Have we witnessed the death of intelligent TV?

No one who watches shows like that thinks they're watching them seriously. If four million people just watch a show to make fun of it... that's still four million people watching a show.

 

Well piracy doesn't add to the numbers, and we're dirty foreigners, and frankly it scares me to think what the real numbers for these shows must be once you add the piracy to the terrestrial viewage.

 

Are there any kickstarter projects or similar things to make History Channel type documentaries like the ones that analysed campaings in WW2?

I think the title was Battlefield, i would lve to see a series of those analysing he Iran Iraq War or something similar.

 

Tell me you at least said,"Hello" to Alexander Hamilton, the first Vampire Hunter.

 

Alas, not that I recall.

Although, if you'll allow me a shameless plug, I worked Trinity Cemetery into the plot of my upcoming LEVERAGE novel.

And just to stay OT: Leverage was another example of smart, fun TV that competed successfully with reality shows for a full five seasons.

 

OK, so Austin Stevens is "unintelligent" programming? No more or less than any Sir David Attenborough programme, even if Stevens's style was far more up close and personal than Sir David's ever was.

As for ancient aliens, well the theory may seem far-fetched, but it's worthy of a place on a science channel since it's a fact that based on Iron Age/Bronze Age/Neolithic technology, we don't know how some structures were built.

 

It is far fetched.

What it is not is an actual theory with any kind of scientific credibility. It no more belongs on TV than Loose Change or Zeitgeist do. I remember one very funny documentary that was dedicated to debunking this kind of nonsense, but besides that (or I guess a history of the evolution of the idea, van Daaniken and all) I can't think of many good ideas for documentaries around it.

 

In a thousand years, they'll think that Aliens built the US Continental railways.

 

Pft. People today think aliens make crop circles, even though the guys that started it came forward and showed us how they did it.

 

Oh, no way, "We don't know" is no excuse to put something on the science channel saying aliens did it. Something is not science just because you can't disprove it. The minimum requirement to call something science is that there exists a way for your hypothesis to be either proven or disproven.

This is the blending of information and entertainment for better ratings. Pretty soon the two will be indistinguishable, if they aren't already. (Journalism and propaganda are already indistinguishable)