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Looks Like I Can Maybe Trust the Discovery Channel Again


Monroe

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I remember over a year ago watching a Discovery show about "Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives" and a show on Mermaids ... both shows fooled me at the time ... since they were broadcast on the Discovery Channel.

 

Needless to say after I got more information on those shows and realized they weren't real ... I have rarely watched the DC anymore.

 

Now they have a new guy in charge and he vows a change ...

 

Discovery boss vows change: No more anaconda stunts, fake sharks

 

Jan 8, 2015

 

http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/08/discovery-anaconda-sharks/

 

Under Discovery Channel’s new regime, fake shark movies and man-eating anaconda stunts are out.

 

In an apparent response to viewer dismay over ratings-grabbing stunts that went against Discovery’s science-and-nature brand, the cable channel’s new president, Rich Ross, said he will avoid such content under his leadership.

 

Appearing at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour in Pasadena on Thursday, Ross was first asked about bogus nature documentaries, like last year’s Shark Week movie Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives – a fictional film about a “serial killer of the seas” disguised as a legitimate documentary. The project was slammed by fans of the annual programming stunt and is part of a line of programs that includes Discovery sister channel Animal Planet’s notorious mermaid films.

 

... more at the link, but there is hope for the old Discovery Channel returning.

 

 

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Is that the channel that plays all those "Ancient Aliens" and ufo documentaries? Or is that the history channel?

I haven't watched the Discovery channel in a long time... I thought it was just like people going on Safari to watch lions eat wildebeasts and stuff. Or to watch Leopards carry dead animals into trees in order to submit viewers to limbs dangling by a bloody thread (tendon) while a carcass is being eaten.

Edited by ZortMcGort11
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Some eight or ten years ago the Discovery Channel was still OK ... through the years I guess they went for ratings ...

 

The History Channel doesn't seem to be part of the group ... A&E might own that channel.

 

Discovery Communications consists of 13 U.S. cable and satellite television networks comprising one of the media industry’s most widely distributed portfolios of brands, reaching approximately 836 million cumulative subscribers.

 

The portfolio includes three channels – Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet and eight channels - Investigation Discovery, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Science Channel, Discovery Family Channel, American Heroes Channel, Velocity, Destination America and Discovery Fit & Health – that reach between 46 and 86 million households. The portfolio also includes two Hispanic brands in the U.S. – Discovery en Español and Discovery Familia.

 

We shall see ... if they get the old audience back ... like the new handle, sounds like a TV show from the 50's ... ZortMcGort, Video Ranger of the Universe !!!

...

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Hey monroe, :hello:

 

My better half will be disappointed if this policy change means that Animal Planet will stop carrying the Puppy Bowl that they've been showing on Super Bowl Day the last few years...

 

--JorgeA

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Considering that they carried a "Merry Cuteness" episode at Christmas that was just videos of puppies and kittens without a single human voice during the entire show, and considering that the Puppy Bowl is actual real video unlike shows about Megalodons and Mermaids, and considering the popularity of the Puppy Bowl, I'm sure you can reassure your better half that the Puppy Bowl is here to stay, at least for awhile. (It's also still listed - http://www.animalplanet.com/ - to be broadcast this year starting at 3:00PM Eastern on Feb 1, 2015.

 

Cheers and Regards

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JorgeA ... no those shows are just fine, enjoy them myself and what bphlpt says is right on.

 

The Mermaids show and the "Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives" were presented as a documentary type show with reporting and video included. They were both cleverly done and especially the Megalodon was a possibilty to me, since who can say what still might be around in the deep oceans.

 

I suppose the DC gets an award for being "clever" ... I recommend watching them both one day on DC or Animal Planet but now you know they are not real ... the Megalodon shark show starts off with a boat or yacht being attacked off the South African coast and people were killed ... now whether people actually died in this boating mishap or was there a yacht even sunk or lost.

 

It's worth watching in some ways ... just for what I said earlier, it was cleverly done and presented and only if you really have nothing else to do.

 

I never tuned in to the "snake swallowing a man" that was just broadcast ... I would have rather had the snake left alone and not used for ratings.

...

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Considering that they carried a "Merry Cuteness" episode at Christmas that was just videos of puppies and kittens without a single human voice during the entire show, and considering that the Puppy Bowl is actual real video unlike shows about Megalodons and Mermaids, and considering the popularity of the Puppy Bowl, I'm sure you can reassure your better half that the Puppy Bowl is here to stay, at least for awhile. (It's also still listed - http://www.animalplanet.com/ - to be broadcast this year starting at 3:00PM Eastern on Feb 1, 2015.

 

Cheers and Regards

 

Thanks for the scoop -- my wife will be happy to know they're showing the Puppy Bowl this year!

 

I have to admit, they ARE kind of cute. :)

 

--JorgeA

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JorgeA ... no those shows are just fine, enjoy them myself and what bphlpt says is right on.

 

The Mermaids show and the "Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives" were presented as a documentary type show with reporting and video included. They were both cleverly done and especially the Megalodon was a possibilty to me, since who can say what still might be around in the deep oceans.

 

I suppose the DC gets an award for being "clever" ... I recommend watching them both one day on DC or Animal Planet but now you know they are not real ... the Megalodon shark show starts off with a boat or yacht being attacked off the South African coast and people were killed ... now whether people actually died in this boating mishap or was there a yacht even sunk or lost.

 

It's worth watching in some ways ... just for what I said earlier, it was cleverly done and presented and only if you really have nothing else to do.

 

I never tuned in to the "snake swallowing a man" that was just broadcast ... I would have rather had the snake left alone and not used for ratings.

...

 

Ahhh, now I remember that Megalodon show. Sometime last year we chanced on it while surfing channels and left it on in the background. We weren't paying real close attention but I remember wondering if they ever did find that fish. It's disappointing to learn that it was all a put-on. Yeah, I totally get why people are upset about it. :thumbdown

 

I can understand shows about ancient astronauts, ghost hunting, and the yeti if they're done as a serious, sincere pursuit (independently of whether one believes the theories). But what they did with this fake shark show is uncool.

 

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
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