Ancients Behaving Badly

[StreamOfTheSky]

So you get Pawn Stars, yeah lots of history on that show, I mean it's about old stuff right? And what about Ice Road Truckers, those guys are all old relics, so that fits. And Gangland is about... umm... mobsters, yeah cause their... umm old skool... umm... yeah.
Frankly whatever marketing weenie is pulling programming dollars from good historical shows and funding this tripe should be drawn and quartered, which IS historical and would be great programming for The History Channel. I know I'd watch it.

Also, I should clarify a little. I have no problem with most of these shows. Pawn Stars commercials show them obtaining lots of old items that surely have stories behind them, it seems like a legitimate topic for a history show, just not my thing. Gangland is also worthy of having a show, the history of gangs is seldom explored from what I've seen. Just again, not really my interest. Ice Road Truckers, Axe Men, and the other shows that don't even bother trying to pretend they're not reality shows are the ones that are just plain unforgivable.

My problem is more that while alone, many of them have merit, the combined bulk of them all airing and taking up such a huge chunk of the broadcast time is appalling. Possibly more appalling than the near endless WW II coverage the channel even today seems to lapse into at times.

 

[Orius]

Sounds to me like Discovery overdiversified and doesn't have nearly enough watchers on all those different channels to make any money off them. Kind of like how TSR goofed up by releasing a million and a half campaign settings and products during the days of 2e.

And how are reality shows going to make the difference? I suspect people are watching the cable netowrks because they don't want to watch the reality crap drowing out the broadcast networks.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Sounds to me like Discovery overdiversified and doesn't have nearly enough watchers on all those different channels to make any money off them. Kind of like how TSR goofed up by releasing a million and a half campaign settings and products during the days of 2e.

And how are reality shows going to make the difference? I suspect people are watching the cable networks because they don't want to watch the reality crap drowning out the broadcast networks.

I concur for the most part. Discovery didn't have to worry about money, the reason cable companies have it as free programming is the same reason network companies have free programming - advertisements. They just got greedy and wanted market share - which in layman's terms means they wanted to sell out for glory instead of concentrate on putting out quality product - very much like TSR before they folded.

SotS - I would agree, except the back stories on most of the items on PS are just that - back stories....waaaaay back stories. And some of the original Gangland stuff was informative, but the Crips and Bloods as history is just, for appropriate terminology, whack.

 

[Alt F4]

That's how it's been with me and History Channel, too. Lots of wandering back and forth. My last big migration away was when they decided Human weapon wasn't worth another season. I had only recently been lulled back with Warriors (another excellent show that will never see a season 2) and the seeming massive sudden spat of ancient, mythological, and medieval based series, which mostly turned out to suck and are now largely gone regardless.

I did catch Caesar's episode, haven't seen anything since then, and I don't know if it's because I missed them or because it's not airing -- no set schedule and a crappy un-informative page on their website doesn't help much in trying to find airings. It's sad, because this series is actually decent. Not really good, but at least entertaining to watch.

Sometimes I think they determine their schedule completely at random. Or else there are factions and constantly shifting alliances within the scheduling department, and whenever a new faction comes into power they junk the old faction's schedule and favored programming.

I hear you about the variable quality too. Yesterday afternoon there was some show about Stonehenge that was so bad I couldn't even tolerate it as background filler. It usually takes a lot for me to turn my nose up at anything about Stonehenge, but this show was trying to be sensationalist, but came across as dull instead. A show about the Black Plague on Friday night was even worse.

As an alternative, sometimes I can find good stuff on the National Geographic Channel, but they're also prone to doing long blocks of the same show. Strangely when I still had digital cable, I found that History International was usually better than the main History Channel.

 

[Alt F4]

I really want to know what the hell happened here. I did a search on the history channel website: Search Results

Are they just going to premiere a whole crap load of episodes for the first time on a random Saturday morning? I doubt it, and I would hope not! Which causes me to want to know...when are these episodes actually airing for the first time?

Doesn't look like those Saturday airings are happening now either.

I couldn't find anything about the show's disappearance on their messageboards, so I've submitted a question through their "contact us" page asking what happened to the show. If I hear anything back, I'll pass it along.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Doesn't look like those Saturday airings are happening now either.

I couldn't find anything about the show's disappearance on their messageboards, so I've submitted a question through their "contact us" page asking what happened to the show. If I hear anything back, I'll pass it along.

Thanks, I was sad to see nothing on today, too. Not holding my breath that the show's coming back...

 

[Alt F4]

Thanks, I was sad to see nothing on today, too. Not holding my breath that the show's coming back...

I was just coming to ask if the episodes had aired today. My power was out all day from a snowstorm, so I couldn't check. Glad I didn't miss them, but wish they'd aired for everyone else's benefit.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

So, according to my cable box, tomorrow the Cleopatra episode is airing at 11 am and 5 pm Eastern time, in each case coming on after a few hours of Ancient Discoveries (another good show still on). For what it's worth.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Update: TV still says Cleopatra, but the show is actually a re-air of the Attila episode...

 

[Alt F4]

Thanks for the heads up. At least the show hasn't completely disappeared into a black hole.

Still no response from the History Channel to my inquiry. At this point they're probably all gone for the holidays.