The Learning Channel: From Education to Exploitation

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In summary, the conversation discusses the decline of educational programming on The Learning Channel and its shift towards reality TV shows and sensationalist content. The participants express disappointment in the lack of intellectual stimulation and learning opportunities on the channel, as well as criticism of certain shows such as "The Duggars" and "Toddlers and Tiaras." They also mention the decline of educational programming on other channels like the Discovery Channel. The conversation ends with a discussion about the current lineup of shows on TLC.
  • #36
I think that The Food Network is a great channel, I learn plenty from it. I actually think that it's the only channel I watch during the day time. At night other good show are on history and discovery (this is at like 2am) so I watch those instead unless a movie is on.

I love Iron Chef... it's just so fun :smile:
 
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  • #37
Let's discover...howe & howe tech!...ugh...
Just as bad as the loggers on History.
 
  • #38
Well, I agree that the Duggar's are not much in the way of quality programming. And, it's true, they couldn't afford all those kids before they had a reality TV show...the very first episodes were basically them getting help building a house they were trying to build themselves and not able to finish until the TV producers came along and hired crews to finish it for them.

However, I have seen good programming on TLC still. I like shows like Mystery Diagnosis and Diagnosis X. They're pretty educational, and accurate. They aren't on as often, because they also air on Discovery Health, but for me, that's in the digital programming line-up and I only get that one the one TV with the converter box (and won't get it at all if I give up the converter box if rates go up much at the end of my first year of subscribing).

I pretty much watch 3 channels that are all in a row here...Comedy Central, TLC, and Discovery Channel. When shows like the Duggar's or the one about all the morbidly obese people getting gastric bypass (really, why is that interesting after one episode? It's all the same thing) are on TLC or Discovery, that's when I watch Comedy Central.
 
  • #39
Is it possible that a government sponsored math and science, channel could actually have a positive economic effect on a country, rather than just wasting money? I think it's possible.
 
  • #40
Evo said:
In a world bordering on 7 billion and heading for disaster if the world population does not decrease soon, popping out children to satisfy some personal desire to continuously reproduce is irresponsible, IMO. I wonder if it is some kind of mental disorder that drives them to this?

Survival of humanity should be the LAST thing a couple should think about.
 
  • #41
It is so sad that educational tv cannot survive in America. But do they have to degrade to such irresponsible trash?

Where else in the world is it really embraced? Frankly , I am thankful that we have podcasts that contain a variety of subjects and selections that you are curious about or interested in that does not rely on ratings in order for the particular podcast you are interested in to continue . good riddance to TLC and the discovery, and frankly television as a whole because it has collective gone done in production and programming quality.
 
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  • #42
As for quality programming, you can't beat PBS.

I take issue with a number of their lecture series, but other than that, I find that PBS programming is usually the best [hightest quality] to be found. Most Novas are anywhere between good and excellent. Nature is good. Frontline is an excellent political documentary series. Sesame street has been running how long now? Heck, I have even learned to enjoy the Antique Road Show, which comes on after my thirty-year standard and the most reliable and in-depth [substantive] news service on television - The News Hour and the affiliated news programming. You won't find anyone on The News Hour or any other program yelling at or crying for the camera. Guests are required to allow others to speak their turn; then to respond in a reasonable manner. In fact, guests of any bias are even allowed to make their points without being cut off by the interviewer and forced to respond to nonsense.

Interesting that the opponents of public television have long argued it is unnecessary because commerical markets will fill the void. Apparently they don't.
 
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  • #43
I love PBS and the Antiques Roadshow is one of my favorite shows :smile:. Sometimes they have really interesting things on there.
 
  • #44
zomgwtf said:
I love PBS and the Antiques Roadshow is one of my favorite shows :smile:. Sometimes they have really interesting things on there.

The History Detectives can also be quite interesting and educational.
 
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  • #45
Phyisab**** said:
Is it possible that a government sponsored math and science, channel could actually have a positive economic effect on a country, rather than just wasting money? I think it's possible.

Oh man, wouldn't that be awesome?

My area has a local cable county government channel and a county department of education channel. The Gov. channel just plays reruns of anti-crime programs from the 90's and safety/stream maintenance programs (which are, though outdated, useful). The Edu. Channel mostly just shows slide shows of little kids art put to classical music (which is really nice to have in the background), but occasionally they do play some discussions of art, poetry, economics, child development etc. Nothing of really high quality and all made in the 90's.

Either of these channels could easily be used to show math and science lectures. Being in Georgia, perhaps they could even tape some lecture series from UGA or GTech for little to no cost on their part.
 
  • #46
The onion's got a fun article on this: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/science_channel_refuses_to_dumb
 
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  • #47
Evo, I agree completely about TLC and the whole other batch of supposed "learning" channels out there nowadays. But that's ok, because we have the internet and TED and GoogleTalks and a number of open courses online (such as Yale). We no longer need to be spoon fed our educational visual/audio stimulation. We can hand pick it!
 
  • #48
Officials also noted that the cable channel greatly values the 18- to 45-year-old demographic of louts, clods, and empty-headed dumb ****s.

"I don't like it when the science people talk about things no one can even understand," said Rich Parker, an Ohio resident. "It's like, just quit your yapping and dip the chain saw into the liquid nitrogen already." That makes me feel better thanks for the link.
 
  • #49
Phyisab**** said:
"It's like, just quit your yapping and dip the chain saw into the liquid nitrogen already."

what does that even mean?
 
  • #50
Pythagorean said:
what does that even mean?
I think it's the tendency to drop out anything educational in favor of the things that would be really bad ideas if not done in a supervised setting. It's best seen in mythbusters, where an obscure myth would probably be dug up just to justify "dipping a chain saw into liquid nitrogen."
 
  • #51
story645 said:
The onion's got a fun article on this: [PLAIN
The[/PLAIN] link isn't working for me.
 
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  • #52
Evo said:
The link isn't working for me.

Sorry, accidentally included an extra url tag. Fixed it, but also:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/science_channel_refuses_to_dumb
 
  • #53
story645 said:
Sorry, accidentally included an extra url tag. Fixed it, but also:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/science_channel_refuses_to_dumb
Ahaha, I love the Onion.
 
  • #54
We don't cable TV at home, so my wife and I watch it mainly in motels when we're traveling. Once upon a time, CNN was good for catching up on news no matter when we checked in. Then they started to do more and more talk-show stuff and move away from straight news. Eventually they started a separate channel, Headline News, with a straight-news format, and we latched onto that. But now even that has morphed into HLN which also has nothing but talk shows in the evening... Nancy Grace, Glenn Beck, etc.

Even the good old Weather Channel has shifted to mostly "weather reality shows" in the evening, instead of straight weather reporting.

Apparently niche channels don't make enough money. Most of them have had to shift towards a more general-interest mix and thereby become less and less differentiated.
 
  • #55
Pythagorean said:
Evo, I agree completely about TLC and the whole other batch of supposed "learning" channels out there nowadays. But that's ok, because we have the internet and TED and GoogleTalks and a number of open courses online (such as Yale). We no longer need to be spoon fed our educational visual/audio stimulation. We can hand pick it!

TED is great, but methinks there is a bit of mutual backscratching going on

http://blog.ted.com/2009/12/cindy_gallop_ma.php
 
  • #56
Evo said:
I remember when The Learning Channel started and was about knowledge, that was a LONG time ago. There has not been an educational program on there in more years than I can remember.

Now they are hosting the Miss America pageant. Their programming is nothing but garbage, programs like The Duggars (it's a vagina, not a clown car), and Jon and Kate + hate. Toddlers and Tiaras, about promoting the exploitation of very young girls in beauty pageants.

It is so sad that educational tv cannot survive in America. But do they have to degrade to such irresponsible trash?

I also can't remeber the last time that I watched TLC for these reasons - I never even heard of Jon and Kate until their divorce hit the evening news. Unfortunately, I have seen the commercials for Toddlers and Tiaras.

I do remember the early days when TLC had educational programs. My favorite from the early 90's was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mechanical_Universe" and the follow up program "Beyond the Mechanical Universe". It really helped to clarify some of the topics that I didn't grasp as well as I would have liked in college. Of course that was way before everything was put on the internet.
 
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