History Channel: "Pawn Stars". A&E: "Duck Dynasty".

[trof]

HAPPENED?

[tammywammy]

1. I like Duck Dynasty.

[trof]

2. OK, then i guess that qualifies as 'entertainment'?

Last edited Wed Mar 6, 2013, 08:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Somehow, I expected better.

[tammywammy]

5. Sure, I think it's entertainment.

They're funny and seem like a really loving family.

To each their own.

[melody]

42. I like Duck Dynasty, too.

It's not the show you think it is. It's very wry and witty in many ways. I didn't watch it either because I thought it was going to be Hee Haw with duck calls.

[Pararescue]

4. Duck Dynasty is cool.

I like how Jase is always screwing with Willy.

My favorite episode was when Godwin got sprayed by the skunk.

[tammywammy]

7. Uncle Si is so funny.

And Jase. Oh goodness, I've laughed so hard watching that show I nearly peed my pants.

Happy, Happy, Happy


I liked when they went on strike.

[Pararescue]

12. My wife's is

winner, winner, turkey dinner.

[ohheckyeah]

64. Hey

Love Uncle Si. It's on right now and I'm watching.

[Logical]

43. For gods sake. Really? n-t

[tammywammy]

51. Yes, I really do like it.

It's funny and the family seems to be really loving.

I also watch Nova, Dallas, and American Greed regularly along with some Family Guy. I'm also a big fan of Our America with Lisa Ling, Nature, and NatGeo's Explorer.

[Logical]

58. You know most the stuff is scripted and discussed? They manufacturer scenes. n-t

[tammywammy]

59. Yes, I know, and don't really care either.

It's light entertainment. After going to work for 10 hours, then three hours at school I enjoy a little fluff while winding down for the night.

To each their own.

[melody]

71. Who cares?

All non-reality, fiction-based shows are scripted. It's the end product that's enjoyable.

Anyone dissing DD hasn't watched more than one episode. I am the product of a southern family, so I know southern humor. This show is very smart and witty. It's Scots-Irish witty.

[Paladin]

114. Hey, If You're Going To Watch Hillbilly Shows, Might As Well Go For The Best:

"Justified" (Tuesday nights, FX channel. Absolutely addictive.....)

[ileus]

119. Justified is the best...

Living where I do it's funny how good the writers of the show are.

[Dawson Leery]

3. You can learn something from history on Pawn Stars.

I must concur though, "reality tv" needs to go away.

[JI7]

15. yes, at least they do focus on the history even though it's mostly fake

people who have gone to the store have said it's mostly full of souvenirs of the cast and a lot of crap with chumlee on it.

[former9thward]

19. I was just at their store a couple months ago.

It was filled with interesting stuff and I did not see anything relating to the cast. Sounds like those "people" were trying to bs you.

[enlightenment]

52. How long did you stand in line?

I drive by there at least once a week and the line is out the door and down the block. When it first started I figured it was a new soup kitchen; I've only seen the program once. Wasn't impressed . . .

[former9thward]

74. I walked right in.

I think the lines you see are people waiting for the filming. I was in the store for about 15-20 minutes and they announced everyone would have to leave because the film crews needed to set up. They said we could come back in about 45 minutes after the filming. When I left I saw a line forming.

[enlightenment]

92. Interesting.

I always see the lines. I have no interest in the place, so have never bothered stopping to inquire why. I did once drive by the place that collects and restores the old appliances - they also have (or had) a reality show, I think. No line there.

[Peter cotton]

16. While I do rather like Pawn Stars, I can't help but wonder

why people aren't just listing their items on Ebay? They would, in many cases, get more money.

[Dawson Leery]

27. In most cases, they would.

Pawn shops are not the place to sell many items, especially silver and gold.

[Mopar151]

30. Cash money, in your hand, ta-day! n/t

[JI7]

50. i think on certain rare, more expensive items people want to be sure it's authentic

with ebay they would worry about being ripped off.

[Peter cotton]

65. That is, in large part, what feedback is for.

If someone has a feedback rating of over 3,000 with 100.0% positive feedback (as I do), a buyer is much more likely to assume they're not selling fake merchandise.

[JI7]

69. but a lot of people who bring something in to pawn shops don't do it regularly

it's a one time thing for some of them. they happen to have something handed down from a family member or they bought something at some yard sale and no longer want and other similar situations.

also a lot of those people don't ahve a good idea of how much their item is worth . there have been a lot of cases where the item ends up not being real or worth as much as they thought it should be .

but for those who do this regularly and have more knowledge i agree that ebay and other places where they can do it directly is better.

[Xithras]

96. But you can't always be sure.

I saw an episode of Pawn Stars recently where they paid a guy $13 grand for a book signed by Shoeless Joe Jackson that appeared to be real. Even the Pawn Stars buyer, who knows his stuff, was convinced that it was real. After sending it out to be authenticated, they found out that it was a very good fake.

If not for his dad freaking out that he spent $13 grand on the book without getting it checked first, he wouldn't have authenticated it at all. He was so convinced that it was real, that he would have just sold it as-is and made it someone elses problem.

An Ebay feedback rating won't help you with problems like that one. You'd be in the same position as the Pawn Stars buyer...$13k poorer and stuck with a worthless book.


FWIW, I've collected coins since I was a kid, and I've found that you really can't sell the valuable ones on Ebay. There are so many fakes out there that the real buyers won't touch the real ones. I posted one of my most valuable, a French gold from the 1300's with a retail value of at least $7000 on Ebay FOUR TIMES, including one with a reserve of only $2500, and never got one bidder. A coin collector in San Francisco, who I connected directly with via another forum, eventually paid me $5800 cash for it.

People are too skittish on Ebay. It's so overrun with fakes that it's not very useful when you need to sell items that may be genuinely rare and valuable.

[Peter cotton]

109. The type of item being sold does make a difference, granted.

Last edited Thu Mar 7, 2013, 04:52 PM - Edit history (1)

I routinely see people successfully selling rare comic books for hundreds to thousands of dollars, for instance...and gold & silver bullion will always fetch more on Ebay than a pawn shop will give you.

[Autumn]

6. I like Duck Dynasty. That and Big Bang Theory are the only two shows I watch.

I really like Duck Dynasty, I can't help it. Sorry

[annabanana]

8. It's the History Channel especially that breaks my heart.

There is JUST SO MUCH American and World history that we need to know.. Documentaries don't cost that much to produce.

Everyone should know about Smedley Butler, for instance. They could run movies like Argo with commentary about how and where poetic licence was taken.

[Brigid]

14. History Channel used to have a show that did exactly that.

It was called "Real to Reel."

[annabanana]

20. Now THAT'S entertainment!. . .n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

18. No one can run Argo on free cable right now, but Discovery did a show about the real operation

‘Argo: Inside Story’ Narrated by Bryan Cranston Airs Saturday February 23 & Sunday February 24 on Discovery'
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/02/20/argo-inside-story-narrated-by-bryan-cranston-airs-saturday-february-23-sunday-february-24-on-discovery/170277/

[shanti]

87. The history channel has definitely changed

I watch a lot of teevee and have noticed a definite trend towards shows on war, guns, and religion on the History Channel. Same with National Geographic channel, especially National Geographic. Nat Geo used to be mostly about animals and nature. It saddens me...

[annabanana]

90. The National Geographic SHOULD have taken their name OFF

this mess.

[loyalsister]

112. That and Discovery

I miss fiction and quality educational programming. I delete them along with QVC and Home and Garden

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Pawn can be interesting at times, but Duck?...

no way.

And each show running all evening long? Neither is worth that.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Broke people need to pawn stuff, and Guns are "In".

.

Hard times: at least three pawn shows and another three around buying storage units to get rich quick.

And guns, not that the Decoy builders are all about guns, but I can think of three shows dedicated to guns

And the end of the world: Preppers, also about guns and hard times!

[pwb]

11. Did Rupert Murdoch buy it?.

Doomsday preppers is one of his too, he owns national geographic channel.

[LibertyLover]

110. Well, that certainly explains a lot

My husband and I watched a couple of episodes of Preppers during its first season and were so turned off by the stupidity and ignorance of 99.9% of the people on it that I don't watch it at all. He catches reruns during the day. The teaser ad for next week's episode is, at least to me, particularly WTF? Some bimbo who claims to be a descendant of either the Hatfields or the McCoys (I can't remember which at the moment) and who lives in rural Tennessee or Kentucky is 'afraid that a nuclear bomb is going to be dropped on me'. So she has her shotgun and her throwing stars and some food and is ready by god to take on that ther nuclear bomb. I turned to my husband and asked, in so many words, why would anyone waste a nuclear weapon on that area? He wasn't sure either. But now knowing that ol' Rup owns the NatGeo channel I understand its programming.

[JI7]

13. too many complaints about all the Hitler, NAzi documentaries

[NutmegYankee]

17. ...

[spin]

26. Idiocracy is one of the best movies I have watched in years. ...

Idiocracy
Idiocracy is a 2006 American film, a satirical science fiction comedy, directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews. The film tells the story of two ordinary people who take part in a top-secret military hibernation experiment, only to awaken 500 years in the future in a dystopian society full of extremely dumb people. Advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism have run rampant and dysgenic pressure has resulted in a uniformly stupid society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

Unfortunately I fear that it might not be just satire but closer to prophesy.

Is pampered humanity getting steadily less intelligent?
Humans reached a peak of intelligence more than 2,000 years ago and it's been downhill ever since, a scientist speculates

Since modern humans emerged from the evolutionary brambles of our ancient ancestry, our bodies and minds have been transforming under the pressures of natural and sexual selection. But what of human intelligence? Has our cognitive ability risen steadily since our forebears knapped the first stone tools? Or are our smartest days behind us?

Gerald Crabtree, a geneticist at Stanford University in California, bets on the latter. He believes that if an average Greek from 1,000 BC were transported to modern times, he or she would be one of the brightest among us. Our intellectual prowess has probably been sliding south since the invention of farming and the rise of high-density living that it allowed, he claims.

In two articles published in the journal Trends in Genetics, the scientist lays out what might be called a speculative theory of human intelligence. It is, he admits, an idea that needs testing, and one that he would happily see proved wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/nov/12/pampered-humanity-less-intelligent

[hatrack]

35. The movie has electrolytes and shit!

[frylock]

29. plants crave it

[DearHeart]

21. It was bought by A&E Television networks a few years ago

I believe that A&E is owned by Disney and/or Hearst Corp...last I had heard. Who knows now, these networks seem to change hands every time you turn around!

[hatrack]

22. What did anyone expect? Cheap & sensationalistic, with an emphasis on cheap.

It's like a Gresham's law of culture - lowbrow bullshit drives out good programming.

Let me do my part here and forestall any snob accusations that I'm sure will arise. My personal weakness? Police video chase shows, so there, I fessed up.

But seriously, what did anyone expect? Why did conservative talk radio sweep the nation in the 1990s? Was it because of a tidal wave of cultural backlash against those awful, long-ago 1960s?

No. Conservative talk radio swept the nation because it's cheap. All you need is a glib race-baiting bullshit artist or two, a couple of switchboard operators and some phone lines. In case you hadn't noticed, this country is fucking crawling with stupid, fearful people who are angry all the time. They're angry, angry I tell you, about the race of men who live in trees! The oppose alien abduction, and don't you dare take away their thermite grenades, with which they'll repel the Soviet invasion! They demand action now, and tough legislation!

And believe me, there's more than enough of them to swamp those cheap phone lines to the cheap radio stations that dish up this steaming cheap crap to the many millions trapped in their cars for hours, stuck in the office until whenever, desperate for the sound of a human voice, anything to break the silence. Enough angry boneheads to last until the heat death of the universe, so the "conversation" will never die down.

Dispensed with sufficient malice and glibness, this can pass as entertainment, and if it takes up your whole day, after a while, you don't even notice that its true nature is completely fecal.

And here we are.

[kentauros]

36. I will also admit to one guilty (and short-lived) pleasure from this kind of TV.

It was a British reality show called simply Spy. Here's the blurb from IMDb:

Eight ordinary members of the public undergo a crash training course in espionage, trained by former spies and put through authentic spy training missions set in the real world.

I may have to find the DVD set and watch it again

Now, as for AM radio and such in this country, those shows didn't just show up out of the blue. No, it started with Clear Channel as they bought up market after market after market. They wanted a conservative nation as it would be more business-friendly and they got what they wanted by flooding the AM airwaves with all these bullshit people and shows.

Before Clear Channel came along, AM radio was actually listenable, and news stations really did report the news. However, news isn't profitable by itself, and Clear Channel took care of that as we have seen. When you force reporters to make the news profitable, then yeah, they cheapen it. Now it's all no different than the grocery store tabloids.

[hatrack]

38. And then you have both the NYT and WaPo eliminating environmental reporting

Too expensive, you see.

But gosh by golly, they sure have lots of folks working on personal finance and stock pickin' and fashion and entertainment "reporting", don't they?

[kentauros]

41. Thankfully, there's TreeHugger.com

However, they were bought out by Discovery Networks a few years ago, and their reporting has suffered. Not nearly as bad as it could have been, but they aren't as edgy as they used to be.

[trof]

45. +1000!

hat, you should make this an OP.
Perfect.

[hatrack]

70. Speaking as a former Alabamian myself, I can only say, "Aw, shucks!"

[rustydog]

23. History channel, Tru TV, the larnin' channel: Goober TV

[Prism]

24. I learn important things on Ancient Aliens

Like that dinosaur bones are radioactive.

I'm a bit more skeptical of the idea that this is from alien nukes.

I think that guy's hair is from alien nukes.

Maybe.

[LadyHawkAZ]

31. Pitch the theory to Discovery

They might give you a show.

[Prism]

37. I already have a project with them

It's a half hour a week show exploring the different patterns of colorful dots you see when you close your eyes. Except it will be the dots that platypi see. Alan Thicke is attached to narrate.

[darkangel218]

83. Whats a platypi? nt

[darkangel218]

86. Ugh nevermind, its short for platypus. nt

[kentauros]

25. What happened is something called "branding".

SyFy is no longer about science fiction. There's no learning to speak of on The Learning Channel. Arts & Entertainment is neither. Any history is hard to find on The History Channel. The Food Channel is mostly reality-challenges than teaching cooking and enjoying food. Home and Garden Television is for people with more money than brains (and no gardens.)

At least TCM, Comedy Central, and the Documentary Channel keep to their original formats. The rest began dumbing things down not long after reality-TV became such a hit format. The good shows were pushed to later and later times until they were dropped completely. Lowest common denominator sells the most. Anything educational has to be sensationalized to get ratings. Expect more animation and graphics than someone talking and describing things.

I don't think James Burke's "Connections" series would work on today's networks without loads of CGI, explosions, and restricted to half an hour versus its original PBS-hour length.

[hatrack]

28. Yeah, and I'm sure The Ascent of Man would really pull in the eyeballs!

[trof]

46. SyFy is pretty much horror movies.

[Mike Daniels]

79. In regards to The Learning Channel.....

I did read somewhere that they now brand exclusively as TLC now that they are pretty much a 24-7 reality channel

[kentauros]

80. That's what most of them do.

They don't like to spell out their name because the letters are meaningless. No sense in confusing the mindless viewers now...

[CrispyQ]

93. "Home and Garden Television is for people with more money than brains (and no gardens.)"

So true. I refuse to watch trash like "Million Dollar Rooms." We have children starving in this country, on this planet & some assholes think they deserve a million dollar room? It makes me sick.

And this:

Lowest common denominator sells the most. Anything educational has to be sensationalized to get ratings. Expect more animation and graphics than someone talking and describing things.

[kentauros]

97. I just overheard part of a conversation here at work.

One guy was asking "Duck Dynasty or Pawn Stars" (I think it was the pawn one; can't remember exactly now.)

So, I was thinking of my reply: "It's no question, really. Frontline."

Of course, I mention Frontline even as I haven't watched in a long time. I only know it's still one of the best news and information shows on the air anywhere. And it's often entertaining. However, it does require not only an interest in the serious world, but at least a high school education.

[appleannie1]

32. No different than Honey Boo Boo on The Learning Channel. Teaching

people that lack of manners and illiteracy are funny is on the same par as the disrespect shown to family members on Pawn Stars. I guess they think Rick is an historical genius or something.

[trof]

47. Point made. 'Honey Boo Boo'.

jeez

[Jamaal510]

67. That's what the acronym TLC stand for? For real?

What could possibly be educational about an episode of Honey Boo Boo or Hoarding?

[Blue_Tires]

76. Yeah...

You should have seen TLC 15 years ago...It was quite good then...

[appleannie1]

78. I loved it 15 years ago. Now I don't watch it and mute "Honey" commercials on other channels.

[kentauros]

99. When The Learning Channel first started,

it really did teach.

For example, they had a series called "The Operation." These days, if you had a show with that title, it would probably have something to do with military operations, as that would ensure you had plenty of explosions and guns.

However, the original series wouldn't sell today. That is because it was about medical operations, with the primary physician describing the process in detail, but not over the top in medical jargon. One of my favorites was the bunion surgery. Watching them slice open this man's foot and proceed to "simply" peel back the skin and muscle to get to the bunion was so fascinating!

Such a show would only work on PBS were it to air again.

[Kingofalldems]

33. I like 'Moonshiners' on Discovery

Especially Jim Tom.

[Zax2me]

68. I think this series is cooked.

Heard the obvious happened - law enforcement watched the show, and started paying visits.

[shanti]

91. Jim Tom was comedy gold!

Now Disco is on to "Weed Country" - like Moonshiners, but with weed.

[Kingofalldems]

94. What is Jim Tom's favorite meal?

10 DU bonus points for the correct answer.

[shanti]

102. oh crap, i dunno!

what is it?

[Kingofalldems]

105. A baloney and cheese sandwich with pork and beans on the side.

Said he could eat that for every meal.

[Lint Head]

34. One day Pawn Stars will be history.

[stuntcat]

39. It's embarassing

.

[BainsBane]

40. The history on the so-called History Channel is garbage

They are far better off sticking to ducks and pawn shops.

I admit to stumbling upon the Duck Dynasty the other night and finding it mesmerizing.

[Logical]

44. Fucking unbelievable. History Channel is a joke. But look how many people love this shit. n-t

[Recursion]

48. Pawn Stars and American Pickers are marginally historical, unlike Ancient Aliens

Pawn Stars and American Pickers are examples of empirical history, and you do learn some interesting things.

[Jack Sprat]

49. Here's the real shame, trof.

You have to pay for this kind of programming. Worse yet, you cannot get local programming with rabbit ears like you once could. The cable companies and satellite companies took over an entertainment industry that was once free of charge and turned it into a pay-for-view trash box.

What you should do is turn in your cable box. It's what we should all do. But we won't, and they will continue to stiff us with high monthly bills and the poorest of programming.

I wish cablevision had never been introduced and we had free ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS like we did prior to cable.

[llmart]

57. I get local programming with rabbit ears....

I get about 8 stations which quite frankly is enough for me because I rarely even watch those. I refuse to pay for cable when all they do is dish up garbage.

[Jack Sprat]

62. Some of us don't have that option anymore.

In many parts of the country, you can't pick up a signal from a local station with any kind of antenna. You have to buy a basic cable package to even get those now. Feel fortunate, because I would gladly be satisfied with those local stations now and nothing else. I'm glad some of you still can.

[liberal N proud]

53. Ratings

Which translates to the bottom line - GREED!

[reformist2]

54. Classic race-to-the-bottom capitalism. When nothing else matters but the $$$$.

[Apophis]

55. "Duck Dynasty" is on A&E.

But I agree with your argument about The History Channel.

[Liberal_in_LA]

63. tlc, discovery channel, a&e = related. i would have thought history channel owned by same company

[6000eliot]

56. Why do we need public television?

After all, commercial television can do educational stuff so much better!

[CBHagman]

60. With a few notable exceptions, cable TV is about lowering standards.

I can see the value of sports channels, news channels, the Westminster Dog Show, TCM, and other programming, but can't forget what a shock it was to realize that cable A) had commercials, lots of commercials, and B) edited down films and TV shows for whatever reason. I was paying to see heavily edited movies and shows, plus ads.

It was also sad to see both A&E and Bravo drop the more interesting programming in favor of back-to-back episodes of swill.

And don't get me started on the whole reality TV phenomenon.

[WCGreen]

61. The Biography Channel use to have bio's of historical figures and now....

I am waiting for them to do an hour long show on Honey Boo Boo or what ever that thing is...

It seems that right after the turn of the Century, when the did a four hour special on the most important people of the last 1000 years, they decided that was enough and ran with the crappy shit.

[spanone]

66. america the stupid. sell, sell, sell to the lowest common denominator

[Tommy_Carcetti]

72. CNN Headline News kills me the most.

Back in the Ted Turner days, it used to be a reliable way to get world and national events, business and sports news on a half-hour basis.

Then, for whatever reason, that all changed.

Now it's all sensationalist criminal trials and celebrity gossip, 24-7.

[Mike Daniels]

73. I use stuff like this to point out why PBS, etc is still needed and deserves public funding

While the good intentions may have been in place for a bit it's obvious that for-profit broadcast/cable sector isn't going to air educational or cultural programming unless it generates profit for them.

[datasuspect]

75. my pitch to the cable networks: CAJUN SPERM BANK!!!

hell yeah!

[datasuspect]

77. cocaine still powers the entertainment industry

[darkangel218]

81. I like Pawn Stars.

My fav channels are Bravo, History and A&E. I can watch "reality shows" 24/7

[Texasgal]

82. Geez, who cares?

So what if people enjoy some mindless entertainment for a while?

My world is filled with serious situations every day, I enjoy letting my hair down and having silly time. What is wrong with that?

[Romulox]

84. Just remember: we MUST NOT be allowed to choose channels ala carte.

How about people who want to watch the duck-men pay for it, and leave me out of it?

[CrispyQ]

85. TLC used to stand for The Learning Channel.

Great shows about extreme heat & cold, implosion specials, history of the universe, highest & lowest spots on the planet, junkyard wars (I loved that show!) & now it's fluff. To their credit, they no longer claim that TLC stands for The Learning Channel.

Two takes. One, it's cheaper & easier to plant a camera man at a pawn shop or in a truck or at a storage unit, than it is to pay people to put together real shows of worth. Two, a lot of people would rather watch this stuff than shows that make you think.

[shanti]

88. It's now

The Loony Caucasian Channel

[CrispyQ]

95. ~lol

Good one!

[kentauros]

100. *snicker*

You know, you ought to write to them with that. They'd probably be able to market it exactly that way

[kentauros]

101. When you mentioned the cheapness of the production values,

my mind went to an entertainment show I love, partly for the production values: Top Gear (UK)

Now they have some fine camera, sound, and video technicians! There's no skimping on money spent there. I'm often in awe of the shots they set up

I can't access YouTube here, but look up the Top Gear segment with Ken Block and James May for an example of their camerawork

[TeamPooka]

89. never thought I'd say it but I miss Hitler...

just on the History Channel thyough....

[olddots]

98. This book explains why this happened to t.v.

The Hollywood Economist (release 2.0) updated by Edward J Epstein --the guy has an I.Q. of about 600 .
I watch the cooking shows that have now become drama with reaction shots and groveling shots .Reality t.v. is getting production values
and they are really cheaper than ever to make this crap .

[whathehell]

103. You forgot that fine piece of artistry "Dog the Bounty Hunter"

I dont' know what happened, beyond that they just got

cheap and decided to put on non-unionized "reality" shit.

[Erose999]

116. Also don't forget Hoarders, and Intervention. Truly "time well spent".

[whathehell]

118. Certainly not, though

I'm a "Storage Wars" girl myself, LOL!

[Ganja Ninja]

104. It's the latest thing in entertainment.

Watching people with shitty jobs or just watching hicks being hicks.

Ice Road Truckers, Amish Mafia, Honey Boo Boo, Gypsy Sisters, Long Island Medium, Sister Wives, Big Love, Toddlers and Tiaras, Ax Men, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Swamp People, Reef Wranglers, Alaskan State Troopers, Meet the Hutterites, Amish out of order, Dooms Day Preppers, Chasing UFOs, Ghost Hunters, Family Guns, Mudcats.

[southernyankeebelle]

106. Some how I thought better of the HISTORY channel. You know to tell us about history.

Pawn Star and Duck D. would be better on Discovery, A&E or some other station.

[Botany]

107. Dumb fuck tv .... that is all it is

dumb fucks killing gators, dumb fucks cutting timber, dumb fucks w/guns, dumb fucks
mining gold, dumb fuck rich house wives, dumb fucks making cup cakes, dumb fucks
shooting guns, and on and on.

The dumbing down of America.

[LittleBlue]

108. The History Channel is a joke

So inappropriately named it's actually funny. You'd think all history begins at WW2, with occassional references to the pyramids and Alexander. Then Knights Templar conspiracy theories, Nostradamus, the Bible, and a whole load of reality TV shows- this is apparently history. Never mind that the roughly 1400 years between the fall of Rome and WW2 is scarcely mentioned. All those pesky monarchs with repetitive names, bah! Who really cares about that anyway? Nostradamus predicted 9/11.

[TlalocW]

111. I'm guilty of watching a lot of them

I work from home so while I'm on the laptop, I have my desktop computer on a justin.tv page that shows a lot of them. It's something that I can keep on in the background and not have to stare at constantly.

I've seen lots of episodes of
Pawn Stars
American Pickers
(both are pretty much Antique Roadshow in different settings as far as I'm concerned)
Hardcore Pawn - this on the other hand is just for the fights. You don't learn anything from it except to stay away from Detroit
All the Alaska gold ones about looking for gold either by excavating or diving
Bar Rescue - I think is kind of interesting because there is a psychology behind successful bars/restaurants that I never thought of before
Weed Wars - Which is relatively new to me and presents people on both sides of the law on medicinal marijuana

And there are probably others I've forgotten. It's either that or re-runs of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

TlalocW

[Ligyron]

113. Wait! What about Lizard Lick?

come to think of it -- they can lick my lizard

[Erose999]

115. Well at least its not "The Hitler-y Channel" anymore. And I remember when A&E used to be highbrow,

very cultured stuff. Any time I would tune in I'd feel like I should be wearing a velvet waistcoat and a lace cravat, drinking some brandy and smoking a pipe.

[great white snark]

117. I still enjoy The First 48 on A&E.

All their other programming seems to be reruns of CSI: Somewhere.