Which "educational" network fails most spectacularly at being "educational"?

[ColbertWatcher]

Sample programs for each network:

The Learning Channel
"I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant"
"Toddlers & Tiaras"
"Say Yes to the Dress"
"Clean Sweep"
"Bringing Home Baby"
"Jon & Kate Plus 8"

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html">Schedule (retrieved 7/30/2009 @~2:30pm PT)

History Channel
"MonsterQuest"
"Ice Road Truckers"
"Extreme Trains"
"The Most"
"American Eats"
"Gangland"

Schedule (retrieved 7/30/2009 @~2:30pm PT)

Discovery Channel
"Extreme Loggers"
"Verminators"
"Some Assembly Required"
"Cash Cab"
"Wrecks to Riches"
"Deadliest Catch"

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html">Schedule (retrieved 7/30/2009 @~2:30pm PT)

[QC]

1. Evey time I flip through TLC, some woman is squeezing out a baby.

It never fails.

Why not just call it The Birthin' Channel and be done with it?

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Perhaps they're educating American girls to be baby machines? n/t

[QC]

8. It must be working on the ones around here.

I swear, they compete to see who can have the most babies before graduation.

[Common Sense Party]

11. Yikes. Why???

[QC]

21. I can't imagine why anybody would want a baby at any age, but I'm just a grump,

so I'm probably not the one to ask.

[ThomWV]

10. True that, but the History Channel could easily be renamed the Old Testiment Channel

and that is on a day when UFO's and Bigfoot aren't being promoted.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. True. The "sample" programs I posted weren't a very good sample.

I'm lazy.

(But, I did post a link for anyone who's curious to see what else is on)

[QC]

15. For years, A&E was The World War Two Channel.

Every time I flipped through it I heard "Deutschland Uber Alles."

Now, however, they are The Endless Reruns of CSI Channel.

I don't know if that's an improvement.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Now it's the "Intervention" / 'Obsession' channel.. addicts and mentally ill reality

[QC]

27. Do they also have the transparently phony psychic detectives?

"I'm getting a strong signal here, guys! Bad energy here!"

Or is that someone else?

[Salviati]

33. Nah, Psych is on the USA network...

Ohhh... did you mean REAL phony psychic detectives? That I don't know about, I do like those fake phony psychic detectives though. :)

[ThomWV]

22. Those were actually their better years.

Although hard to sell as either Art or Entertainment to a person of sanity.

[Orrex]

2. Of those three, "TLC" has fallen the farthest from its former glory

It's gone from "superb" to "shit" on a scale seldom equaled since the descent from Jaws to Jaws 4: The Revenge.

[Posteritatis]

28. Yep. In scope of decline into suckdom, TLC "wins" by far (nt)

[Common Sense Party]

29. What did TLC show when it was "superb"?

[Posteritatis]

34. It used to be a variety of documentaries and the like

Some history, some science, some astronomy; more topical current-events or anniversary-of-events stuff; blocks of practical things like cooking, home improvement, and so on. They were usually better done than stuff you'd see on other channels and had a lower chrome-to-content ratio. When I first moved from the sticks to someplace that got it in the early nineties, it was just about the only channel I'd watch, regardless of what it was showing.

This was before they changed their name to "TLC" from the actual original "The Learning Channel" name and became an all-day pregnancy advertisement.

[Common Sense Party]

37. "TLC" sounds too much like "TMZ" to me

I love the phrase "lower chrome-to-content ratio"

:thumbsup:

[Orrex]

39. Off the top of my head

The Day the Universe Changed
Connections (though I didn't care much for the spin-offs)
The Secret Life of Machines
Ancient Warriors

and scores of long-format documentaries produced domestically and abroad.

Forgive me if I can't recall more by name at this late date; the channel has sucked for a long, long time.

[Dinger]

3. Gotta Be The Lemming Channel,

Oops, I mean the "Learning" Channel.

[ThomWV]

4. That is a really tough choice - but Ice Road Truckers broke the tie

As the lamest show ever put on television next to American Idol.

[Common Sense Party]

7. Never watched it. What's lame about it? n/t

[ThomWV]

17. Men drive trucks. Sometimes trucks wreck, sometimes they don't. Same next week.

Over frozen lakes. It could only be better if there were piranhas under the icecapped lakes they use for roadbed.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. I've never seen it, but I'm going to guess it's about macho truck drivers.

Isn't that what all "man job" TV shows are about?

[Common Sense Party]

5. Don't you go dissin' my Cash Cab!

That is my favorite show. What a great, simple premise.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Fair enough. But, how is it educational?

What is "discovered" either by its broadcast or by viewing it?

[Common Sense Party]

20. I never claimed it was educational. It's about as educational

as Jeopardy--which may teach you a thing or two about general knowledge subjects or trivia. True, it's more entertaining. That's what these channels are designed to do, right?

PBS is supposed to be educational, but my PBS station shows plenty of programs that are pure entertainment.

[Scout]

38. one discovers the answers to useless trivia questions!

i loves me some cash cab, and our boy Ben Bailey!

kind of like Jeopardy...

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. Love your poll. I like reality TV but I'm amazed at how it's taken over TV. TLC is the worst

[TexasObserver]

13. The History channel and the Discovery Channel have some great shows.

TLC is a complete JOKE. I never watch that crapfest.

Deadliest Catch and Ice Truckers are pretty decent. Cash Cab is an easy version of other game shows. And don't forget Mythbusters! Only one of the best shows on television!

[Posteritatis]

30. Discovery gets points for no pretenses of anything other than "this is awesome!" contentwise

I can respect that, and it's possible to learn stuff on it, just not necessarily the most useful things to someone like me.

It certainly beats TLC, which I gave up on a few years back when it was nothing but a five-hour block of marriage-through-childbirth scenarios repeated several times a day.

[TexasObserver]

36. good summary of it

[Common Sense Party]

32. I love Cash Cab. Yeah, it's pretty easy, but I love the idea of having

contestants who are in no way PREPARED to be on a game show. It's the surprise element that is so refreshing to me.

[TexasObserver]

35. Yes, it is always good for 10-15 minutes. Like to share in the fun of the riders.

It's a fun show.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. Which channel has 'how things are made" Interesting but commercials for the companies

also.

[Common Sense Party]

25. I think that's Discovery.

It usually comes on after Cash Cab.

I like Mythbusters, too, but it's more entertaining than informative.

[Posteritatis]

42. Mythbusters kinda bugs me at points

They move the goalposts a lot for determining bustedositude or not, which I figured would happen anyway, but I see a lot of "I know X is true because I saw it on Mythbusters!" ... which kind of strikes me as the exact opposite approach that the show encourages.

Granted, the latter's a problem with the audience, not necessarily the show itself...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

18. How about A&E?

Apparently "arts" and "entertainment" now include brainless celebrity reality shows.

Not to mention:

American Movie Classics--now featuring not-so-classic movies from 10 years ago.

Bravo--Interesting independent movies have given way to reality competition shows (although Top Chef is a guilty pleasure of mine)

Headline News--It had a great set-up. Thirty minute segments of the major national/world headlines of the day, plus short segments for business, sports and entertainment. That all was shamefully replaced by Nancy Grace screaming her head off about the most recent missing white girl, plus pure gossip entertainment news. Where have you gone, Ted Turner, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you....

And let's not even get into MTV. Now, I know the "M" in MTV has to stand for something, but I can't quite figure it out....

[ColbertWatcher]

31. LOL!

I was only trying to stick to the networks that pretend to be providing "knowledge," but I like your list!

[The Gunslinger]

23. I went with the history channel

simply because all the shows are about what might happen in the future. There is never any historical documentaries on there anymore.


TV in general is simply pathetic anymore.

[Posteritatis]

24. The Canadian history channel regularly shows stuff like JAG. (nt)

[hvn_nbr_2]

40. When did Discovery change from the War, Guns, and Wild West channel?

This sounds like they switched to the Reality Show Rejects channel.

Obviously I haven't been watching it.

[Posteritatis]

41. Discovery's the Explosions, Machines and Electric Guitar Narrator Guy channel now

It's pretty honest about the fact too, which means it bothers me far less than History or TLC do.

[PA Democrat]

43. TLC, but I have a confession. I love watching Clean Sweep because it makes me feel

less guilty about that closet in the basement that requires a hard helmet to safely open and the fashion oldies still lurking in the dark recesses of my bedroom closet.