Gettysburg (History Channel's Civil War Week)

Go straight to Bruce Catton and don't waste your time with this (well-meaning) mush.

 

That's a terribly swift judgment.

 

Maybe, but there is no adequate substitute for his narrative history and sense of style.

Civil War Journal, on a production/quality level, was the best work they've ever done. They used to show that every morning (before it became the WWII network, and then the province of something altogether different.) Now they have to set aside a special "week," and they'll get right back to the steady diet of the paranormal, conspiracy theories and tabloid garbage for the dumbest generation.

 

I think History took a down turn about the time they dropped Channel from their name.

My guess is someone realized they'd shown everything they had about a billion times, figured there was no way to cheaply freshen up the cabinet so they went the reality type route. I like Pawn Stars well enough. American Restoration is pretty good. American Pickers has good and bad shows. I can't get the connection for Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men and Swamp People to, you know, HISTORY. I don't even watch those shows.

What does History have now, one or two new programs a year and bill it out months in advance as a "special" upcoming event?

 

What? You don't like Ancient Aliens? Although that has been played out as well.

 

The alien shows have their place, just on one of the many other channels owned by A&E.

A few weeks ago, the Brad Pitt celluloid Big Mac "Troy" was showing on the channel. That's a long way down.

 

Fucking reality shows are a plague on the planet and have turned just about every network on TV into fucking retard-fests.

Bullets in the head for all of them.

 

How bout a mini ball to the arm?

 

I would have loved to talk to Bruce Catton. What a fascinating life the guy must have lived. The guy spent his whole life researching and writing about the Civil War.

To me it is such a rich part of our history that is well preserved in the form of the battlefields.

 

"Troy"? At least that was a movie about some form of human history. One night about a year ago, I turned on History Channel and it was showing "Planet of the Apes"!!!!

 

Only the ones wearing Minié skirts.

 

They've tried to justify Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men and Swamp People as a window to the past. Sort of "living history," with industries that are throwbacks to the way things were done in the past. I can buy some of it, but one or two seasons of each was plenty for me. There's only so many times you can tease a trucker falling through ice without it actually happening, ya know?
Pawn Stars, with its format, is actually closer to involving history than any of the other shows. I like how they at least try to give some backstory on the items.