen tetroxide and Aerozine-50, assisted by two solid rocket boosters. (Emphasis added.) I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that claim, but it certainly resembles a Titan IIIE LV. > **[Titan IIIE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_IIIE)** > > The Titan IIIE or Titan 3E, also known as the Titan III-Centaur, was an American expendable launch system. Launched seven times between 1974 and 1977, it enabled several high-profile NASA missions, including the Voyager and Viking planetary probes and the joint West Germany-U.S. Helios spacecraft. All seven launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In the early 1960s, NASA's long-range plan was to continue using Atlas-Centaur unti... ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/33 "2026-08-06T16:24:44Z")
When it aired in the late 70s Connections was must-see TV in my house. I recently re-watched it and enjoyed it immensely. I think it stands alongside the best documentary/science series ever. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/34 "2026-08-06T16:36:45Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Hmm, I watched a NatGeo episode on tepuis not too many years ago and I thought it was pretty good. Ooo. I just read the book the movie _The Relic_ was based on (because I’d re-watched the movie recently and was curious how they differed). One thing in the book not in the movie was the the tepui where the “relic” originally came from. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/35 "2026-08-06T16:46:57Z")
So, some of the usual locations for documentaries have watered them down and diluted them into useless sound bites spanning 40 minutes. Ugh. But I see there are documentaries on paid channels like Netflix. I’ve not viewed them, but I would hope they’d be more concentrated, deeper, and requiring actual focus, like documentaries usually demand. Can anyone verify? (I just canceled my Netflix because the benefit to cost ratio was getting too low) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/36 "2026-08-06T17:09:54Z")
Mostly no but it depends. Netflix is not really an entertainment company, like Disney or HBO. Never has been. It’s a tech company where the product is entertainment. So, they follow the algorithm. And the algorithm says make it friendly to people whose focus may be divided ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/37 "2026-08-06T17:38:47Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > And the algorithm says make it friendly to people whose focus may be divided And to heck with the rest of us I guess… ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/38 "2026-08-06T17:48:41Z")
It’s not like they’re actively against anybody. But they’re optimizing for profits, not quality. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but until/unless quality programming becomes more profitable or is mandated (and note PBS is not for profit, so quality hasn’t suffered as much), that’s not going to change ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/39 "2026-08-06T18:18:53Z")
These days I find that YouTube is the best source for high quality documentary programming. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140/40 "2026-08-06T18:19:49Z")
I think they can have quality and profits if they’re willing to adopt a more long-term strategy, the more companies enshittify everything the more they doom themselves long-term. I don’t think Netflix is in trouble or anything but I canceled my subscription earlier this year because I was sick of the rising prices and dropping quality. Netflix documentaries were great when they were buying them on the market, once they started producing their own they fell into a “30 minutes of content in 2.5 to 3 hours of show” and honestly, at that point I’d only watch them if I was doing something on my second screen. I know, I know, I eventually realized how dumb that was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-nat-geo/1032140.md?page=3)