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When did The History Channel become the "What if?" Channel?

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amyrose2712 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 12:49 PM
Original message
When did The History Channel become the "What if?" Channel?
My BF is watching a show about "what if gravity shut off?" I know it is an interesting thought and could possibly be a neat thing to watch but there certainly is no lack of history to report. Hey,how about a show discussing "A People's History of the World" by Howard Zinn. Just a thought.
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realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 01:07 PM
Response to Original message
1. About the same time
it became the "Loggers, UFOs, and Idiotic Conspiracies About Nostradamus and the Bible" Channel
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JVS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. What kind of Philistine doesn't appreciate the historic nature of Ice Road Truckers?
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JustABozoOnThisBus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 03:05 PM
Response to Reply #2
19. Don't cancel Ice Road Truckers
Not until this heat wave breaks.

That 40-below scenery is refreshing.

:hi:
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 01:22 PM
Response to Original message
3. Pickers and Pawn Stars channel. Junk.
Many much better channels on history, including PBS. Can't be many worse. The History Channel has turned to garbage - literally and figuratively.
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Gidney N Cloyd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 05:13 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. I have to admit I love Pickers and Pawn Stars.
They might not be the best fits for the History Channel but when I run across either show it gets my attention.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 01:45 PM
Response to Original message
4. About ten years after MTV became the non-music station and Food Network became not-cooking channel.
Edited on Sat Jul-24-10 01:45 PM by Rabrrrrrr
history is now the not-history-but-science channel.

SciFi became SyFy and is now the no-science-fiction channel.
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 01:48 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. And worst of all, A&E used to stand for "Arts and Entertainment"
none of which are to be found there anymore.

Yes, people, the Mean and Dumb Cop Show Channel used to show documentaries on the arts and British and Australian dramas.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 04:33 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. And when did American Movie Classics become the second-tier movies with commercials channel
Edited on Sat Jul-24-10 04:34 PM by Rabrrrrrr
except during those times that we're the TV show channel?
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 05:06 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. Second tier?
You're too kind.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 05:18 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. lol - they really do show some shitters.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. There was a months-long stretch a while back during which they showed Commando five times a day
I mean, I have nothing against Alyssa Milano, but too much is too much!
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hippywife Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 01:23 PM
Response to Reply #5
17. When I was single and had cable
I enjoyed watching The House of Eliot. I never missed an episode. And A Year in Provence. What a gem that was!

I'm so glad I haven't thrown any money away on cable TV in 13 years.

:hi:
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Crazy Dave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #5
23. Used to be my favorite channel n/t
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kentauros Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 04:56 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. Another fine example of "marketing to the lowest common denominator"
It's television that's reflecting the general status of the (non)educated public. Broad-spectrum gathers the most viewers (and advertising dollars); narrow-spectrum, like SciFi used to be, attracts a smaller audience and fewer advertising dollars.

If narrow-focus channels worked from a marketing standpoint, then none of these channels would have ever changed, be it the History Channel/Hitler Channel, A&E airing Poirot, Sherlock Holmes and Lovejoy, or TLC as it was in the early years and airing that wonderful medical-surgery show "The Operation" :D
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david13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 05:08 PM
Response to Original message
9. At the time that it became the Entertainment is more fun than
Edited on Sat Jul-24-10 05:08 PM by david13
History channel. That's when.
dc
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6000eliot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 07:35 PM
Response to Original message
12. But the right wing said that if we killed PBS the free market
would do a much better job at educational programming. You mean to imply that they were wrong about something?
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Iggo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-24-10 07:53 PM
Response to Original message
13. I don't know if it was History or the 101 channel...
...but I thoroughly enjoyed What If We Didn't Have The Moon or whatever it was called.
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Wolf Frankula Donating Member (118 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 11:08 AM
Response to Original message
15. When they ran out of WW2 footage.
It used to be the Hitler & Holocaust Network. Now it's the strange jobs and loony conspiracies network

Wolf
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jah the baptist Donating Member (329 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 11:26 AM
Response to Original message
16. tonight on the weather channel
red dawn starring patrick swazeeee
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madinmaryland Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
18. And WTF is MSNBC becoming prison videos all weekend??
:wtf:
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Doeed Donating Member (83 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. I wish they would make some new "Lockup" shows
I've seen all these twice.
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UnseenUndergrad Donating Member (171 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 03:09 PM
Response to Original message
21. My 4th Daily Kos diary
Edited on Sun Jul-25-10 03:10 PM by UnseenUndergrad
Back in 2005, I noticed the first signs of this after the Discovery Channal had been my sicience lifeline in my early adolesence.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/21/115979/-Giants
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 03:52 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. Ah, Discovery Channel. "Shark Week with 51 weeks of prelude of Shark Week".
Edited on Sun Jul-25-10 03:52 PM by Rabrrrrrr
Although I wouldn't be surprised if they're running a shark week every other week at this point.
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UnseenUndergrad Donating Member (171 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #22
24. Actually
The Shark Channel is something I actually wouldn't mind if I had the whole 200+ Channel set up. However, then the question of how much shark stuff you can actually do comes up.
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miscsoc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 06:27 PM
Response to Original message
25. since they realised historical research is a bit expensive
and speculation is cheap. I like that alternative history stuff, but I wonder if the cost of making this sort of show isn't a big part of the reason there's so much of them.
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clyrc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-25-10 11:58 PM
Response to Original message
26. The History channel is still pretty good where I live
You can count on seeing programs on actual history daily, although there is some of the other stuff thrown in. I think it must be the European version of the History Channel, although I'm not certain.
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