Have you ever noticed how some cable channels seem to have a very specific identity or personality? E! used to be fluff and news (remember the “True Hollywood Story” and Jules Asner?), and has now sunken to the depths of fluff and tabloid-esque news. VH1 used to be videos for the more “mature” sect and has devolved into the network of reality shows featuring people who have long outworn their 15 minutes of fame.
I feel like the History Channel used to have respectable, boring programs that I would never watch but would fully expect my dad or uncles to be completely engrossed by, kind of like a slightly less reputable PBS. When did they graduate to fear mongering? Today I passed a billboard advertising their show called “The Nostradamus Effect” with the tagline “How the end will begin.” This is not to be outdone by their series “The Universe” and the segment called “The End of Earth.”
Really, History Channel? As if people and kids today don’t have enough to be stressed about, what with the economy in the toilet, an outbreak of potentially deadly swine flu and Latoya Jackson’s stint as a guest reporter on “Access Hollywood.” Now we have to worry about Nostradamus’ predictions about the end of the world? Or that the earth might implode on us?
Of course, if you bother to watch these shows, you’ll find that their “research” is inconclusive and that the show itself is nothing more than talking heads spouting their opinions along with cheesy reenactments. But at that point you’ve already tuned in because they’ve scared you into thinking they have information about the end of the world as we know it.
For shame, History Channel. For shame.
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