What is up with The History Channel!?!?

[Willi Von Klugerman]

I don't know what happened to this channel, they rarely show anything about WW1!! All they ever show is WW2, WW2, and MORE WW2! And they air shows like Ice road truckers and UFO hunters which are of no historical purpose what so ever. Dogfights only had one WW1 episode, the rest is WW2, Korean war, Vietnam war, and Isreali war, I guess WW1 air combat is not as riveting and thrilling as WW2 air combat! Us WW1 buffs are offended about it and is of great shame and ignorance. They don't call it the "Hitler Channel" for nothing!

[Mgnostic]

1.Things seem to come and go in cycles on the history channels.
2. The wars you mentioned still have living veterans.
3. WWI buff don't buy the stuff their advertisers are selling.

I would love to see a series like "Wings" where a single WWI aircraft was lovingly profiled. Unfortunately there is relatively little archival film footage as compared to the WWI aircraft and and many WWI aircraft are represented by only one example if at all. No original Fokker Triplanes for instance. There are probably enough extant aircraft and really good replicas to build a dozen episodes around with each episode focusing on one particular aircraft.

[Albatros_Ace]

the living veterans is a MASSIVE factor in this and the information on these thing s is limited

did the history channel cancel dogfights?

[Ronny Bar]

Hi Guys...

Excuse me for saying this... But that there are no more living veterans from WW1 is no excuse to dedicate such limited space to cover facts from the Great War... They have done wonderful productions on Roman, Greek, Napoleonic history already... (Just to mention a few of them...) And you must agree with me that of course there are no more living witnesses from neither of those historic periods... Uh..?

Cheers..!

Ronny

[RAF56_Ball]

Originally Posted by Ronny Bar

... But that there are no more living veterans from WW1 is no excuse to dedicate such limited space to cover facts from the Great War... They have done wonderful productions on Roman, Greek, Napoleonic history already... (Just to mention a few of them...) And you must agree with me that of course there are no more living witnesses from either(sp) of those historic periods... Ronny

Dittos, Ronny.

[Albatros_Ace]

there are at least ten living WWI veterans ...

none of them flew WWI airplanes though

[Mgnostic]

Originally Posted by Ronny Bar

Hi Guys...

Excuse me for saying this... But that there are no more living veterans from WW1 is no excuse to dedicate such limited space to cover facts from the Great War... They have done wonderful productions on Roman, Greek, Napoleonic history already... (Just to mention a few of them...) And you must agree with me that of course there are no more living witnesses from neither of those historic periods... Uh..?

Cheers..!

Ronny

I quite agree but I do believe it is a factor in what sells. Those of us who remember the 60's and early 70's may recall that WWI nostalgia hit a peak in popular culture. Snoopy and the Red Baron. There were a number of appearances of WWI planes in popular cartoons such as Johnny Quest and Scooby Doo. Maxwell Smart even took on Siegfried of CHAOS in an episode where he flew an N28 against a DVII. This was about the time that the WWI vets were starting to pass on. Now as our dads are beginning to pass on (my neighbor who flew in the navy from Wildcats to early jets is pushing 90) and we are having a burst of nostalgia about the time when our fathers (or grandfathers) were in the glory of their youth. A lot of Vietnam war era guys are pushing 60, more if they were career military. WWI is just beginning to join the Civil War in that realm where there is no one with living memory to contract one's fantasies of how it was. Which makes those folks here who uphold high standards of scholarship all the more important. I think that it is only one factor in the equation and I do think that a fascinating time in history is getting the short end of the stick as far as air time goes but it still boils down to the fact that television is a business and the producers will make shows that sell advertising.
Sadly I think that a lot of opportunities were missed in terms of interviewing WWI vets before they were all gone. I know that books were written and interviews done but not with the depth and intensity that has been done in documenting the individual experiences of WWII soldiers.

Just my haepenny worth.

[Roadhog]

Dear Albatros Ace, The fact that the handful of surviving WWI veterans are still alive is probably directly linked to the fact that none of them flew WWI aircraft. VR, Scott

BTW Mgnostic, well said.

[stephen]

I do the TV thing, and essentially it boils down to 2 factors: advertising dictates and management's preferences. Ratings have almost no bearing on cable TV at this point. As long as they don't bomb hopelessly, they don't care. Programming decisions are made on a show by show basis, factoring in budget, potential advertisers, etc.

IOW, if Coca Cola wants to reach "History" channel viewers, they might prefer to do so via a Modern Marvels segment on the manufacturing of bottle caps, rather than a piece on WWI. Coke sees that as a closer tie to their product, and they still reach the same History channel audience. So guess what History channel execs sign a contract for? A stupid Modern Marvels series.

That's how a "sport" like poker gets on ESPN (stop laughing). That's why The Search for THE STAND (the upcoming documentary on Luke) probably won't be on History channel but was snapped up by a sports network and a "TV for men" network.

Don't try to make sense of it. Just follow the money.

BTW, speaking of TV, a big WWI announcement coming this afternoon... for those of you who want to see WWI aviation pushed into the mainstream media, I hope it is welcome news. Watch this forum or THE STAND: The Final Flight of Lt. Frank Luke, Jr. in a few hours.

[rexee]

Whats really sad and disturbing is the latest series "gangland" about the "history" of gangs in present day society!