Why is the History Channel so terrible?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Brief rant here.  Has anyone else noticed that 90% of what the History Channel has broadcasted over the past few years has been complete garbage?  Every time I look at the menu for their channel I get either Pawn Stars marathons or crappy reality shows.  Just three years ago they actually had things that were educational and worth paying attention to.  And sure, once in a great while they'll show a nice documentary or miniseries, but otherwise it's the same boring crap that doesn't teach you anything better than how much some piss-stained copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula costs.  It's a shame that the people behind what was once a great TV channel can't think of anything that's remotely significant or interesting these days.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Quality of television tends to reflect quality of its viewers.

[Lief 🗽]

Market forces compel it to be terrible.

[bgwah]

You're a little behind the times if you only just noticed this...

But yeah, I miss the Hitler Channel.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

You're a little behind the times if you only just noticed this...

But yeah, I miss the Hitler Channel.

Actually, I've noticed it for a while.  I'm bringing it up now.

[Oak Hills]

Commercial television/radio stations inevitably become awful in an (often successful) attempt to gain viewers. This is why we need NPR and PBS.

[opebo]

Because it isn't State television.  You can see BBC there, can't you?

[dead0man]

It's called Network Decay.  It happens to (nearly) every channel that has a focus.

[Joe Republic]

I still find it amusing that TLC stands for The Learning Channel.  The implication being that it's meant to be educational.


       

[ElectionsGuy]

I agree, but H2 is much better. They actually have really decent documentaries on there.

[dead0man]

I agree, but H2 is much better. They actually have really decent documentaries on there.

Agreed....and the Discovery Science Channel is pretty good too.  Lots of MF's Wormhole, old Mythbusters, How the Universe/Earth Works and the good "survivor" guy show.  I can do without the How It's Made and the occasional Ancient Egyptian Alien type nonsense, but the former isn't horrible and the latter don't happen all that much.

[H. Ross Peron]

Commercial television/radio stations inevitably become awful in an (often successful) attempt to gain viewers. This is why we need NPR and PBS.

This. The History Channel is basically the Redneck-Paranormal Channel these days.

[badgate]

My dad loves that stupid antiques show where the guys go around and haggle over junk.

[dead0man]

My dad loves that stupid antiques show where the guys go around and haggle over junk.

At this point, it's probably the best show on the channel.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Ever heard of channel drift?  That's you answer right there.  Nobody cares about real history, so shows like Pawn Stars are the only shows that ever get on the History Channel now.  It's also kind of like Cartoon Network airing shows that aren't cartoons.

[angus]

Just three years ago they actually had things that were educational and worth paying attention to.

Three years ago it was already pretty bad.  Ten years ago it was excellent.  Folks used to call it the Hitler Channel, for all its wonderful 30s/40s footage of the Third Reich.  Nowadays it's the Redneck Channel.  Same thing happened to MTV.  Anyone under 40 probably isn't old enough to remember when they actually played music videos, but they actually did.  All the time.

H2 is still pretty good, though.  It's the Ancient Aliens Channel.  I love that stuff.




Edit:  well, I see that posters have already noted everything I pointed out.  But yeah, it's all about viewer demand.  NatGeo, History, TLC, all of the commercial cable outlets have morphed into trailerpark diaries.  Some started out that way (Oprah! and The Game Show Channel), which was probably a wise decision.  We still get a few, in the upper three-digit tier, that haven't morphed, but all of the two-digits have gone away.  Even CNN has moved away from straight news (and provocative talking head shows like Crossfire), and now features horrible mind-numbing fluff programs like Piers Morgan and Get to the Point.  

Anything that's reasonably educational doesn't appeal, so it only gets to charge cable companies 2 or 3 cents per subscriber, and gets moved into the far reaches.  The popular ones get to charge 8 cents or more, and work their way downward.  Channels like CNN and History hang on to their surfing-friendly, low-digit status by smart executive decisions.

[Enderman]

Do you guys remember Life After People? I liked it, it was pretty cool. Sad to see all of the greats go. But atleast Mythbusters, How the Universe/Earth Works and Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole is pretty good. Though personally I just migrated to the Science Channel and the Military Channel. Right now I'm interested in How the States Got Their Shapes.

[dead0man]

How the States... is pretty good and a History Channel original.

[DemPGH]

I agree with most here, and I remember it as the Hitler Channel in the '90s as well. I also seem to remember a lot of Civil War stuff, but maybe that was something else.

Commercialism has destroyed corporate television in America, and the fact that HIS is mainly interested in Bigfoot, Bible code, and pyramid conspiracies these days illustrates it perfectly.

Modern Marvels is usually pretty cool, though. I like that if they'e presenting something that interests me.