I remember when Animal Planet actually had shows about animals, and not a dozen or so programs in constant rotation about building unnecessary luxury items for rich people.
Kind of like how nowadays the History Channel shows nothing but pawn shops, the Sci-Fi channel airs wrestling, and Cartoon Network has Live action shows on it.
I don’t think they understand that we choose to watch these channels in the hopes that they’re going to be different from other channels. We don’t watch Syfy to see shit we can see in back alleys on Earth. We don’t watch the History Channel to see shit that’s still going on right outside our doors. We don’t watch Animal Planet to see humans doing human things. We don’t watch Cartoon Network to see things that aren’t cartoons.
CN is the only one of these channels that actually learned the hard way, and wised the fuck up. Some of today’s teens may be somewhat misguided (as I’m sure has always been the way since long before the phrase “teenager” was even coined. Young humans have not experienced as much of the world, and are still growing–both physically, and mentally), but they honestly have better taste in programming than a hell of a lot of “adults”.
I don’t watch TV to see the televised equivalent of a trip to Walmart. I watch TV to explore places I otherwise couldn’t, whether they be fictional, beyond my social or educational status to experience for myself, or simply lost to time.
Sci-Fi got weird about the time they decided to starting airing Wrestling (and A LOT of it) for some reason.
What gets me, is they keep creating these new channels to air the programs that the channels that already exist are supposed to be showing.
“We want more [insert content type here]”
“Well, we can’t possibly fit any more content onto the main channel. Let’s make a new one for it!”
*creat new channel, 12 months later, it’s filled with crap, repeat cycle*