History Channel What Went Down?

[2ndNHDOC]

Mods if this is in the wrong forum please move.

Did anyone watch the two shows tonight on History Channel called What Went Down? It didn't look too bad. I was curious does anyone know if they did or have plans to do a Civil War?

[mslaird]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

They may do one but I would not bet on it in the near future.

From what I have seen of the recent trend with the History Channel, aside from the very limited weaponology programming with the Gunny in it and the rather interesting explorations of mythology, they seem to be most interested in aliens, doomsday prophecies and end of the world nonsense and the like. It has been many years since they have done serious work on the American Civil War. The small spot about Sherman and the march to the sea is the last thing that I can remember that they did. The Civil War Journal was left incomplete many, many years ago and the Battlefield Detectives series went away as quick as it came along. Oh, I have heard the rumors of this and that in the works but I don't ever see the rumored things come to pass. When I turn on the old tube and switch on over to what used to be my favorite channel, it just looks like the old Sci-Fi channel to me, before all of the hoaky "Scyfy Original" movies. It is pretty sad. I am of the opinion that we who would prefer learning about history, rather than the constant hammering down our throats about the world coming to all sorts of calamity in 2012 or some doomsday predicting code found in the Bible and even in your local newspaper's writings, should begin writing them letters about their programming choices and what we, the viewers who give them the ratings that give companies reason to pay to advertise on their network and thence their paychecks, would rather see. We all have to gripe at them together. If I write them a letter, they will file 13 it. If they get hundreds or thousands of letters, that is a different story.

Just my 2 cents on some current affairs, which I do my level best to refrain from giving here because I try to stick to our shared hobby of living history and our passion for preserving the past.

Thank you, however, for allowing me to vent about something that has been annoying me for a bit.

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

I would concur as to the seemingly "erratic" direction the History Channel seems to
have taken ~ this is not history, but some kind of crank theology.
We can only hope that with the 150th coming around, they dust off the Civil War
Journal and produce more like this great program.

[lthull3rdla]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

I have had problems with the history channel for a while now. If ANY channel needs to be neutral on history, this is the one that should. However, I see
"revisionist" creeping in here. Its sickening.

Ronnie - Shreveport

[David Fox]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Well, pretty-much most of the history of our Civil War written before the 1950s appears revisionist, too, sad to say; written by men with a particular point to hammer home. For instance, take Robert E. Lee. Lee the Perfect General received vast printed partisanship from the 1870s through WW II. Authour Douglas Southhall Freeman on his way to work in Richmond famously saluted Lee's statue daily in the 1920s and '30s...while concurrently writing volumes of "history" centered upon his revered paladin. This begged counter-revisionism just when television hit a mass-market. Thus Lee "The Marble Man" (apologies to the title of one counter-revisionist tome), in this era of counter-revision, has received precious little video time exploring his omniscience, omniscience which was a staple of history 75 years ago. The anti-Lee extremity was reached in 1997 by the cranky book "Uncertain Glory...Lee's Generalship Reexamined". Therein the authour included such pejoritives as "simplistic", "naive", "shallow (in) strategic insight" to describe Lee...all in just a couple paragraphs on pp. 94 and 95!
Anyway, that's my view of the march of history as it relates to our Civil War. A swinging pendulum. And my library contains yards of evidence in support. My favourite examples are, on the one hand, the image-shaping by such partisans as Jubal Early in "Battles and Leaders" in the 1880s and on the other hand, those peculiar texts from a hundred years later... asserting, for instance, the War's outcome was determined by the lemming-like ancestral ethnic traits of the Rebel participants... "Attack and Die" coming readily to mind. Counter-counter-revisionism is in play, also. Who can forget last summer's hand grenade tossed into this forum asserting 65,000 blacks served under arms in the Confederate armies?
I, too, bemoan what's happened to THC. Today's fare will be acres of tattoos and blanked-out faces as they obsess over street gangs for TEN HOURS! To find the best (and recycled) programming on THC, alas, one must be an early riser.
And, ever revisionist myself, may I caution: don't become too enamoured with THC's theatrical "Gunny". R. Lee Ermey enlisted in order to avoid prison, not out of any bloom of patriotism, served but one combat-area tour ever (receiving no distinctions for personal valour or even noteworthiness), and is mostly a creation of his movie persona in "Full Metal Jacket" and other flicks... he took his GI Bill benefits to study...acting!

[lojafan]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

History Channel use to be all I would watch because they actually had interesting shows! Now they all suck and I hardly ever watch, except for the occasional Modern Marvels show that is interesting, but like Matt said, its all doomsday BS and aliens.

[LHV1861]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

The What Went Down episode on the Alamo was really interesting. But i tend to agree with others. History Channel has become basically the Discovery Channel II, with the reality shows (Ax Men, etc.) and the Alien crud. History Channel International is the only one I watch, as they still show that same HC programming I know and love, including whole days of nothing but shows on the Civil War.

[Fritz]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Not that they will answer, but I emailed an inquiry as to the Civil War plans.

[Jim of The SRR]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Frankly, I also do not see how "Ice Road Truckers" and other such shows have anything to do with history. History Channel has been on the downslide for a couple of years now.

Jim Butler

[J. Donaldson]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

THC simply pedals what will make the most money. At this point in time the viewing public doesn't care about history; they simply want cheap entertainment marketed with a thin cloak of historicism. Scaring people sells (see any twenty-four hour news network), so those who make programming decisions went to the well and found what they could produce for the least amount possible spread more pablum to the public.

Mr. Fox, thank you for your post on revisionism in history. All history is revisionist. Some people fail to appreciate new evidence or a challenging point of view.

[mslaird]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Mr. Welch,

Preach on sir, preach on...

I could not agree with you more. After I posted to this thread the first time around, I wandered off to bed. The wife was out cold with the food network on so I switched it over to THC to see what massive tidal wave or great big planet killing rock was going to bear down upon us here in Arkansas this Sunday morning to destroy everything that I know and I was surprised to see a run on Civil Rights history. While not my absolute favorite topic, it is still history. By the time I awoke we had moved on to the tattooed street thugs and white supremacists as previously mentioned in another's post above.

"Revisionist" is creeping in everywhere, I would not be surprised if some crack pot like Ward Churchill, Phd (I have to respectfully add this man's position in life, how he actually convinced anyone to award it to his plagiarizing self is a mystery.) to come out with a new assertion, copied from someone else, of course, that Robert E. Lee was the true mastermind behind the formation of the KKK and came up with cross burning because he was a closet worshipper of the dark one and true to Churchill's form, the Bush and Cheney families were involved.

Even here, we have folks that have moved into the area from other states, I will refrain from mentioning what particular states by name but they are the usual offenders, who have routinely demanded the removal of our Confederate monuments. They have killed support for any events that some of us were trying desperately to de-farb. Last, they have made it into our city councils and local historical society boards and they "do not want to be associated with anything to do with the slave-holding Confederacy.":angry_smi

[LHV1861]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Matthew you are absolutely correct. I see the same things in North Carolina. Check out our 150th state website. According to them the only role NC had during the war were Unionists and slaves. And these types, PHDs, His. Ch., educators, are the ones totally ignoring history. In a LA Times interview with the chief of the NPS, this is a quote from the article:
Rangers' storytelling -- called "interpretation" in the park service -- will also shift. Jarvis said that rangers at Civil War battlefields now spend less time telling visitors where the Confederate and Union armies lined up for Pickett's charge and more time discussing slavery and civil rights. Those issues are more relevant to today's society, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...tory?track=rss
I don't think so.

[Michael Comer]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

History Channel International has some decent programming off and on that actually deals with historical subjects. The main channel is pathetic however. Ice Road Truckers and guys chopping down trees does not seem to meet my idea of what history programming should be.

So, all you fellows that used to scoff at THC and call it the Hitler channel - feeling nostalgic now?

[CMHouchins]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

The History Channel used to be all I watched........... then they changed. They started re-writing history to fit their liberal story telling etc.......... not going there but you know what I mean. ;)

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: History Channel What Went Down?

Hallo!

Moderator hat on...

The thin ice cracked as we skated back and forth over the Modern Politics Line several times... and then we fell in.

Curt