the History Channel continues to circle the drain

[Michchamp]

I remember as a kid "The Learning Channel" and "The History Channel" were actually meant to be educational...

then somewhere along the way, they were bought up &/or re-branded and the "entertainment" aspect of them was emphasized. I stopped watching completely by the time "Nostradamus," "Angels," and "Ice Road Truckers" became standard programming. While history is of course, not a science, you could at least categorically state that the Bible was not to be taken literally in the sense of the study of history. Maybe as a survey course of "this is what Christians believe"... but not as historical fact.

now they show this.

"While ?The Bible? is multicultural, Satan is played by Ouazanni, while the actors playing Jesus, Mary, Moses, John, and other heroic figures are all anachronistically light-skinned."
...
That audience, last night, got their first peek at the Devil ? played by Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, an actor with a strong resemblance to President Barack Obama."
​

it's like they realized their core demographic - dumb, anti-social white guys who are into military history (the Dwight Shrutes of the world) - turned out to also be... card-carrying Republican Christians... surprise surprise! And the pandering to the audience's tastes became even more shameless.

 

[byco42]

The History Channel went off the rails in the first month of programming. Shocking: historical TV pandering to a select group of people. Like no authentic historical written works are guilty of anything less. Newsflash: The history racket is as contrived as the adworld. And I read The Book. No need to watch a recreation. The Obama likeness is, well, coincedential and ironic, becuase to many in the ME, he IS Satan leading legions of demons.

 

[Michchamp]

history made for TV is always going to be dumbed down, but there is clearly a difference between a program that interviews archaeologists, historians, professors, etc. that publish in peer-reviewed journals, and presents conclusions based on that information as objectively as possible...

and "The Bible"

or

"Angels"

...which present religious texts as factual historical events.

I have seen the former on occasion. The latter seem to be predominating of late.

 

[tinselwolverine]

He looks about as much like Obama as any other lean faced, short haired black dude, I guess...

I think it's a bit of an ado about nothing - how often do we hear that there aren't enough good roles for black actors in Hollywood? This guy's playing like, the #2 supernational being in Biblical lore...

 

[redandguilty]

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/286613_How_the_Privatization_of_NASAs

summary:

1972: NASA provides satellite access and collaborates with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to create a station to distribute educational material to underserved regions.

1980: Privatized. Renamed from The Appalachian Community Service Network to The Learning Channel.

1990's: Ownership changes hands a few times.

1998: Renamed "TLC"

2012: Honey Boo Boo

I believe there is power in free markets, but it's like any technology and can be used for good or for bad.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Maybe if they change the name of the series from The Bible to The Satan Story and focus on Bible stories with Obambeelzebub they'll get some higher viewership...

 

[TheVictors]

I wish you could opt for Cafeteria style channel selection ...I'd wind up with maybe 25-50 channels I'd want to know I could watch and get rid of the 200+ others.

 

[Thumb]

I wish you could opt for Cafeteria style channel selection ...I'd wind up with maybe 25-50 channels I'd want to know I could watch and get rid of the 200+ others.

Which is the main reason I don't have satellite tv now. There would be very few channels I would watch, not counting the premium channels if and when they offer a movie I'm interested in, but whenever I did find a couple I liked, the next thing I knew DirecTV was telling me how a few were being moved into new package, and being replaced at the level I was paying with some garbage.

Luckily, the nice people in Europe say fuck you to American cable television companies and stream programs online. I'm actually in the middle of watching the Sopranos series, afterwards I'll probably try Dexter or Sons of Anarchy.

DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, Charter, etc. can all get fucked.

 

[Michchamp]

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/286613_How_the_Privatization_of_NASAs

summary:

1972: NASA provides satellite access and collaborates with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to create a station to distribute educational material to underserved regions.

1980: Privatized. Renamed from The Appalachian Community Service Network to The Learning Channel.

1990's: Ownership changes hands a few times.

1998: Renamed "TLC"

2012: Honey Boo Boo

I believe there is power in free markets, but it's like any technology and can be used for good or for bad.

well... it's easier to give the people what they want, than what they need, I guess. And if you're a for-profit corporation, choosing between easy money and hard money is a no-brainer (pun intended).

So that's where government needs to step in... and either directly or via grants to politically neutral third parties... provide educational programming.

or not.

we could just say screw it and go back to living like this:

 

[redandguilty]

we could just say screw it and go back to living like this:

Don't make assumptions about their culture. If given TV with cable, those guys probably wouldn't watch Honey Boo Boo at rates any higher than ours.

 

[Michchamp]

Don't make assumptions about their culture. If given TV with cable, those guys probably wouldn't watch Honey Boo Boo at rates any higher than ours.

good point.

they would probably club her and her stupid family, and replace their slot on "TLC" with an instructive how-to session for making stone tools.

Grunt, grunt.

 

[TheVictors]

There is an interesting spike in TV programming based on small niche "communities" or families on these channels - History, Discovery, Travel, A&E ..and then the other, newer networks that are owned by the same parent companies as own the more established cable brands.

I think the best part is the use of Subtitles to translate the often, deep Southern accents of the characters from ...Moonshiners, Swamp People, Honey BooBoo, Duck Dynasty ...that show about oil rich rednecks in Louisiana.

But then there's "Southies" ...Pickers, hoarders, addicts .... Homebuyers, remodelers, landscapers and flippers ... British restauranteurs and Salon owners who yell and shout at their inferior Yankee counterparts.

And Sports!! Sports!! Now you can tune in to any one of eight ESPN affiliated channels and see to watch the same video clips looped repeatedly or one jackass after another spewing an opinion on something as inane as whether or not LeBron James will ever be considered the greatest basketball player ...not named Jordan!

 

[Monster]

Maybe if they change the name of the series from The Bible to The Satan Story and focus on Bible stories with Obambeelzebub they'll get some higher viewership...

They're actually getting really high ratings for that show.

I'm an atheist, and i have to say...it's really cool. The bible may be 100% B.S., but it is a great story. I also didn't think he looked like Obama. I've seen him in other movies and I guess he's played Satan many times before. Don't see what the big deal is.

But for real...Vikings blows it all out of the water.

 

[tinselwolverine]

They're actually getting really high ratings for that show.

I'm an atheist, and i have to say...it's really cool. The bible may be 100% B.S., but it is a great story. I also didn't think he looked like Obama. I've seen him in other movies and I guess he's played Satan many times before. Don't see what the big deal is.

But for real...Vikings blows it all out of the water.

Oh man, the Bible has some cool stories, and that's for sure.

My favorite one, I think, is the one where they encounter the cyclops on the way back to Ithica.

 

[Monster]

Oh man, the Bible has some cool stories, and that's for sure.

My favorite one, I think, is the one where they encounter the cyclops on the way back to Ithica.

Lol

Im a fan of mythology (especially Greek), so that's how I see it. Don't understand how anyone could think the bible was actually a complete and accurate historical book. But thats not the topic. It's a decent miniseries.

 

[Michchamp]

They're actually getting really high ratings for that show.

I'm an atheist, and i have to say...it's really cool. The bible may be 100% B.S., but it is a great story. I also didn't think he looked like Obama. I've seen him in other movies and I guess he's played Satan many times before. Don't see what the big deal is.

But for real...Vikings blows it all out of the water.

according to another article I read, the History Channel has been collaborating with anti-gay pastors and activists in the making of this show. Not sure exactly what those people would contribute.

there should be disclaimer at least before the show. Is there?

 

[Monster]

according to another article I read, the History Channel has been collaborating with anti-gay pastors and activists in the making of this show. Not sure exactly what those people would contribute.

there should be disclaimer at least before the show. Is there?

Not sure. I always DVR and skip the opening. But, I've seen nothing that's anti-gay. The whole bible is pretty much anti-gay, anti-woman, and anti-nonbeliever, so I guess it'd make sense though lol.

 

[byco42]

history made for TV is always going to be dumbed down, but there is clearly a difference between a program that interviews archaeologists, historians, professors, etc. that publish in peer-reviewed journals, and presents conclusions based on that information as objectively as possible...

and "The Bible"

or

"Angels"

...which present religious texts as factual historical events.

I have seen the former on occasion. The latter seem to be predominating of late.

I can assure you with absolute certainty that I have heard an actual choir of angels singing. And the people who took the time to write down the events of the Bible--they were aware that they were simply making it up? Every word of it, from Genesis to Revelation? I doubt that. And no book has been more rigorously examined and reviewed than the contents of scripture.

 

[Michchamp]

I don't even know where to begin with that.

 

[Thumb]

I can assure you with absolute certainty that I have heard an actual choir of angels singing. And the people who took the time to write down the events of the Bible--they were aware that they were simply making it up? Every word of it, from Genesis to Revelation? I doubt that. And no book has been more rigorously examined and reviewed than the contents of scripture.

Or lost for 1000 years, retold and translated dozens of times, or compiled based on prejudice of the time.

Following the basic message of the Bible is one thing, but believing everything or following all the scriptures is impossible, too many contradictions.