# What happened to the History Channel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058 "2009-02-09T14:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [February 10, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/41 "2009-02-10T10:18:33Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Edit: beaten by “network decay”, which I call “cable network entropy”. Pseudoscience, poker, house flipping and reality shows; it’s basically what cable networks are all about now. I have this theory (that I recently formed whilst watching the [del]Hitler[/del] History Channel) that the Pay TV channels have realised people just flip through them to see what’s on, without stopping to see what the channel is. So, it doesn’t matter whether “_World’s \_\_\_\_iest \_\_\_\__” is on Fox 8 or Discovery or Arena; the idea is that someone flipping through the channels will see it and think “Ah, car chases/gunfire/boobs/explosions/animals with sharp teeth and claws!” and stop to watch. Still doesn’t change the fact that there’s nothing “History”-related about Canadians driving trucks across frozen lakes, though… ---
**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:** [February 10, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/42 "2009-02-10T10:45:13Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Still doesn’t change the fact that there’s nothing “History”-related about Canadians driving trucks across frozen lakes, though… But there will be. 🙂 ---
**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:** [February 10, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/43 "2009-02-10T10:46:22Z")
A channel that just showed old history programmes from the BBC/ITV/RTÉ archives and maybe some Antipodean fare too would be great. ---
**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:** [February 10, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/44 "2009-02-10T11:24:23Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > But there will be. 🙂 Thank you, Criswell. 🙂 In reference to his quote “Future events such as these will affect you, in the future!” from _Plan Nine From Outer Space_, in case anyone was wondering… ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/45 "2009-02-10T12:03:24Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Yeah, I forgot about Cities of the Underworld. I’ve caught glimpses of it while flipping through the channels on the weekend, but I can never manage to catch a full episode. I say they should dump all the paranormal crap and focus more on stuff on like this. > Some people mentioned the Discovery Channel. I feel they’ve kind of redeemed themselves, though, with shows like MythBusters, Dirty Jobs and American Chopper, which, even if they aren’t particularly educational, are still fun to watch, and most importantly don’t take themselves too seriously. The problem is that, at least in the UK, Cities of the Underworld has been on at least two other channels before it reaches the History Channel. If it was new programming, that never reappeared on another, then fine. But what we have is 5 or 6 disparate channels sharing the same limited pool of programmes. We don’t have 6 channels (all the discoveries, the various Learnings, history, etc.) We effectively have two. None of which should show moron fodder like Ice Road Tossers or Gay Guys With Big Choppers or whatever the hell it’s called. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/46 "2009-02-10T16:53:39Z")
What I find most annoying is how BAD the A&E/Biography Channel biographies are now. First of all they are 99% of the time about celebrities. Some celeb bios can be interesting. But Melanie Griffith? Really? But even when it is a celeb who is sort of interesting it’s never like the old A&E Biographies where the narrator tells us about the subject’s childhood and all that. Now they have some Entertainment Weekly reporter talking. I’m not making this as clear as I want, but suffice it to say the Biographies are shit now. As for Ice Road Truckers…Anyone see the show on The History Channel that came out well before IRT about how that road got started? THAT was fascinating shit. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/47 "2009-02-10T17:06:33Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > Wouldn’t that be PBS? Well, maybe - there are actually two PBS channels out of Buffalo - 17 and 23. Here in Toronto, 17 is the only one available on cable - you need a pretty good antenna to get 23, which supposedly has the better concert/opera/ballet/theatre line-up. PBS seems to be good for a bunch of BritComs and Mystery shows (that, curiously, don’t show up on BBC Canada nor on the Mystery network.) We just got Bell Express Vu, and I’ve been slowly sifting my way through the various packages and bundles, but I find myself humming Bruce Springsteen’s ‘57 channels and nothing’s on’ in alternation with Neil Young’s ‘Piece of Crap’. Probably just a coincidence… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/48 "2009-02-11T13:51:27Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > How is it not history? It happened in our past, therefore it is history. In which one of your history classes in grade school or college did you cover dinosaurs? Nobody’s disputing that dinosaurs existed in the past but they didn’t exist in **our** past. So far as the social science of history is concerned dinosaurs don’t belong under the history umbrella. A paleontologist is not a historian. Odesio ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/49 "2009-02-11T16:33:27Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > In which one of your history classes in grade school or college did you cover dinosaurs? Nobody’s disputing that dinosaurs existed in the past but they didn’t exist in **our** past. So far as the social science of history is concerned dinosaurs don’t belong under the history umbrella. A paleontologist is not a historian. > > Odesio To answer your question, I never covered dinos in a history class. You made your point well…I was talking “history” in a very broad term. I can very much see what you mean in that it’s not “our” history, and how a paleontologist isn’t a historian. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/50 "2009-02-11T17:15:52Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I’ll issue a challenge right here and now: name one reasonably high-profile cable network which _tightened_ up its format and aimed for a more upscale, if limited, audience, by appealing to the highest common denominator. I, being the eternal idealist, suspect there must be (have been) some, but I can’t for the life of me think of any at all… HBO. They started out airing _Porky’s_ twenty-seven times each week. They tested the waters of original programming with stuff like _Arliss._ Then they discovered a market for quality when they aired _The Sopranos._ From _Porky’s_ to _Rome_ and _The Wire_ – seems like a pretty clear arc to me. (I’ll admit, _Trueblood_ is something of an aberration, and not a harbinger of continued good things.) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/51 "2009-02-11T17:36:54Z")
**Odesio** : Your point is well taken - I was taught that [History Begins at Sumer](http://www.amazon.com/History-Begins-Sumer-Thirty-Nine-Recorded/dp/0812212762) as well. That being said, I find fact based programming on subjects such as paleontology, archaeology and paleo-zoology infinitely more interesting and closer to the channel’s mandate than programming on crypto-zoology and fringe ‘science’. I don’t know if I would call them examples of a _reasonably high-profile cable network which tightened up its format and aimed for a more upscale, if limited, audience, by appealing to the highest common denominator_ (from **John DiFool** ), but both the Golf Channel and HGTV seem to be remaining stable rather than decaying. I submit that it is hugely due to their sponsors’ desire to sell their stuff through infomercials disguised as programming rather than any sort of artistic integrity, but perhaps I am being too cynical. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/52 "2009-02-11T17:51:00Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > In my book, the History Channel gets a pass on any crazy shows they have because they also air _The Universe_. Of course, that doesn’t fit in too much with the channel, but it’s still a great show. I was watching The Universe episode last night that deals with faultline earthquake prediction and how particular rock compositions may exert specific influences upon it when I noticed it was on of all things the History Channel and, of course, immediately thought of this thread. Great show, strange channel pairing. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/53 "2009-02-13T14:13:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I would think dinosaurs would be more of a science show, though-wouldn’t it? > > When they do the “UFO” stuff, do they do the history of folklore, or ghost stories or legends, or actual UFO stuff. Because I used to love when they did “Haunted History”, and explained the stories behind it, and how the legends came about-like Vlad the Impaler=Dracula, or whatever. > > Folklore can be interesting history-like the Loch Ness Monster-if they talk about how the legend goes back to the 500s, and the history of THAT-not the so-called “monster”, but the all the stories and folk tales through the years. Because, like it or not, folklore IS part of culture. > > But the HCI is great-I saw a program about Ivan the Terrible the other day, and it was fascinating. The first time I saw a Roswell documentary on the History Channel, I went, “Hmm, that was interesting.” It’s when every other show on there started resembling a bad episode of the X-Files that I tuned out. And yes finding out about the folklore behind, say, Bigfoot, can be somewhat interesting. But watching the same grainy footage of someone walking around in a sasquatch costume, and hearing a narrator about “what lurks in the woods” can get pretty old pretty quick. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/54 "2009-02-13T14:37:04Z")
What happened to the History channel? I’d damn sure want to know. They used to have interesting programming. I could tune in one night and catch stuff about almost any historical figure, then the history of pickling, followed by famous duels throughout time. Now they seem to continuously show “Modern Marvels” which is interesting , but not interesting enough to be on 2 to 4 hours an evening. trhe Universe? Interesting but geez, isn’t that more suited for the Discovery Channel? Even the monstor shows they’ve been playing seem out of place. What happened to history? Sad, imho. At least when they were mining out WWII it was historical. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/55 "2009-02-13T16:25:01Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I’ll issue a challenge right here and now: name one reasonably high-profile cable network which _tightened_ up its format and aimed for a more upscale, if limited, audience, by appealing to the highest common denominator. I, being the eternal idealist, suspect there must be (have been) some, but I can’t for the life of me think of any at all… I think USA may be a contender. They used to be pretty bad, but with _Mon_k, _psyche_, _Burn Notice_, and _In Plain Sight_, they seem to be pushing hard to get better. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/56 "2009-02-13T16:31:39Z")
Spike hits its target audience pretty well, though “manswers” is stupid as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/57 "2009-02-13T17:49:45Z")
Yesterday was the 200th birthday of both Lincoln and Darwin. What could scream “Lineup” louder? A two hour Plutarchian dual biography of them would even be in order, could be great, but if it’s out of your budget then at least pull your best Lincoln documentary out of the dry ice and your best Darwin documentary and show them consecutively. Instead it was the usual lineup of prison gangs and truckers and a CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD episode on an Australian gold rush town. Their executives are evidently all former widget manufacturers. (There is a documentary on the plot to kidnap Lincoln’s dead body this weekend, but something on his life might be interesting as well; apparently nobody ever tried to steal Darwin’s corpse or he might have been in there as well.) It’s rumored that when Lincoln’s coffin was opened he was holding a brass plaque with the date on which Nostradamus’s coffin had been opened a century before, and that in skipping letters on the plaque, it predicted Kathy Griffin’s divorce. Perhaps this will be on there. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/58 "2009-02-13T19:30:25Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > [Network Decay.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay) > [@tvtropes](#): > > The Golf Channel shows golf, The History Channel shows history programs, and so on. Some channels, however… It’s ironic the TV Tropes used the Golf Channel and the History Channel as examples of networks that have stuck to their original concept. After all, the Golf Channel has devolved into nothing but reality shows like The Real Caddyshack and paranormal crap like Fairway Crop Circles. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/59 "2009-02-14T21:04:39Z")
> [@MN\_Maenad](#): > > I think USA may be a contender. They used to be pretty bad, but with _Mon_k, _psyche_, _Burn Notice_, and _In Plain Sight_, they seem to be pushing hard to get better. I was just thinking about how USA improved over the past 20 years. When it first went on the air, it was pretty bad except for late night programming (anyone remember Night Flight?). They used to have lots of wrestling, erotic thrillers without the T&A, straight-to-video movies, and the like. Now there’s a lot of decent original programming. No Night Flight, unfortunately. ESPN has improved quite a bit from its early days, where they broadcast more than their share of oddball sports like caber tossing, Aussie Rules chess and the like. Maybe it’s more mainstream sports, but the days when odds were pretty good that you’d tune in to a bodybuilder pulling boxcars with a rope clenched to his teeth are long gone. I’d also say that Comedy Central has improved from what it was 10 years ago, although there’s still too many straight-to-video 1980s/1990s teen/college themed movies for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058/60 "2009-02-15T01:25:53Z")
Just to put the cat among the pigeons, has anyone considered writing to the History Channel and linking this thread? It may not help, but they ought to know that people are this dissatisfied. Try here - [thc.viewerrelations@aetv.com](mailto:thc.viewerrelations@aetv.com) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-history-channel/485058.md?page=4)