The history channels, a story of us

[nadinbrzezinski]

Is a mess. High production values, but no coherency.

I like history, but lord, what a mess.

[madinmaryland]

1. The History Channel actually shows history?? I thought it was all about biker build offs and

guys stabbing fish in rivers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Those shows pay for this.

The American Revolution was incredible...this is scattered all over.

(I hate auto correct)

[madinmaryland]

14. Posting from your "smart"phone again!!

lol

I think I am starting to resemble my last sentence in my sig line! I dropped my iPhone in the river several weeks back and it slid under a large boulder. I was finally able to get out ten days later during the day and was able to recover it. Damn near froze my arm off. I put it in a baggy of rice for a few days, and I'll be damned but the thing turned on with the little apple logo and booted right up! The battery was shot to hell and it would only run for a few minutes at a time. I ended up exchanging it at the Apple store for a small fee.

If only I hadn't decided to see how the Dallas Cowboys were doing.

:ugh:

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. My Ipad

But yes.

Good you recovered it though.

[madinmaryland]

17. God recovered it??? No. I recovered it!

Damn near froze my arm off! Water is freaking cold this time of year!!

[amerikat]

3. I use History Channel as a reference to what I need to fact check

and do more research on. Sad but true.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. A few American Historians ave a few choice words for it

I am trained and I tried to do a class as scattered as this...the dates are right, the data (for a change) is right, I know the timelines, and lord this is jumping all over.

[Populist_Prole]

5. The spin-off 'Military Channel' and 'Military History Channel' are almost unwatchable now

They used to be more meaty documentaries but I can tell a definite conscious shift in their programming now. It's been cheapened and more superficial and the content is clearly designed to resonate with the flag-waving neocon "USA! USA! USA!" crowd. It's SO obvious.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Yup

It is sad.

[WCGreen]

19. Remember when the Bio channel had bio's of historical people instead of...

the Olson twins or Joe the Plumber.

When Arts and Entertainment had entertainment about the arts.

Or when the History Channel didn't show ridiculous shows such as Ancient Aliens.

Every thing is being reduced to the lowest common denominator.

[HiPointDem]

22. it's weird how all those channels melded into an indistinguishable programming blob. anyone

know why (some specific reason, not just the usual?)

[Hugin]

31. There's a huge and very quiet consolidation underway.

Scripps Interactive is being bought out... (By Disney?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripps_Networks_Interactive

I don't know the prime driver, but, I suspect it's competition from things like Roku and Hulu.

[HiPointDem]

35. thanks. i felt that might be the reason, but the work of doing the research -- on all these

things -- is just too much to keep track of as an individual, & the media doesn't usually put the big ptcture together.

[amerikat]

6. For all it's faults

It was way better than the history of us or whatever it was called, which was a serial bank of america advert. Slaves were free'd..boa was there. Defeated the red menace..boa was there. When the light bulb was invented they think they threw the switch. F the history channel

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. That was American Exceptionalism on steroids

At least this is not the triumph of the west.

[Hayabusa]

39. It was still better than the

Men of Industry, or whatever the heck it was called. Whole thing just smelled of Republican talking points. Especially when you consider when it was released.

[marybourg]

8. The right wing points to this channel as evidence

that we don't need PBS any more. Private industry has stepped up to do the job. And - it's the only channel that most cable users admit to watching.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I know.

[ejpoeta]

29. I used to LOVE watching the history channel when it had history stuff on it.

When it turned into the end of the world alien channel I stopped watching. And then we got rid of directv altogether and just stream online. The story of us was on Netflix. Not sure if it is anymore. They have a few ken burns documentaries and had a couple of Rachel Maddow's documentaries too. I wish we could get PBS to come in. I wanted to watch that dustbowl one. I love watching PBS.

I was very upset when the History channel changed. I guess that is why they have just the H now. Like TLC which used to be the learning channel. All you learn there is how reality tv is cheaper than actual programming.

[marybourg]

34. You can watch the Dustbowl on line by going to PBS Videos Online

[ejpoeta]

38. thanks! i will definitely do that. was so looking forward to it.

i love ken burns documentaries.

[eShirl]

9. But it's EduTainTional!

[KittyWampus]

12. For those without a lot of education> it presents a timeline of historical events in a way

that might be memorable.

Perhaps it might inspire a few people to read more on a subject.

I thought it was kind of highly polished fluff too... but appreciated the fact it was presenting basic historical information in a very palatable form for fellow citizens who might learn something.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. The problem is that it is jumping all over

And speaking of Pizarro (not by name) in Peru before Columbus managed to bump on the New Word is...shall we say...confusing.

I mean just a generation difference.

That is my critique of it.

Hey, production values are there, so hope it leads to people reading on some of these events.

[Aristus]

16. I turned it off in frustration after a half-hour or so.

The show was repeating as historical fact American myths that have been debunked, like Paul Revere's Ride, etc.

I was very disappointed, but refused to watch any further.

[LeftInTX]

24. The show is not cohesive. Nothing new.

[Lasher]

18. I was watching How the States got their Shapes.

They were covering South Carolina, and they mentioned Joe Wilson's "You lie!" moment. They glorified him for this disgrace, saying he was an example of South Carolina's free spirited people or some kind of crap like that. I was shocked to see the episode so politicized.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

21. I thought "How the States Got Their Shapes" would be really interesting. I set my DVR to record the

series. There were five episodes ready for me when I finally got a chance to watch. Less then five minutes into the show I knew I'd be deleting all of them without even finishing the first one.

I really don't need to see people, most of whom are not intelligent, funny, charming, or entertaining in any way, guessing what might be true about history. The whole side-show tone of the program just did not appeal to me. I like Ken Burns docs, but I can also enjoy other approaches. But I don't care for stupid.

Too bad. It could have been a great series.

[Lasher]

23. Do you still have the South Carolina segment?

I have tried unsuccessfully to find a transcript of the Joe Wilson part that I mentioned.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

27. No, sorry, I really did nuke them all right then and there. We run low on space, so nothing stays

longer than it has to on our DVR.

But you can see them online. Is this it?

If not, here's the episode guide. Too hard for me to figure which episode it would be since they aren't listed by state. Good luck.

[Lasher]

30. Yes, I think that's it.

Last edited Sun Dec 2, 2012, 04:23 PM - Edit history (2)

The Rebels of South Carolina.

My PC sound is messed up. Guess I'd better go ahead and re-seat all my cables & cards. I've been putting that off.

Edit to say: That is a 2 minute trailer of the episode. Thanks all the same for the link.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

36. They do say "watch full episodes online," so maybe at the other link I posted. If not, just go to

the site and look around if you're still interested.

[LeftInTX]

25. On the other hand, I like How the States Got Their Shapes

It's quirky. I like the side-show tone. I usually learn something new, bits of trivia, when I watch that show. It like the down home appeal. I think the host is a former comedian.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

26. I could say something snarky about "former comedian," but (even though I just did), horses for

courses, as the Brits would say.

(Maybe if it comes on again I'll give it another chance, but probably not.)

[dmr]

20. I tried watching it, but it wasn't coherent.

It was all over the place. What a waste of air time.

[obxhead]

28. I was thinking about the HC the other day while flipping channels

They will have a lot of open programing slots come 12/22/12

I've been recording the Mankind: the story of us, but have been letting the series finish before I even start watching it. Just looking at the series titles it seemed like they were going about it in an odd way.

Oh well, hopefully it's good overall anyway.

[Hugin]

32. The height of hilarity for me has been "The Men Who Built America".

Raw election propoganda... Rendered hilarious by the results of the actual election demonstrating that most Americans see right through it.



I don't know which is funnier... The ivory tower Randian thinking that produced a show like that, or the fact it was probably required viewing for Romney's campaign staff.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

37. I recorded those shows but deleted them after they had Donald Trump as one of the talking heads. My

husband ended up re-recording them and watching them. How bad was it?

[Hugin]

40. Pretty bad.

As I implied, it was more an Objectivist love fest than any sort of realistic reality based treatment of History.

Which irked me even more in that, YES I do believe in some of those personalities covered in that series and I've read their biographies in some detail. So, that show was a real slap in the face to someone who knows anything. Pure propaganda.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

41. I was doing a search hoping to find an article or blog post that gave an overview of the

distortions presented in the show. My husband would be interested in reading something like that. Unfortunately all I found were posts in forums and he will not slog through that.

It will either amuse or annoy you to hear that in my search I found these two comments (and others similar.)

From glocktalk.com forums:

I watched The Men Who Built America and midway through the series I detected a definite "progressive" bias that smacks of political propaganda.

And this from www.ar15.com forums:

The Men who Built America on History channel - AR15. ... the left has scored a hit via entertainment with this class warfare propaganda piece.

Amazing.

[Hugin]

42. Well, for one thing it doesn't surprise me.

I could go into great depth dissecting the show illustrating how it is Objectivist (Randian/Libertarian) in POV. But, I don't think this is the venue to do so.

Let's leave it at your superb spotting of Trump's involvement. Good catch, BTW.

Haha! The best part is the quotes are both from gun forums!

But, what interests me about the quotes you found is how clearly they illustrate the lack of understanding and depth of knowledge those who claim to follow the libertarian ideals have for their own philosophy.

My guess is that because it's on TV (on a channel other than Fox) and TV "has a liberal bias" the show must be "liberal bias". They will maintain that view until told differently by someone they see as an authority figure tells them otherwise, but, alas Wayne and Reagan are both dead. )

[Viva_La_Revolution]

33. agreed.

I've been watching it anyway, everything else (new) is just as bad, it seems.