So, it's no secret that the History Channel (which used to have the tagline "Where The Past Comes Alive") no longer airs many episodes about, well, history.
Seriously, take a look at this screenshot from their schedule for the next few days:
Kind of sad, isn't it? It's essentially full of reality shows.
Sadly, H2 (formerly the great History International Channel) doesn't fare much better:
At least half of the shows are about speculative alien influence on mankind.
This has become such an issue with fans of the History Channel, that multiple people have discussed, blogged, and raved about it. Here are a few links that illustrate my point:
Article on cracked.com
Facebook page for those wanting to bring back the old History channel
Article on yahoo.com about the subject
And another article
A hilarious South Park episode pointing out the sad state of the channel
And one of my favorites...
Senator Chuck Grassley is annoyed too
Granted, here lately after the new year, the History Channel is advertising new shows that are about historical topics. However, they look to be mini-series, not actual new shows. That way they can run these a few times in an effort to placate those who want to watch history documentaries on the History channel, while leaving enough air time for their over abundance of junk reality TV.
The problem that I have with all of this, is that I'm paying for this channel as part of my satellite subscription, yet there is nothing on this channel that I would really want to watch any more. I even paid extra for what used to be History International, before the network was re-branded to H2, which gets more Ancient Aliens and other such cruft. It is bad enough that nearly every other channel is suffering from what has been coined 'network rot,' but I am disappointed that the History Channel is suffering the same fate. I used to watch the History Channel(s) with the hopes of learning something. Now all you can find is a show that puts a rough price on fantastic historical pieces to be sold in a Las Vegas pawn store. That, or you can watch episodes where a guy who is not a historian or scientist claim that all of Earth's greatest achievements were not possible without the help of aliens.
I know, it's just TV. But I am quite a nostalgic fellow, and I remember back in my high school days, being somewhat of an impressionable teenager, that I got a lot out of the History Channel. It helped me to add fuel to the fire that is my passion for history, making me appreciate it more. I found it enlightening, and freeing to learn new things that I would not have had the interest as a teenage lad to go out and investigate on my own. The various topics covered by the History Channel back then prompted me to seek out more information about how things came to be, and to learn how to apply the lessons from the past to events today.
I have a son now, and even though he will not be sitting in front of a TV his entire youth (neither did I for that matter), I would like for him to learn something when he does turn to a channel that is supposed to be dedicated to some form of education. He doesn't need to learn from reality TV.
Well, that's a brief overview of what I consider 'The Case of the History Channel.' Next, I'll discuss what I have been doing in my home to try and resurrect the glory days of the History Channels on my own TV.
