Old Discovery channel rant

[RKinkor]

In the process of clearing out vhs tapes from the entertainment center and came across and came across my Discovery Wings episode collection that I recorded. Makes me nostalgic for the days when you could learn something on Discovery and Learning Channel rather than "discovering" Paul SR and JR argue with each other and Honey BooBoo is an exploited child. Hollywood and TV entertainment you sk. Sorry end of rant

 

[Navy Chief]

Different channels, but I also remember when VH1 was the channel to watch soft pop music videos, and MTV was the hard rock videos.

Neither is anything close to that programming now. For that matter, I only watch Netflix and Amazon Prime videos now.

NC

 

[Jagdflieger]

Wings, and the sub-episodes: Wings of the Luftwaffe and Wings of the Red Star, was the best of educational TV. Unfortunately The Discovery Channel has lost its way due to the fight for ratings and is now knee deep in UFO conspiracy shows and searching for "Big Foot."

Who would've thought that would happen? They should probably change their name from The Discovery Channel to The Fantasy or Fictional Channel.

By the way, I still have all my VHS tapes of Wings in the bookshelf I wonder if they are available on DVD?

Update: I checked on Amazon and a very few of the programs are available, but on VHS.

 

[Willy]

I lost interest when the Wings channel became the military channel. I'm just not that into the top 10 tanks.

 

[HouseHobbit]

I will admit, I am amazed the MTV, VH1 , Discovery, History. TLC Channels all have become JUNK TV..Or passed into Stupidly..

In the late 70's and early 80's I was a young Hobbit and enjoyed the growth of Cable TV..
Because of my address, My neighborhood was one of the First to get cable..
It was 4.95 a month for 17 channels as cable expanded so did the price..
Got the Cool TNT channel 17 and the old movies and programs ..
cool feeds with lots of interesting shows..
Then, MTV and Music you could watch!

Yea never would have guessed then the "New" thing would become the Monster in our homes..
Bummer..
Now I have NO Cable and don't miss it..
And the price even for basic cable is far in excess of the value to me..

 

[andersel]

I lost interest when the Wings channel became the military channel. I'm just not that into the top 10 tanks.

I was a dedicated "Wings Cannel" watcher and I, too, was very disapointed when they morphed into the Military Channel. To the point that I penned a rather screedish missive to them about their abandonment of loyal viewers.

I DO watch the MC, but ONLY when the programming is aircraft/aviation related.

LA

 

[ThinkingManNeil]

"Wings"? Hell, I remember when Discovery and TLC had actual SCIENCE programs! Not this low brow horse**** that's on now. And WTGDF is "Amish Mafia"?!?

N.

 

[SSI01]

I've got the old tapes as well, just about every program that had an Air Force aircraft in it. There was a time when American Movie Classics actually played fine old films, with a host introducing them - now we're into dead people walking around and an out-of-work teacher formulating dope - although that series did have some good moments in it.

 

[gradyhappyg]

Ah the good old days of the Wings channel remember them well. Yep there sure isn't much on the boob tube these days one thousand channels on 24/7 showing absolutely nothing. Yet there are a few shows I can stand to watch Survivorman, Man Vs Wild(only in reruns sadly), River Monsters, Game Of Thrones to name a few. I like that show Wheeler Dealers with Edd China and Mike Brewer they fix a regular car up like regular folks would. But as bad as most programming is my main gripe is still the commercials 20+ minutes worth for 40- minutes of subpar programming. To be honest if it were not for the DVR I wouldn't be watching much TV at all and the DVR isn't getting used that much any more.

 

[stansdds]

The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, even The Weather Channel now show all sorts of programs that have little or nothing to do with the original concept of these channels. It's all about ratings and viewership, which translates into commercial advertisement sales, which means increased revenues for these channels.

 

[KellyB]

The truly sad part of what has happened to television programming is not so much what it says about the broadcasters as it is what it says about what they think about their viewers. Seen from that standpoint, it is a sickening sight.

We need to have popups telling us what we're watching, what's on next, and silly commentaries made by not-so-brights. When we return from a commercial break, we are treated to at least 30 seconds of review of what we were watching just before the break.

Apparently, the networks are being run by barely 20-year-old products of our educational system who suffer greatly from ADD and don't know that it is impolite to interrupt your viewing with these inane things.

Idiocrasy is closer than we think. It may be here. I think I have encountered zombies in Walmart and other fine stores... They are not actually the living dead; just brain dead.

I wonder what would happen if we started pinging the advertising departments of their advertisers with our observations -- stop it or we'll buy someone else's product. Wishful thinking, I know, but...

 

[srgalahad]

Well, for the "WINGS" fans there is a bit of hope. This was in today's AvWeb Newsletter:

[h=2][FONT=arial,helvetica,geneva]Air and Space Channel in the Works[/FONT][/h]

If you find yourself missing the old Wings channel, there may soon be a replacement. After several years of work, television entrepreneur Phil Hurst told AVweb that his latest project, Air and Space Television, grows ever nearer to going on the air. "We're through the first phase, which is developing content and making sure there's an audience out there and developing the entire concept," Hurst said in an AVweb interview. After that, said Hurst, A&S TV will actually acquire the content, then acquire an underperforming network to launch the new service.


As the name implies, Air and Space Television will broadcast a steady diet of aviation and aerospace-related programming for a variety of sources, including news and documentary programs. It will likely feature regular weekly shows. "For instance, we may have a reality show, but it will be about pilots or we may have a contest where you can win, say a Virgin Galactic ride. Just because it's about aviation and space doesn't mean that you can't tell all kinds of incredible stories." Air and Space Television, by the way, is a private venture not associated with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Hurst said the project is seeking investment capital with a launch in about two years. Prior to A&S TV, Hurst was a partner in starting the Golf Channel, which followed a similar developmental model.

For more information, see AirAndSpace.TV.

So here's your chance to comment to the source. Go to the Contacts page and express yourself!
As for the rest...

"discovering" Paul SR and JR argue with each other and Honey BooBoo is an exploited child.

ThinkingManNeil "Wings"? Hell, I remember when Discovery and TLC had actual SCIENCE programs! Not this low brow horse**** that's on now. And WTGDF is "Amish Mafia"?!?

A lot of programming is based on the idea that people want to see (mock, laugh at...) someone worse-off than themselves (not recognizing that they are making themselves part of the group being shown). Who says the networks don't have a sense of the sublime?

KellyB
The truly sad part of what has happened to television programming is not so much what it says about the broadcasters as it is what it says about what they think about their viewers. Seen from that standpoint, it is a sickening sight.

Idiocrasy is closer than we think. It may be here. I think I have encountered zombies in Walmart and other fine stores...

I'd hazard a guess that the media don't "think about" - they have a very good idea of the bulk of the viewership, as proven by what they watch, buy and vote for. The advertisers wouldn't spend the millions they do if they didn't know it would work. The main broadcast networks are losing viewership because people are watching the cheapo cable channels that have endless reruns of Cops, 1000 ways to Die, the dysfunctional-people 'reality' shows and things like "Wipeout'. That's the audience and when the commercials come on they flip to The Shopping Channel or call the 1-800# to buy every "deal" they can.
Ponder though, that it says people don't want to think in front of a TV, or even be given more than 15 seconds of facts at a time - they want to be dealt with at their level, not have that level raised. We may know it's crap, but minorities usually do...

However, I don't think any of this is a recent development. If you are over 50 you probably grew up thinking the antics of a hairball redhead with an immigrant latino musician/husband constantly getting into all sorts of jams was funny and an overweight bus driver who threatened his wife and neighbour with a "trip to the moon" at the end of his fist was a 'slice of life'. I'm not advocating political correctness , just saying that there's just a lot more of even lower quality out there today.

 

[Gdavis101]

I am right there with you on your soap box.. I can't stand some of the garbage that is in both network and cable tv anymore and what is considered "reality" is just crap! I remember when the Military Channel used to be the Flying Channel, used to turn it on and just leave it on.. Not that the Military channel is bad, its no where near as good as the old Flying Channel. History Channel and History International were always two of my favorite channels, now I hardly watch them.

That is good news about the Air and Space Channel!