Educational TV channels get busted
Cody Boland
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: The Edge
Television isn't what it used to be. It's no secret that most of the shows on TV are meant to numb the mind, but the last bastion of intelligent programming seems to be dying as well.
Simply put, the "educational" channels such as the History Channel, Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel seem to be forgetting their original mission statement in favor of lowbrow, higher-rating programming.
The most blatant offender for the longest time has to be TLC - The Learning Channel. With a name like that, it would have to be full of education tidbits, right? Not so much. TLC has seemingly picked up the ball P.T. Barnum dropped when the popular circus freak show disappeared. With such programs as "The Man Whose Biceps Exploded" and specials about the world's fattest man, one has to wonder if the TLC mission statement now reads, "Exploit the weird people."
TLC's exploitive, non-academic nature can be further highlighted with "Little People, Big World," a reality show about little people. There's education for you! Let's take a family of little people, who do nothing interesting besides live their lives, and let the people of America stare at them in ways that would be inappropriate in public.
The History Channel seems to be another one that does not always remember what it is supposed to be about. One would think the focus of this channel would be rather obvious, but somehow even a channel dedicated to the past has to get in on America's reality show addiction. "Ax-Men," on top of being a really lame pun, is a reality show about people who cut down trees. That makes about as much sense as the History Channel airing a reality series dedicated to ice road truckers - something else it did after apparently forgetting its name.
The Discovery Channel is perhaps the most forgivable channel on this list because it does not have a name that definitively says it is supposed to be full of knowledge. However, it is known as an educational channel and will sometimes actually air programs that - gasp - teach us something. However, the majority of the smart programming has been dropped and replaced with shows that give people pretty explosions.
"Mythbusters" started as a fun way to disprove urban myths but quickly began making up "myths" that nobody believed in the first place. An example of this was the episode that featured the idiotic notion that someone could paint their house using a giant explosive in the middle of the room. Let's be serious: Nobody thought that was possible.
The point of "Mythbusters" is not to discover knowledge, but, rather, to be available for a drooling Cro-Magnon to be dazzled by something blowing up. It's a sad realization when educational television gives way to the same type of programming people find on VH1.
If it's hard to find something to learn on these channels, then the rest of the lineup does not stand a chance. Soon, the only way to gain knowledge will be to actually go to class.
Simply put, the "educational" channels such as the History Channel, Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel seem to be forgetting their original mission statement in favor of lowbrow, higher-rating programming.
The most blatant offender for the longest time has to be TLC - The Learning Channel. With a name like that, it would have to be full of education tidbits, right? Not so much. TLC has seemingly picked up the ball P.T. Barnum dropped when the popular circus freak show disappeared. With such programs as "The Man Whose Biceps Exploded" and specials about the world's fattest man, one has to wonder if the TLC mission statement now reads, "Exploit the weird people."
TLC's exploitive, non-academic nature can be further highlighted with "Little People, Big World," a reality show about little people. There's education for you! Let's take a family of little people, who do nothing interesting besides live their lives, and let the people of America stare at them in ways that would be inappropriate in public.
The History Channel seems to be another one that does not always remember what it is supposed to be about. One would think the focus of this channel would be rather obvious, but somehow even a channel dedicated to the past has to get in on America's reality show addiction. "Ax-Men," on top of being a really lame pun, is a reality show about people who cut down trees. That makes about as much sense as the History Channel airing a reality series dedicated to ice road truckers - something else it did after apparently forgetting its name.
The Discovery Channel is perhaps the most forgivable channel on this list because it does not have a name that definitively says it is supposed to be full of knowledge. However, it is known as an educational channel and will sometimes actually air programs that - gasp - teach us something. However, the majority of the smart programming has been dropped and replaced with shows that give people pretty explosions.
"Mythbusters" started as a fun way to disprove urban myths but quickly began making up "myths" that nobody believed in the first place. An example of this was the episode that featured the idiotic notion that someone could paint their house using a giant explosive in the middle of the room. Let's be serious: Nobody thought that was possible.
The point of "Mythbusters" is not to discover knowledge, but, rather, to be available for a drooling Cro-Magnon to be dazzled by something blowing up. It's a sad realization when educational television gives way to the same type of programming people find on VH1.
If it's hard to find something to learn on these channels, then the rest of the lineup does not stand a chance. Soon, the only way to gain knowledge will be to actually go to class.
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