The History Channel

Lately I've been finding myself watching the History channel.

The shows I've been watching are Gangland and Cities of the Underworld.

There was this thing on Andrew Jackson last night that I got hooked into...

Gangland is about gangsters from mobsters to street gangs to motorcycle gangs.

Cities of the Underworld explores underground tunnels in cities. New York city has a lot of them, Portland used to force people into slavery and trapped them underground. And so on.

I watched Gangland yesterday about the "Warlocks" biker gang. Interesting stuff.

I usually watch the History Channel many times a week. However, I don't care for either of those two productions. The info it provides is useful in my classes.

I caught the end of that. I think having to get a huge tattoo will help with infiltration from police.

yes, i watched the same!pretty interesting!

I've always loved THC. Especially in HD.

I watch History Channel regularly. The subject matter is always interesting. But more often than not, I find that they really don't have enough content to fill out an hour--even with commercials.

I used to watch the history channel alot, but to me it went down by not showing that much with history...just tech stuff and like what you guys said gangland, and other stuff.

I agree Bam. I wish it would stick to history. Afterall, there would seem to be enough of history to tell about.

I've started to watch it quite a bit lately. I believe last week or the week before was "Armageddon week" and they had a few shows about Nostradamus. ESPN is ALWAYS the first channel I check when flipping on the TV but the History Channel is becoming #2.

I get History International and History Military, and these are infinitely better than History Channel, which as stated, has declined in quality over the past several years.

I watch the history channel once in awhile, when it actually deals with history like right now it's showing The Outlaw Josey wales. Now don't get me wrong it's a great flick. But the History channel should not be showing movies.

I agree. I'd like to know why they show movies like that. Maybe to attract an audience component that otherwise would not tune in. It might be a form of advertising.

I saw Olivant talking about this the other night and I've wanted to get this thread going again.

Yes, the History Channel is finally getting back to airing some seriously culturally signifigant materials. This original History Channel special, World War II in HD, narrated by Gary Sinnese, is one of the best I've ever seen on the subject.

Just like many of our favorite classic films are being restored in high defintion and color for the first time, so are the immense volumes of World War II film and photography, much of which is being shown for the first time ever in this documentary. The doc is a narrative that features voice overs including Rob Lowe and LL Cool J. I know that we've had some serious discussions here in the past about HD technology--Capo, Turnbull, svsg, Geoff, Lou and others are much more informed than I am--and these restored and colorized images made my hair stand up. The footage and narrative based on actual letters really gives perspective to those who weren't alive during this time period, but also to those from the period, who, until now, have only seen many of these clips in black and white.

One can't help but by blown away by the sheer visceral effects of the footage. Experiencing for the first time in HD, say, the site of one of those gargantuan sized rallies in Nazi Germany, as the giant red, white and black "spider flag" is unveiled to the massive crowds of followers, really gives one a much better idea of the absolute dread and fear that the flag and those rallies must have evoked around the world. Another scene that moved me was the famous footage of the American flag-draped coffin as it's being thrown overboard into the Pacific Ocean, and it has an immensely greater effect in HD (seeing the red, white & blue of that flag as it's submerged into the blue seas of the eternal Pacific will make you weep.)

And the producers do a great job of conveying the drama of the time period. One scene that comes to mind was up-close color footage of Hitler blasting his staff over the war's failures, spliced with clips of American and British fighter planes in the blue skys over Germany. It was intense.

Some great audio from that time, too: "Rather than be the ostrich with it's head buried in the sand; the eagle chooses to fly and soar on to encounter the enemy, to reach a peace made on our terms, not the invaders", or something to that effect.

Regardless of one's thoughts on war, and the sociological, economic, and psyhcological reasons we fight those wars; it is important that we NEVER forget what happened, and never quit discussing what happened. That's why I enjoy so much studying and discussing history and watching this channel, gathering new perspectives on the events and people I've only read about.

well that pisses me off...i dont mind the WWII stuff which is on almost all day, but what i do mind is that the history channel is not showing anything at all about kennedy (besides the new documentry)but instead they want to show how the world is made, pawn shops, and westerns they could have done on the weekday.

I agree, Ice. WWII in HD was terrific. And shocking. And sad. The footage of the Nagasaki nuclear attack literally took my breath away.