Update, May 2: History Television has friends. Jordan Kerr:
What are your issues with history television? Sure they play mindless repetitive stuff a lot of the time, but as far as history tv goes I find it fairly balanced. I'm thinking shows like Norm Christie's various series, History of the Underworld, Ancestors in the attic etc.Well, fair comment. Thanks.
For me, mostly it's the amount of the "mindless, repetitive stuff." It has always seemed a channel without a personality. Canadian Discovery Channel has always given the sense of having some people involved who actually take an interest in science and nature from a Canadian point of view. Ditto Space, ditto some others.
History Television (our Canadian channel, I mean) always seems like a marketing guy's idea of a network: what can we get those history "buffs" to watch? All the more credit to some terrific little production companies who have managed to get some good stuff on to the channel, for sure.
It was when I saw Ann Medina "commenting" on the historical significance of some J-Lo movie for "History on Film," practically with a thought bubble coming out of her head saying "I'm a serious journalist, why do I have to do this shit?" that I pretty much gave up on the channel. Why indeed?
