Discovery's new boss says so no more mermaids, giant snakes

They need to re-air The Wonderful World of Dung, which at one time was the highest-rated program on the Discovery Channel -- at least back when the Discovery Channel was relatively new. It was a documentary all about dung...seriously.

IMDB - The Natural World: The Wonderful World of Dung

I remember watching it back in the early 1990s, and remember it being an excellent documentary.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
They need to re-air The Wonderful World of Dung, which at one time was the highest-rated program on the Discovery Channel -- at least back when the Discovery Channel was relatively new. It was a documentary all about dung...seriously.

IMDB - The Natural World: The Wonderful World of Dung

I remember watching it back in the early 1990s, and remember it being an excellent documentary.

Sounds like a total sh!t show.

The mermaids show was just a anti military anti navy propaganda piece that had the US navy operating in areas they were not operate in and may even been payed for by Russian front org.

Mate even in Australia we have like 100 channels, you want rubbish entertainment check out hallmark or nickelodeon or any of the other 80+ channels dedicated to that crap.

Ive watched the pawnstars shows and American pickers, while I enjoy American pickers and it does have a history aspect to it Im sorry but pawnstars just doesnt belong, its taking up valuable time but is obviously popular.
That said you really think the people who tune in for that crap are sticking around to watch stuff on the Roman Empire or the Renaissance??
I highly doubt it, the most these people would get is seeing the commercials about them, but on a positive note I spose that way they will have at least heard of the Renaissance

OK! I hope I can get smart stuff back. I mean if they feel like they need to get some crazy stupid out, they can run a mockumentary during a Fringe Week and see if it goes over well there. Just make sure everyone knows it's a dramatization of what researching such a thing might actually be like or something.

But during Shark Week? C'mon give me another Mythbusters Episode doing a Sharknado myth if you are that hardup for something clearly fictional.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
They need to re-air The Wonderful World of Dung, which at one time was the highest-rated program on the Discovery Channel -- at least back when the Discovery Channel was relatively new. It was a documentary all about dung...seriously.

originally posted by: Answer
Sounds like a total sh!t show.

The subject matter definitely was, but it was an entertaining and insightful documentary -- which may be why it was the highest-rated program the Discovery channel had for a long time.

Sure, I remember the presenter (Tony Robinson, of "Time Team" fame) could be a bit tongue-in-cheek at times, but that's only because he had to be, given the subject matter; if he was ultra-serious, he ran the risk of it sounding like a mockumentary. Other than that, it was a meaningful look at the significance of dung, which, by the way, plays a highly important role in nature.

It was certainly more meaningful than mermaids.

When I was a kid and these channels like discovery and history were for real topics I used to spend hours watching them.

Now they have the woo woo stuff i find them unwatchable.


All to please a dumber and dumber public.....

a reply to: crazyewok

The sad thing is that now that we've absconded to Science, the woo-woo is slowly following us there.

His statement means nothing really. If the public doesn't yet realize ALL television is a highly controlled medium, then what's the point here? Sure removing blatant stuff like the mermaid show sounds good, but do you honestly think that instantly means everything else they show will be on the level?

People, even your news networks lie and scew everything. When a small group has nearly 100% control of the signal, you better damn start accepting you're being led.

a reply to: Arpad

Hence net neutrality. When they can make us pay the same rates for it that we are forced to pay for our exhorbitant cable ... maybe people will come back to the boob tube.

Yeah, I remember when the shows on the History channel and the Discovery channel started to get cartoonish, non-serious and unbelievable. They lost me as a veiwer for the most part for the noticeable lack of professionalism in their newer shows. I connected this change in programming to a change in the people who run the network and the probability that there wasn't any new material and they went coo-coo from re-running the same subject matter for 20 years. It's good to hear that their getting their heads on tight again.

Sad to see a good show gone, now we can look foward to a new season of drivel they are putting out heres a current list with a twist:

Alaska: The Last Frontier of crapola

Buying Alaskan crap nobody wants

Cuff Me If You Can because this show is like being mentally imprisoned

Dirty Jobs like watching this drivel is just dirty

Dude, You're Screwed if your watching this show

Edge of Alaskan retards

Fast N' Loud BS we should be ashamed of in 2015

FBI: Criminal Pursuit of bad ratings and a waste of time

Gang Wars for the networks turf war for your wasted time

Gold Rush into the toilet

I (Almost) Got Away With It then my wife turned this stupid show on

Lost and Sold my soul as soon as this show started

Misfit Garage is where this channel belongs its for dumbing down the masses

Moonshiners because were just that dumb huh uncle Jessie

Naked & Afraid watch people so stupid they strip and starve for ratings

Pot Cops for cops who love to take your pot for ratings

Yukon Men because anything educational would go against the de-evoloution trend

You Have Been Warned watching this show will cause severe brain damage

Going back to basics for Discovery.It may alienate the reality TV fans and some of the more penny pinching execs over at NBC who feel that reality TV is way cheaper than scripted series.But that seems to have been changing over these past few years.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Does this mean that Discovery Channel will stop showing reality tv shows on that channel? I really hope so. I'm not "discovering" anything when I watch that crap.

As an Alaskan, let me say I dream of ALL these cable channels ending these fake-ass unreal reality shows filmed around my state. This Ultimate Survival Alaska on Nat Geo is by far the worst of them all... unbelievable, unrealistic, and damned dangerous to anyone who thinks they can do what that show attempts to portray as being "unscripted."

originally posted by: FalcoFan
a reply to: SlapMonkey

The bigfoot stuff is old for me.

There isn't (I would bet) a stretch of woods here in Tn. that doesn't have drunks wandering around at night.

The "Squatchin'" show just reminds me of that fact.

There's an actual show called "Squatchin?"

Just one more, of the many reasons, I don't have cable/SAT TV!

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I do like the Alaskan State Troopers show on Netflix, but I agree...too much "reality" TV that isn't reality, at all.

Discovery Network should just make a new separate channel for all these "reality" shows to keep that particular fanbase happy, and then go back to their roots with everything else. My mom might be disappointed if TLC goes from being "The Ladies Channel" back to it's original purpose of "The Learning Channel" though. Some educational stuff really can be entertaining like Mythbusters, but even then they still push it a bit at times. The show "How It's Made" program is good, but 24 hours of it might get boring, they'll still have to mix things up. I think they could still even do one of those car building shows, but instead of just random drama or whatever, it should be about how and why certain things are done the way they are.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

It's about freaking time. Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel were the last sources of real information and education based on science left for so long. Even the History Channel has gone of the path now. It's time to get back to the basics. So many young people used to learn a great deal from these sources. I salute the change and ope others follow along.

a reply to: FalcoFan

Pump your brakes kid, sci-fi or SyFy as it's now known has never had an image that purported them to be anything high brow; and Sharknado had an entertainingly bad premise as opposed to generic zombie movie number 12 or monster that changes size as the plot demands part 7.

As bad as the mockumentaries were though, at least they were only one-offs (two in the case of mermaids), the staged reality drek of Anish Mafia and Moonshiners has enraged me for years now.

a reply to: FormOfTheLord
Gold Rush is a great show and I like pawn stars too