Discovery Strays from its Roots

Figure 1A

I am an environmental science major. I have an intense interest in animals and their abiotic environments. This love started at a very early age with the television series Wild Discovery. You may remember the logo (Figure 1A). I constantly watched this show and was enthralled with animals and their peculiar behaviors. I knew more about the natural sciences than any of my peers at an incredibly young age. The science poured straight from my television and into my brain. Nearly every night, I watched lions tear apart gazelles and elephants push over trees. I could not get enough. I thank Wild Discovery and whatever similar shows aired on the Discovery Channel, because they influenced my future in a dramatic way. I thank them for their knowledge, especially because now they are gone.

Within the past few years, the Discovery Channel dramatically shifted away from its naturalist science roots. Instead of watching animals fight for survival on the African savanna, I am watching American lumberjacks chop down forests. Instead of watching schools of fish swim to avoid  predacious orcas, I am watching Americans overfish the Atlantic. Instead of watching how the delicate circle of life functions, I am watching a survival men conquer nature. What happened? Why did this change?

The current Discovery Channel line-up makes me sick. Everything that the Discovery Channel once stood for has been forsaken. It used to honor nature by educating viewers of its majesty and might, now it is an anthropocentric mess that aims to contend with other networks. It became so overly Americanized when two shows boosted the ratings of the network, American Choppers & Monster Garage. Both shows feature obviously American themes of car and motorcycle modifications. This was followed by The Deadliest Catch, which boosted the ratings even higher. Corporate scum having their dicks tugged by cash continued their pursuit away from original Discovery Channel values of pro-environmentalism and pro-naturalism.

On September 1st, 2010, a crazy environmentalist got so fed up with the Discovery Channel’s new path that he entered the building with a handgun and a bomb strapped to his chest. I though I was pissed until I read this guy’s website, Savetheplanetprotest.com. This case of extreme radicalism displays the irritation environmentalists accumulate when others cast off their cause. I do have a problem with Discovery, but I am not going to take people hostage.

The US (and probably China) are the most unfriendly nations to the environment. I become sickened when I see how the programming of a once environmental network becomes more American-business oriented by the day. American business ruined the environment, yet Discovery proudly displays it as their new theme.

Let us look at the current line-up and say if it does or does not concur with The Discovery Channel’s roots.

1. American Loggers – Environmental rape at its finest.
2. Auction Kings – Pro-business, nothing about nature.
3. Bad Universe – I’ll take it.
4. Beyond Survival with Les Stroud – Anthropocentric, man dominating nature.
5. Cash Cab – I love this show, but it has nothing to do with nature or even science.
6. The Colony – Anthropocentric, Discovery’s “science” attempt at reality TV.
7. Curiosity – Has yet to debut, but sounds extremely promising and intellectual.
8. Deadliest Catch – Anthropocentric, promotes rape of the seas with overfishing that is an often overlooked problem.
9. Dirty Jobs – Pro-business and blue-collar man. Not much to do with science, although I love the show and Mike Rowe.
10. Dual Survival – Anthropocentric, man dominating nature, or yet two idiots.
11. Everest Beyond the Limit – Anthropocentric, man dominating nature again, but I’ll take it.
12. Ghost Lab - Just dumb, ghosts are not real.
13. Howe & Howe Tech – Military focus that promotes industrialization with no relevancy to nature.
14. Life – Score!
15. Man vs. Wild – Anthropocentric, man dominating nature.
16. Man, Woman, Wild – Anthropocentric, man and idiot dominating nature.
17. Mythbusters - Interesting, but still strays from natural origins. Science, but not nature. Need both.
18. Pitchmen – What the fuck does this have to do with science or nature? Commercialism, capitalism and pro-business – all contribute to environmental rape.
19. Planet Earth - Score!
20. The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero – This is on the wrong station, should be on History.
21. River Monsters – This one works for me, although I would like more appreciation for to so-called “monsters.”
22. Shark Week – It is animal focused, but often with an anthropocentric aim.
23. Storm Chasers – How about we rename it to Storms and drop the stupid “chasers.” Narrators are being expelled as more and more people want to get their face on camera.
24. Surviving the Cut – Military focus. Not related at all.
25. Swamp Loggers – This is probably the most anti-environmental show on the network. Swamp logging absolutely destroys ecosystems to get fucking timber. Fuck this show.
26. Swords – Overfishing, but in the Atlantic this time instead of the Bering Sea.
27. Time Warp – Basically a guy with a high-speed camera. Too bad he does know more about physics to make this a more interesting show.
28. Ultimate Car Build-Off – American, American, American. Totally opposite of roots.
29. Verminators – What the hell? No. This is a life killing show.
30. Worst Case Scenario - I do not see the connection.

There you have it. 21 out of 30 are either not related or directly opposed to what the Discovery Channel used to be all about. Now this doesn’t mean I don’t like any of the red shows, I only think they don’t get the right message across. Also, the shows in green are rarely aired, while I am pretty sure Deadliest Catch is on over twenty times per day. Get your act together Discovery. Damn.

Au revoir.