Thursday, March 3, 2011

Where have all the good shows gone?

The Daily Diatribe:
Joshua Herdt 3/2/2011


“History is now strictly organized, powerfully disciplined, but it possesses only a modest educational value and even less conscious social purpose.” -J. H. Plumb

I take off my shoes and slip in to my pajamas before turning down the bed and sliding in between the sheets.  There is something unquestionably appetizing about cool crisp sheets.  They’re like the longed for embrace of a distant lover and just as fulfilling.  As I fluff and stack my pillows I turn on my Sony LCD Television and the room falls into a false twilight.

Let’s see what’s on TV.

Instinctively I go to History HD.  What I find there is the equivalent of towels or socks for Christmas.  Swamp People, the bane of History TV.  Oh how I loath you.  This seems like a re-occurring phenomenon these days.  Where are the archaeologists excavating long forgotten pyramids? Where are the Roman ruins? Why aren’t we delving into the lost archives of underground Edenborough? Shouldn’t we be exploring the ruins of the Oracle of Delphi or hearing about Mauselous?

“Christ,” I murmur to myself as I turn off the TV and go to bed.

It’s rare these days to pick anything decent out of the interminable dross mucking up that channel.  I mean really, what does axe-men, ice road truckers, and swamp people have to do with history?  I’ve nearly given up on the History Channel.  To think, it had such a sparkling and unblemished reputation of reliability.  At one point they had the money and name to get behind the scenes in some of the most sought after locations.  If there would have been a discovery pertaining to Tutankhamen or cannibalism amongst the Anastazi, the History Channel would have be there.

Then, somewhere along the lines it turned into the Nazi Channel, then the WWII channel, and when they exhausted their film footage of WWII we fell head first into The Reality TV.

“Welp, times are tough and money is tight, so if we expect to keep greasing our pockets with cheddar we’re going to have to 86 our shows on Stonehenge and put on cheap low budget crap.”

Congratulations, you’ve lost all your credibility. Bring back my shows you scheisters!

Why do they even call it the History Channel?

What are your opinions of Reality TV and present day Television?  In my opinion their inept inefficient mind numbing drivel that lacks any artistic or educational value.  Keep in mind, this is coming from a writer who enjoys his burp and fart humor.


*As always, I’m curious for your thoughts or insight.  If you feel inclined, notify me by email or visit me on facebook.

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