Pokemon. Then a barrage of cheap, dubbed anime. Then those shows were largely forgotten.So what do you think happened to educational TV? Why did it just disappear?
Pokemon. Then a barrage of cheap, dubbed anime. Then those shows were largely forgotten.[/QUOTE]So what do you think happened to educational TV? Why did it just disappear?
Actually, there was a big push by fans and alumni of the show to gather the money needed to renew it's broadcasting fee (or something like that, I can't remember what it is called) in order for it to stay on the air because PBC couldn't afford to renew it. I don't remember how close they got.Fuck, even Reading Rainbow's been cancelled and that shit was almost Sesame Street level with it's institution.
Don't forget daily marathons of Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs. Spoiler alert on Dirty Jobs, the job sucks ass and is dirty.Arts and Entertainment doesn't have anything artistic anymore. They used to show great mysteries (Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, etc) every week. And their Biography episodes used to be about people who weren't Britney Spears. They even made good movies and minseries like Horatio Hornblower, The Lost Battalion, and Longitude. Now it's just trite.
And I'm not sure what to make of Discovery. When I lived in Korea we had Discovery Channel Asia in our cable package. It was geared towards Australian, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian audiences. It was some amazing stuff. Yes, they showed American Chopper and Overhauling, but not more than an hour a day. When I moved back Stateside I noticed that Discovery here devotes half their time slots to guys building bikes, and the other half to short-tempered fishermen.
I daresay the American viewing public has declined in intelligence in recent years. 'Tis a pity they have become so unrefined and plebeian. Consummate guttersnipes, the lot of them! It is due to their tastes that the A&E network ceased production of the Hornblower miniseries, and instead focused on "reality" series filled with such a vile assortment of mountebanks and cads! Harrrumph! If this is the state of affairs in American culture, I shall retire to my drawing room and peruse a Daniel Defoe novel whilst basking in the ambience of a Haydn string quartet. Perhaps a light repast of port and blue Stilton would not go amiss. I bid you all adieu.
*puts on mess jacket, adjusts monocle, and struts away, using ebony sword-cane to scatter the hapless street urchins before him*
Actually, there was a big push by fans and alumni of the show to gather the money needed to renew it's broadcasting fee (or something like that, I can't remember what it is called) in order for it to stay on the air because PBC couldn't afford to renew it. I don't remember how close they got.[/QUOTE]Fuck, even Reading Rainbow's been cancelled and that shit was almost Sesame Street level with it's institution.
I have to agree that quality content (like art, history and science) has to be accurate and thus cost money. Reality TV, you just make stuff up and people will believe it.The issue with A&E, History, and Discovery was few people wanted to watch good shows about Art, History, or Science. So they all became reality TV stations. And TLC is all home improvement shows and pregger chicks.
I think it is funny that the recent documentary on History, America the Story of Us, was their biggest hit in years.
They still have them. Tons of them:I was never able to watch The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles when I was a kid, so I'm using Netflix to watch the whole series from start to finish. It's amazing. There is so much history and other social studies packed into each episode.
Think about the educational TV we grew up with. I'm not talking about shows like Dora the Explorer which are geared toward preschoolers, but those meant for an older audience. We had Beakman's World, Bill Nye, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (both the cartoon and PBS show). They don't have any shows like that anymore. Not a one.
So what do you think happened to educational TV? Why did it just disappear?
By age 7-10 you're supposed to have learned how to engage and use books to learn. You can't depend on TV for everything. There are hundreds of educational videos out there, and hundreds of educational shows. Why do we need to make everything a fucking game to enjoy it? Why can't you teach kids to learn for the sake of learning. Edutainment has its place, but when you're dealing with teenagers, you're preparing them to enter the market economy and work for a living. Edutainment doesn't help prepare kids for college/work. Not everything in life is fun and entertaining. In fact, the need to be entertained on a 24/7 basis is an advertising gimmick that brainwashes you into requiring entertainment on a constant basis from the day you turn on a TV. Yup, your boredom is modeled by and exploited by advertising.It's mostly turned into stuff for REALLY young kids (most of the stuff Nick plays early in the day, and a lot of what is on Discovery Kids) that no longer appeals to older kids because some doctors somehow decided that the best time to teach kids things is from age 2-5... so television people focused exclusively on them. That's why you see lots of shows trying to teach kids Spanish or Chinese, because that's the best time to learn other languages.
The last older kid (7-10) educational stuff I remember seeing is Liberty's Kids (basically teaching kids about the American Revolution) and that was originally on... 5 years ago? I know it's still in syndication, if you know where to look for it. Aside from that, I can't think of anything recent. You could MAYBE argue that Mythbusters counts, as it does have educational content and specially made episodes for classrooms, but that's clearly not the main focus of the show.
I think TLC's motto used to be "Entertain Your Brain." I wonder how many more reality shows they'll have about midgets with tons of kids.