Monday, August 6, 2007

Is History Channel History?

That is, have we lost the History Channel Tony Soprano has come to know and love? You know, the go-to spot on the tube for serious or at least halfway educational programming?

Gone are the days when HC can legitimately (if snidely) be referred to as the Hitler Channel. Oh, there is still a good deal of WWII programming. But more often now, it's more recent stuff like Mail Call or Tech Something or the new prime-time staple, Modern Marvels.

Modern Marvels is on all the time, and I'm beginning to think HC is going the Bravo route of picking a few different series at any given time and running them to death throughout the day.

Even more worrisome is the ad I saw for Ice Road Truckers, a reality show about some kind of deadly driving competition. They are clearly pushing this one big-time, as I caught the promo in a movie theater. This is the kind of thing History Channel apparently thinks us moviegoers want to see.

On their website, HC lists Ice Road Truckers in the show category of "Uncategorized." Let me categorize it for them: it's a reality show. I don't watch HC as much as Tony Soprano, but I don't want to stop believin' that it'll be there for me providing quality history programs and documentaries at all hours. Let's hope this isn't another sign of a once-proud channel going down the drain as it betrays its original purpose.

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