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#3768540 - 04/16/13 05:01 PM Bullet Points on the Military Channel  
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I made it through about 10 minutes of the program before I changed the station. To me it seemed to be so hastily put togther and contrived.

http://military.discovery.com/tv-shows/bullet-points

I think the the final straw was when they exhibited a 3d model of a Hellcat and presented it as the Wildcat.

You can also tell that some of the narrators were coached beforehand concerning expressive and or dramatic speaking.rolleyes I rather doubt that anyone who knows their WW2 aviation history would have found any reason to stay tuned. sigh


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#3768558 - 04/16/13 05:27 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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I think many of these "documentary" narrators get the same training that tv news anchors do. It's all about sensationalizing as much as you can so you can grab and maintain the attention of viewers.


“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.”
#3768567 - 04/16/13 05:39 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted By: PanzerMeyer
I think many of these "documentary" narrators get the same training that tv news anchors do. It's all about sensationalizing as much as you can so you can grab and maintain the attention of viewers.


Well a laughable attempt was made here if they were trying to make anything seem compelling for me.

Of course I've read so much about and watched so many military documentaries on Midway..


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#3768571 - 04/16/13 05:49 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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Originally Posted By: Boilerplate*
Well a laughable attempt was made here if they were trying to make anything seem compelling for me.

That's because you're not the demographic the execs over at Discovery Channel are trying to cater to. wink


“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.”
#3768605 - 04/16/13 06:30 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted By: PanzerMeyer
Originally Posted By: Boilerplate*
Well a laughable attempt was made here if they were trying to make anything seem compelling for me.

That's because you're not the demographic the execs over at Discovery Channel are trying to cater to. wink


Ok.. I'm game. Who then?


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#3768619 - 04/16/13 06:47 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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Originally Posted By: Boilerplate*
Ok.. I'm game. Who then?
All of the formerly niche cable networks like Discovery, TLC, A&E, Military, etc. are aiming for the 18-35 demographic. Some networks like TLC more specifically are going for the female 18-35 demographic. The 18-35 demographic is what tv advertisers covet the most so hence that's where most of the potential advertising revenue lies.

And when it comes to things like military documentaries, it's my belief that the networks are going for a more casual viewer who knows little to nothing about the hardware and/or the historical context.

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 04/16/13 06:52 PM.

“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.”
#3768622 - 04/16/13 06:51 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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So I'm being left behind..

Those b*****ds! mad wink


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#3768631 - 04/16/13 07:11 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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IMHO you have to pick and choose, to find the real gems.
And there are some, once in a while.
Where else are you going to find anything worth watching?
Beats Oprah or Ellen.

Sad it's not 'all' historical.
But I'd bet my last dollar, that there are more guys here who know more about WWII, than some of the people producing some of the WWII documentaries we're watching. So it's a 'hard to please' crowd. Nothing wrong with that. But most people are just easy to fool, so they don't do their homework.
Glad some aren't. It keeps them honest IMO.
I like watching the real film footage. The faces tell you more than the narrator. That's real.

Beats watching some guy shoot alligators.


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#3768634 - 04/16/13 07:19 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Murphy]  
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Quote:
So it's a 'hard to please' crowd. Nothing wrong with that. But most people are just easy to fool, so they don't do their homework.
Correct and the main point here is that the members of the "hard to please crowd" are greatly outnumbered by the members of the "easy to fool" crowd so you can see why the cable tv networks do what they do.

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 04/16/13 07:19 PM.

“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.”
#3768638 - 04/16/13 07:21 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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I agree with Murphy - it's frequently better than just about anything else that's on, even with the flaws.

And I don't get the demographic approach either. Why take something that appeals to a certain group, then try to make it appeal to another group, which in the past has almost always made neither group want to watch it? How many 18-35 year olds go looking for a documentary-like show about WWII these days anyway? My guess is that anyone who does decide to watch it knows enough to spot the obvious inaccuracies and wouldn't need the over-dramatization to make them want to watch it, and in fact it would turn them off.

It's like serving a great vegetable tray at a health food restaurant, but putting cake icing all over the veggies to appeal to any non-health food fans that happen to stop in.


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#3768654 - 04/16/13 07:44 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Arthonon]  
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Originally Posted By: Arthonon
I agree with Murphy - it's frequently better than just about anything else that's on, even with the flaws.


Yeah I know. There's not much room to be choosy anymore. It's also a niche viewership - just like most in this forum.

But golly day... This really was one of the poorest efforts I've seen to date. And they always show the same old mid to late war film clips out of context with the story at hand.

Maybe I've just seen too many of them.


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#3768655 - 04/16/13 07:50 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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Originally Posted By: Boilerplate*
Maybe I've just seen too many of them.
I know what you are talking about. One flaw of most of the really well made WW2 documentaries of the 70's and 80's is how they overused a lot of the same footage.


“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.”
#3768674 - 04/16/13 08:25 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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I just watched the old Wings of the Luftwaffe series. Freaking masterpiece compared to the crud they're putting out now. Great narration too.

#3768690 - 04/16/13 08:54 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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There was actually another one I saw recently - narrated by Stacy Keach that dealt with evolution of air combat. The name escapes me, however it seemed to me to be a superior effort that went as far to explain gun calibration in the early Great War scouts and then further on with stories of the fatal episodes regarding some of the test flights whilst attempting to exceed the sound barrier. The one at Farnborough in particular - and how it was solved later on. They also had current footage of some WWI scouts flying around at Rhinebeck.


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#3768706 - 04/16/13 09:30 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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I think that one narrated by Stacy Keach is Warplane. It was pretty good, I thought, but the old Wings shows are hard to beat. Nothing's perfect, but those were the better ones.

What I think I'm most interested in now are shows that might give more insight into specific situations. The Dogfights show did that a little bit, and I don't think was horribly inaccurate, but I got tired of having them recap what they showed just before a break every time they came back from one.


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#3768708 - 04/16/13 09:36 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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Yes, plus the narration was over the top/sensationalized.

#3768712 - 04/16/13 09:42 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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True. I remember the first Dogfights show pretty well because they talked about and to "Duke" Cunningham and Willy Driscoll about their famous dogfight, and I had worked with Bill Driscoll (as I knew him) for a few years prior to that, so it was interesting to see him on TV.


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#3768723 - 04/16/13 10:03 PM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: Boilerplate*]  
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I'm just grateful that it isn't another reality TV show. I can't be another female cat fight, especially when they blur out the ripped clothes. biggrin


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#3768845 - 04/17/13 03:36 AM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: HarryM]  
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Originally Posted By: HarryM
I just watched the old Wings of the Luftwaffe series. Freaking masterpiece compared to the crud they're putting out now. Great narration too.
That one and Wings of the Red Star are classics IMHO.


“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.”
#3768858 - 04/17/13 03:58 AM Re: Bullet Points on the Military Channel [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted By: PanzerMeyer
Originally Posted By: Boilerplate*
Maybe I've just seen too many of them.
I know what you are talking about. One flaw of most of the really well made WW2 documentaries of the 70's and 80's is how they overused a lot of the same footage.


I have seen the same footage used in dozens of documentaries since the 70s when I first started watching.

But, in the last few years I have noticed a lot of previously unreleased footage from WW2. I read a small book on WW2 censorship and there is hundreds of miles of film shot during the war that was censored mainly due to the vivid casualties the scale of the losses in some cases and identifiable GIs. That is why we have seen the same footage over and over again.


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