Not much of a TV Fan, prefer my computer. Cant stand reality shows soaps etc. I have been a satellite TV subscriber for many years for one primary reason the Discovery Channels/History Chanel/PBS. basically documentary's. But for a considerable time now IMO they have gone down hill the quality of the shows are not what they were. Do any other Discovery Channel subscribers feel the same way.
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
All of television has been dumbed down even further than it has been, which is incredible when one thinks about it.
While I understand the junk of the History 2 channel (or, as I like to think of it, the Alternate History Channel) like Ancient Aliens and it's sister show, Searching for Aliens, some of the slide is inexplicable. The National Geographic channel hosts such gems as Doomsday Preppers and Chasing UFOs, for jimney's sake!
The issue is the huge number of channels all chasing for an increasingly divided viewership; one would think it would spawn super niche programming, but the opposite is true; all of them are trying like hell to appeal to a larger audience through whatever means they can, and it turns out most Americans like to watch either dumb people with anger management problems interact or smart people with really dumb ideas on how the world works.
Btw, I love Ancient Aliens. The incredible fallacy in their jumping logic simply turns my brain off and it never fails to put me to sleep; I can only think of a few episodes I remained awake for, and usually it's because the wife is watching with me and shouting at it for trying to connect one unrelated thing to another as a proof.
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 19,581Raw Kryptonite
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
Raw Kryptonite
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
Veteran
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 19,581
MS
We trimmed back to the $57(?) package, since I don't seem to be keeping up with F1 as intended, but there are plenty of shows we enjoy. Velocity channel alone keeps me entertained--all car shows! We watch Naked and Alone now, it's pretty interesting. Don't know why they did the naked thing, it's only weird for a minute or so. I still watch a fair number of fishing shows. We love Pitbulls & Parolees, even have Villalobos set up on Amazon Smile for donations. We DVR'd all of Castle and have been going through that. None of that would be on Netflix or youtube. I don't think those are so much reality shows, since they're more about real interests than fake drama, ironically. There's a lot of good entertainment out there.
Cracked.com had a little write-up last year explaining why these channels suck now. It's chiefly thanks to Clinton killing the Telecommunications Act in 1998 and removing the requirements that each broadcasted set aside a certain amount of airtime for programming in the public interest. Now the free market rules and that means everything's got to pander to the widest demographic (or lowest common denominator). As the majority of the population are mouth-breathing retards, we get programming that reflects their tastes.
Anyway, here's the article:
4 Signs That Educational TV Is Totally Dead By David Christopher Bell August 12, 2013
It's hard to believe now, but there was a brief moment in history when the idea of "educational television" was a godsend for a world being sullied by the two-headed demon temptress of MTV and Skinemax. Yes, back in the early years of cable, there were entire channels devoted to educating the masses: Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel (TLC), et cetera. Unfortunately, something terrible has happened in the last few years and the idea of using TV to make people smarter has been flushed down the toilet. Here's why:
#4. "Educational" Is a Bad Word
Considering that it's typically called "educational programming," you'd assume that the first thing TV executives would look for in an educational show is whether or not it teaches something. That's what one Emmy-nominated children's show host thought after launching a hugely popular program that taught American Sign Language to children. People loved and awarded her first show -- why not launch a whole other show that taught kids stuff?
Here's why: Because her new concept was considered "too educational for television." At least that's what Disney and PBS said. The problem, according to creator Rachel Coleman, is that she's trying to package too much information -- in fact, a whole year's worth of preschool -- into a series. Never mind that Sesame Street kind of had the same mandate and delivered with enormous success, or that people actually like it when kids learn crap while watching the idiot box. PBS focused on a whole Jim Henson Company series about dinosaur facts instead, which is still neat in its own right. But still -- how the hell can a kid's show be "too educational"? Hell, we might as well pack in all the extra nuggets of knowledge we can before the kids settle in to a solid seven decades of watching COPS.
#3. Educational Channels Just Lie to Us Now
When a channel devoted to education airs a documentary, people tend to assume -- thanks to the very definition of the word "documentary" -- that the filmmakers didn't just make #%&*$# up. (Fun fact: They're called "documentaries" because they document reality!) Otherwise, we'd call them "Actor Show Fakery Cavalcade" or some #%&*$#.
So obviously viewers got more than a little pissed off to see Discovery kicking off Shark Week with a "documentary" about finding evidence that megalodons still exist, only to end with a three-second disclaimer telling everyone it was complete hogwash. For our very few readers who weren't in on the controversy, the megalodon was a gigantic prehistoric shark that's been dead for millions of years. The Discovery Channel, on the other hand, knew said fact when airing this crockumentary.
Unfortunately, 79 percent of viewers assumed this was a real documentary. But the worst part is that the idea of faking educational documentaries isn't anything new. It happened just last year when Animal Planet ran another fake show about the existence of mermaids. And like the megalodon, people assumed they weren't just blowing smoke out of their reverse food holes.
The confusion forced the #%&*$# National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a statement saying mermaids weren't real, because they were actually getting calls from people scared of mermaids. Try not to think about that for too long.
#2. The Ratings for Crap Is Too High Not to Air Crap
Of the aforementioned fake shark and mermaid documentaries, can you guess how well they did? Did you just guess "a dump truck full of ratings"? Good job, because that's how well they did! The megalodon show got 4.8 million viewers -- better than any show ever on Shark Week. So while the scientific community might accuse them of dumbing down the educational discourse of America, wadded-up $100 bills make extremely good earplugs.
And that's the sad bottom line here, as Animal Planet's mermaid sequel also topped out as being the most successful show EVER on that station, making it mysteriously more popular than the Puppy Bowl and no doubt setting up yet another sequel down the line. Brace yourself for Appalachian Satyrs: Fact or Even More Fact and Mermaids 2: #%&*$# Science.
Heck, when Nik Wallenda walked the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, Discovery got 13 million viewers all waiting to watch him die (he didn't). Because that's what America wants -- after all, these are the same idiots who think mermaids exist for some reason.
#1. All This Dreadful Stupidity Is Because of One Company
You might notice at this point that this trend seems to transcend the various stations. Fake documentaries and reality shows pretty much haunt all of the educational programming out there. Heck, the Discovery and History channels alone are promoting such gems as Airplane Repo, Amish Mafia, Naked Castaway, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars, and Swamp People. And as much as we might like to, let's not forget what's happening over at the "Learning" Channel.
So what's the deal with that? Why are so many educational stations taking the low road? The answer is simple: They're all owned by the same people. Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, the Science Channel, and the Military Channel -- these are all under the same company called Discovery Networks, a group that back in 2007 began a station-wide "rebranding" under a brand new CEO moved over from NBC. One year after that, we got Toddlers & Tiaras.
But it's not all that bad. Thanks to Discovery Networks' move out of education, PBS -- the OG of learning -- has seen a much needed spike in ratings from people who are still able to learn without the aid of CGI sharks or adorable and irrelevant animals. Of course, the fact that Downton Abbey is the highest-rated show they've ever had means that the best thing PBS has going for it is fictional dramas. So, #%&*$#.
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,486PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,486
Miami, FL USA
For those of you who don't live in the US, surely there are channels that are far superior to the Discovery Channel? I mean, why have such an over-reliance on one cable channel?
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
History, Discovery and TLC are none of these things anymore. It's all nothing but highly scripted reality TV #%&*$#. The last decent show I saw was Frozen Planet, and that was a BBC doc rebroadcast on Discovery.
....But for a considerable time now IMO they have gone down hill the quality of the shows are not what they were. Do any other Discovery Channel subscribers feel the same way.
Absolutely. And not just about Discovery, but about all the channels that used to be good - history, outdoor life, A&E, TLC etc. It seems all that any of these channels carry anymore is "hillbilly garbage auctioners" type crap, almost 24/7. Who watches this stuff?
Edit - checking the channels right now, discovery is showing some crap about drag-racing, history is showing "american pickers", TLC is showing "Say yes to the dress" and A&E is showing "Storage wars". If I didn't know any better, I'd say the networks are TRYING to make people stupid.
Cracked.com had a little write-up last year explaining why these channels suck now. It's chiefly thanks to Clinton killing the Telecommunications Act in 1998 and removing the requirements that each broadcasted set aside a certain amount of airtime for programming in the public interest. Now the free market rules and that means everything's got to pander to the widest demographic (or lowest common denominator). As the majority of the population are mouth-breathing retards, we get programming that reflects their tastes.
Anyway, here's the article:
4 Signs That Educational TV Is Totally Dead By David Christopher Bell August 12, 2013
It's hard to believe now, but there was a brief moment in history when the idea of "educational television" was a godsend for a world being sullied by the two-headed demon temptress of MTV and Skinemax. Yes, back in the early years of cable, there were entire channels devoted to educating the masses: Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel (TLC), et cetera. Unfortunately, something terrible has happened in the last few years and the idea of using TV to make people smarter has been flushed down the toilet. Here's why:
#4. "Educational" Is a Bad Word
Considering that it's typically called "educational programming," you'd assume that the first thing TV executives would look for in an educational show is whether or not it teaches something. That's what one Emmy-nominated children's show host thought after launching a hugely popular program that taught American Sign Language to children. People loved and awarded her first show -- why not launch a whole other show that taught kids stuff?
Here's why: Because her new concept was considered "too educational for television." At least that's what Disney and PBS said. The problem, according to creator Rachel Coleman, is that she's trying to package too much information -- in fact, a whole year's worth of preschool -- into a series. Never mind that Sesame Street kind of had the same mandate and delivered with enormous success, or that people actually like it when kids learn crap while watching the idiot box. PBS focused on a whole Jim Henson Company series about dinosaur facts instead, which is still neat in its own right. But still -- how the hell can a kid's show be "too educational"? Hell, we might as well pack in all the extra nuggets of knowledge we can before the kids settle in to a solid seven decades of watching COPS.
#3. Educational Channels Just Lie to Us Now
When a channel devoted to education airs a documentary, people tend to assume -- thanks to the very definition of the word "documentary" -- that the filmmakers didn't just make #%&*$# up. (Fun fact: They're called "documentaries" because they document reality!) Otherwise, we'd call them "Actor Show Fakery Cavalcade" or some #%&*$#.
So obviously viewers got more than a little pissed off to see Discovery kicking off Shark Week with a "documentary" about finding evidence that megalodons still exist, only to end with a three-second disclaimer telling everyone it was complete hogwash. For our very few readers who weren't in on the controversy, the megalodon was a gigantic prehistoric shark that's been dead for millions of years. The Discovery Channel, on the other hand, knew said fact when airing this crockumentary.
Unfortunately, 79 percent of viewers assumed this was a real documentary. But the worst part is that the idea of faking educational documentaries isn't anything new. It happened just last year when Animal Planet ran another fake show about the existence of mermaids. And like the megalodon, people assumed they weren't just blowing smoke out of their reverse food holes.
The confusion forced the #%&*$# National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a statement saying mermaids weren't real, because they were actually getting calls from people scared of mermaids. Try not to think about that for too long.
#2. The Ratings for Crap Is Too High Not to Air Crap
Of the aforementioned fake shark and mermaid documentaries, can you guess how well they did? Did you just guess "a dump truck full of ratings"? Good job, because that's how well they did! The megalodon show got 4.8 million viewers -- better than any show ever on Shark Week. So while the scientific community might accuse them of dumbing down the educational discourse of America, wadded-up $100 bills make extremely good earplugs.
And that's the sad bottom line here, as Animal Planet's mermaid sequel also topped out as being the most successful show EVER on that station, making it mysteriously more popular than the Puppy Bowl and no doubt setting up yet another sequel down the line. Brace yourself for Appalachian Satyrs: Fact or Even More Fact and Mermaids 2: #%&*$# Science.
Heck, when Nik Wallenda walked the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, Discovery got 13 million viewers all waiting to watch him die (he didn't). Because that's what America wants -- after all, these are the same idiots who think mermaids exist for some reason.
#1. All This Dreadful Stupidity Is Because of One Company
You might notice at this point that this trend seems to transcend the various stations. Fake documentaries and reality shows pretty much haunt all of the educational programming out there. Heck, the Discovery and History channels alone are promoting such gems as Airplane Repo, Amish Mafia, Naked Castaway, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars, and Swamp People. And as much as we might like to, let's not forget what's happening over at the "Learning" Channel.
So what's the deal with that? Why are so many educational stations taking the low road? The answer is simple: They're all owned by the same people. Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, the Science Channel, and the Military Channel -- these are all under the same company called Discovery Networks, a group that back in 2007 began a station-wide "rebranding" under a brand new CEO moved over from NBC. One year after that, we got Toddlers & Tiaras.
But it's not all that bad. Thanks to Discovery Networks' move out of education, PBS -- the OG of learning -- has seen a much needed spike in ratings from people who are still able to learn without the aid of CGI sharks or adorable and irrelevant animals. Of course, the fact that Downton Abbey is the highest-rated show they've ever had means that the best thing PBS has going for it is fictional dramas. So, #%&*$#.
Back in the 1990's and early 2000's there was only History, Discovery, A&E, TLC for the cable science/educational channels. If you watched any of them then, they focused on documentaries and educational programming. Occasionally an show about how aliens built the sphinx was on but it was few and far between. I would think too that the consistent viewers of those networks were fairly niche. I was surprised when the number of these channels types for even basic cable subscriptions multiplied into H2, Nat Geo, animal planet, Science etc.
My thoughts: the number of channels that were basically into the same type of niche programming was basically saturated so to fill airtime without cross competing each channel is responsible for airing its own line of fluff shows. The reality, mockumentaries, etc started as a trickle and now accounts for the bulk of programming on each.
Only the military channel (now AHC in the US) has any semblance of quality programming remaining. H2 has become an X-Files inspired conspiracy sub-culture history channel. Discover is nothing but blue-collar reality TV. TLC doesn't even pretend to show anything worthwhile and has become an alternate life style station.
What I am curious about is why the typical viewer keeps returning to a lot of this programming. I am specifically interested in the viewership for the numerous UFO hunter/bigfoot hunter/ghost hunter shows that have spawned up on these channels. Basically each is the same: pseudo-scientists believing everything and finding nothing. How many episodes can people watch, see 0 evidence and keep returning to watch the same thing over again?
Btw, I love Ancient Aliens. The incredible fallacy in their jumping logic simply turns my brain off and it never fails to put me to sleep; I can only think of a few episodes I remained awake for, and usually it's because the wife is watching with me and shouting at it for trying to connect one unrelated thing to another as a proof.
I've actually watched this show too back when it started, and the logic that goes into it is a piece of art.
Every episodes I've seen is the same with: Since statement A is a possibility and leads to B and since statement B is also a possibility and leads to C then C is hard evidence for alien astronauts. Mainstream archaeologists refuse to look at the "evidence" because they prefer to tote the status quo.
I'm not gonna lie, Amish Mafia is entertaining and I like the gold mining shows. History is just Pawn Stars and it's spin off shows on constant replay. Never watch it anymore.
TLC's change was so abrupt and weird though. They went from documentaries on the Navy Seals to nothing but reality shows about weddings and overweight kids seemingly overnight. I literally haven't turned that channel on in half a decade.
Nat Geo is the best for still finding documentaries and their reality shows are very well made.
Despite my earlier comments I am not totally against simplifying (for lack of a better word.) Some programs like Tanks/dogfights etc. for younger viewers military history is not exactly The most riveting subject for most young people, I think the program makers know this And are trying to appeal to as many viewers as possible, But I still hold the view the variety and quality of Programing has declined in recent years,
Look for me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or Tic Toc...or anywhere you may frequent, besides SimHq, on the Global Scam Net. Aka, the internet. I am not there, never have been or ever will be, but the fruitless search may be more gratifying then the "content" you might otherwise be exposed to.
"There's a sucker born every minute." Phineas Taylor Barnum
Plus there isn't any reality to them. American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Gold Rush, Deadliest Catch, Airplane Repo, all of them, all have been outed as being totally scripted and fake.
Good post. I'm glad there are other folks that notice how utterly ridiculous these programs are. I just hope this isn't a reflection of the viewership. That would spell bad news for future generations.
Meanwhile I'll just go back to watching Kojak and Columbo reruns on METV. At least you can get a good dose of the '70s culture. In my opinion this is the real History Channel..
Good post. I'm glad there are other folks that notice how utterly ridiculous these programs are. I just hope this isn't a reflection of the viewership. That would spell bad news for future generations.
Meanwhile I'll just go back to watching Kojak and Columbo reruns on METV. At least you can get a good dose of the '70s culture. In my opinion this is the real History Channel..
For example, how the #%&*$# does this garbage end up on TLC?! Seriously, I'm half convinced to move back to New Zealand once my enlistment is up.
