Don't look for history at what used to be The History Channel

[Eric James]

Don’t go looking for history anymore at what used to be The History Channel. The programming distributor that once wanted to present history, now wants to make history instead.

There’s been little notice that the History Channel has been re-branded simply as History, sometimes identified as History.com. Notice its new logo when tuning in.

Together with the change in re-branding has come a change in focus. Entertainment, and no longer history, is now the focus of History. The distributor now is focused upon attracting the under age 34 demographic. This has come at the expense of losing the above age 35 demographic, which originally was attracted to The History Channel and made it a success.

The subtle change was engineered by Nancy Dubuc, formerly of the A&E network. Dubuc wants to give History a realty based approach to programming. New programs have featured Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars, and a NASCAR based realty program, yet to be released

A week ago History broadcast the disastrously awful Jesse James’ Hidden Treasures. This show stripped away factual history entirely, and replaced any factual history with fantasy filled treasure hunting, in pursuit of History's new focus on entertainment.

The James Preservation Trust, which represents the historical interests of the Jesse James family has given Jesse James’ Hidden Treasure a blistering review on its blog, Leaves of Gas, attached to its main web site, Stray Leaves.

The Trust has gone so far as to make available a downloadable transcript of the program, that de-constructs the program line by line, citing the program’s falsehoods, misrepresentations, & inaccuracies, while correcting the program citing actual historical facts, all with deadly satire that exposes the true intent of the show's partcipants and producers and History’s misguided programming.

[Odessa Red]

That is a twisted shame....it seems all the "old" good channels are changing for the worst with their programming and moving away from the original intent of the channel. I noticed the change with the Discovery Channel. When it first came on cable over 20 years ago I was so excited because all the programs were educational and featured many wildlife, physics, oceanographic, etc.. type programs...I loved it...now you have to wade through the garbage and tons of loud commercials to find the few good shows. I support you in your quest to hold the history channel accountable for their sensationalism as it pertains to your ancestor.

[Jim Holden]

I found the same issues with the "Cowboys and Indians" segment on Wyatt Earp last evening. Some amazing stuff was included and left out of this "bio-doc" on Wyatt. They protrayed an incident where his gun fell out of his holster supposedly in Ellsworth, which would have been about 1873, when the Colt .45 SAA was just being released. It's a little unbelievable that Wyatt would have had one so soon.

Again, where was "Doc Holliday" in the story about Wyatt and his "character"? Doc wasn't even mentioned as part of the fight near the OK Corral, nor on the "Vengeance Ride". In fact Virgil's wounding wasn't mentioned either. What I got is that Wyatt was a pretty good, if brutal peace officer, who protected his brothers, associated with the "Sporting Crowd" and made his money off gambling and soiled doves.

This was a pretty superficial examination of Wyatt, perhaps aimed at the "right demographic", but not particularly good stuff. Oh BBB and the other history commentators were good, but whoever cut and edited this mishmash of Earpiana was pretty awful.

[Mike D.]

Good points, Gayle. I saw an interview with some of the Mayan people, and they don't believe the whole 2012 bunk. When asked why the calendar stopped at 2012, one of them said, "they had to stop it somewhere!"

[Two-Step]

Meh.. I think that the Earps where a gang of thugs with badges... that was an opinion of many folks of the time too.

I figure that the Mayans knew as much about the end of the world as the the Hebrews. So what if it does end, not like we can do anything about it anyway...

Jesse James was about as much of an outlaw as the railroads and banks of the time... that is nothing new and many people of the era thought he was the good guy. As far as the treasure, there are some indication that this was real, but JJ's involvement is scarce at best and I have never seen anything concrete regarding his involvement with the KGC.

[Steve McCarty]

I have stopped watching the history channel because of it's left wing bias. It is flagrant at times. Did you see the Navajo story of their four years at Fort Sumner? Not well done. There was no mention of the depredations they foisted upon the settlers and wagon trains as they passed through Arizona.

[flboots]

We need to do a write in campaign to the channels sponsors. Tell them if the History channel doesnt return to correct programing we will stop buying their products and tell 5 of our friends not to buy either.

[Melvin Graf]

Eric, The "History" Channel is becoming a haven for scammers who are using it as a venue to present their cons unchallenged. That recent Jesse James program was one of the most idiotic I've seen in a while. I was glad to see that T. J. Stiles didn't buy into it's premise.

[Michael]

The History Channel has rapidly morphed into nothing more than tabloid journalism. That piece of trash "Jesse James Hidden Treasures" may have hit a new low.

[Duke_Wayne]

I stick to the old shows that they still show like The Real West and Wild West Tech. (The few times they actually show WWT.) The quality of the show has rapidly deteriorated and it is unfortunate...

[Odessa Red]

We should send this thread to them.