The Slow Downfall of the History Channel - How History Works

MTV used to only show music videos, Cartoon Network never used to play live-action programming, and the History Channel - if you can believe it - was about history.
But somewhere along the way, it seems those executives realized all those Ken Burns-style documentaries about Napoleon, Nazis and…more Nazis just wasn’t bringing in the dollar.
Because around 2010, the History Channel decided to pivot towards, well, not History. They turned their eyes away from the Earth and towards the stars.
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#HowHistoryWorks #History
Link To My Other Channel: / howmoneyworks
Video Created By: Arun Singh
Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images
Music Provided By: Epidemic Sound
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[@ktanner438]

Maybe the real alien pawn shop space Nazis were the friends we made along the way

[@HowHistoryWorks]

🤣

[@Ananas-280]

I agree

[@danielhale1]

It's always felt so weird to me that they had "History" in their name, like a town named after a lake that was long ago drained and paved over to make a parking lot for a (now-abandoned) Walmart. The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the history channel is staggering, and yet for a long time it felt like I was alone in realizing this. It's been nice discovering that I am not, in fact, the only one disgusted.

[@HowHistoryWorks]

Are you telling me Pawn Stars isn't a high IQ show? haha

[@ApplePi1]

Wow that's a surprisingly good example

[@danielhale1]

@@cristianmbarcenas4452 Yea, I'm old enough to remember when the History Channel did history. It feels like an eternity ago though. Sometimes a cute baby grows up into mass-murdering cannibal and you just gotta separate the two in your mind. :D

[@mollusckscramp4124]

@@danielhale1 Someone's been watching Ancients Behaving Badly reruns, haha!

[@citylimits8927]

The "town named after a lake that was drained" metaphor is spot on!

[@simrantoor85]

When I was a kid, modern marvels was one of my favorite shows. The narrator was explaining things at a middle school level and that helped me along at the time. That level of narration remained a staple of the channel even in shows that didn't need it.

[@skyacedoes2646]

I agree. Watched it as much as I could as a kid. I knew too even then it wasn't really history, but the history stuff was right after sometimes so it didn't really matter to me.

[@horsepowermultimedia]

2010: History Channel 2020: Conspiracy Channel

[@citylimits8927]

History Channel, Discovery Channel, and A & E were ALL compromised by this rush to the bottom with “Reality” TV. I sometimes still watch the old shows on KZbin and I never cease to be amazed by how much better the old stuff was - even with all its flaws! And these channels were, at one time, successful private sector answers to PBS.

[@karenryder6317]

Don't forget HGTV. They fell to the themes of "Trading Spaces" reality show reveals. Watching "Room by Room", "Design on a Dime" and "At Home with Kitty Bartholomew" etc. was so much better than what it is now. Soon it will all be about competition rather than learning just like The Food Network became.

[@mollusckscramp4124]

I find it quite ironic that youtube was initially meant to be a shift away from television programming, and now just a few decades later, it's one of the only means of preserving it lol

[@citylimits8927]

@@karenryder6317 I'm not much of a gardener myself, but yes, HGTV and Food Network too!

[@FelipeKana1]

Funny how this story kinda shows why we can't have some kinds of things in the private sector. Could it be different, and last?

[@cowsagainstcapitalism347]

Remember how CourtTV started?

[@social3ngin33rin]

When I was little and watched the History Channel to learn about actual history, I was so sad when they stopped airing actual history stuff. It still breaks my heart to this day. I will never let my children watch the burning cow pie that it has become.

[@zeromusc]

Just wanted to say I'm glad you mentioned this in your 'How Money Works' channel, as I wouldn't have seen it otherwise

[@yuki-sakurakawa]

Believe they did one on the history of money from the traditional IOU between farmer and shepherd to banking to the fiat and even MMT. Good stuff.

[@codacreator6162]

I remember when History Channel was all history, Arts & Entertainment was actually what it advertised (I don’t remember the last time I watched A&E), and MTV was all music videos. Needless to say, while those networks are selling more people, alas, I’m not one of them. This is actually where KZbin comes in. I can watch what interests me without devolving into the primeval soup of idiocy. Still an exercise in critical evaluation, I don’t see that as a negative because the next offering is literally at my fingertips.

[@lauriepenner350]

Don't forget TLC, aka "The Learning Channel." As a kid I would get up early to watch David Attenborough nature documentaries on TLC. But I guess Honey Boo Boo is a documentary too, right...?

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

At least the SyFy channel still has the occasional sci-fi show.

[@mollusckscramp4124]

I have been trying to figure out what A&E stood for forever. I remember music on MTV and history on History Channel, but I could not for the life of me remember a time where A&E had anything beyond true crime docs. Arts & Entertainment... that blows my mind. I'm feeling really young rn lmao

[@arribalaschivas91]

Considering how many channels are part of History KZbin, there’s definitely a market for good history content

[@Hiraeth-zq8ze]

KZbin history is miles better than the history channel ever was. TIK, Drachinifel, Kings and Generals, and so many other channels are so much better than even the classic documentaries.

[@badpiggies988]

And Oversimplified

[@jamesschenk]

You got that right pally

[@yuki-sakurakawa]

Try history of the earth and history of the universe for geological and cosmological histories.

[@yeskawa]

Don’t forget invicta

[@AbrahamLincoln4]

Epic History TV

[@jonathanfisher3916]

Damn, I used to love the history channel when I was a kid in the early 2000’s. I actually learned a ton. Crazy how it went sideways like that

[@SandstormGT]

I remember only paying for cable just so I could watch the history channel, when they had good history related documentaries. Now, I have the channel blocked on my guide.

[@ToreDL87]

Seeing the logo's makes me angry. For years now it's been at the point that when I visit someone, at their behest, and they've got HC/A&E/Discovery running in the background I tell them to turn it off or I'm gone.

[@marioratatouille2148]

Taking a screen shot of this account before it hit 1 million subscribers at the end of this year.

[@ApplePi1]

Fr

[@maxbaugh9372]

As I recall, TLC was way ahead of the curve on "degenerating from educational to nonsense", doing so around 2001. Then Animal Planet started making fake documentaries about mermaids & dragons around 2006, and Discovery, History, and the others all went down around 2009.

[@RARA64HUNNID]

“recession hit television sectors” - more than an understatement

[@candybracelets]

A future channel may someday follow the story of How Things Work, from his viral How Money Works beginnings to his niche but informative How History Works and his eventual discovery that the real money was in selling out and appealing to the masses with his hit series How Secret Alien Fortnite Tiktok Dances Work.

[@HowHistoryWorks]

LOL this is amazing 😂

[@michaelchildish]

"History does not repeat, but it often rhymes" - Mark Twain

[@kylehendra6740]

The content is pretty good, but the frequency of rising intonation at odd times kills a lot of the delivery! I hope this helps, voiceover work is hard.

[@ApplePi1]

Are we not gonna talk about HMW had a whole new channel he didn't tell us about?

[@spotlight2164]

cheers from germany its good the people only see the nazi in germany when it comes to history. The time before that was soo bright. Yet after one dictatorship and the 'guild' from so called germans. not a few can see something else about the history of germany. Also thx now i understand why ancient aliens was so questionable to begin with

[@htopherollem649]

the totally crap programming of the history channel (and the fact that they had enough viewers to justify their continued existence) showed me the intellectual capacity of my fellow countrymen. I am truly saddened. it comes as no surprise the ease with which those who hold the reins of power are able to manipulate many into fervently supporting people ,practices, and policies that are antithetical toward their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the country's continued existence

[@karenryder6317]

Part of the problem was also the decline of broadcast TV. People only watched "Storage Wars" because they were tired of the low brow sitcoms about kids outsmarting their dumb parents. No alternatives but PBS.

[@talknight2]

Eh, I remember as a high school kid spending long summer break nights watching the History Channel back when it showed actual documentaries. It fed my obsession with WWII and Classical history. Then it was more and more of those inane pawn shops and I just stopped watching the channel. Though my teenaged mind did enjoy the Ancient Aliens schtick for a while haha

[@WillyKillya]

I could absolutely binge History channel more than anything on any streaming, at least when I had cable, and I liked to actually watch the American Heroes channel. In fact I'm binging this channel right now and I can't imagine even watching one episode of some reality show, although I thought American Pickers was okay

[@donvoisko]

I thought i was the only one who observed this phenomenon. It’s sad though; i grew up with good documentaries and good cartoons.

[@ranterraver5959]

The most accurate takedown of the history channel I have ever seen.

[@georgedeconto9599]

History Channel, where truth is history.

[@aaronhamburg4428]

There is a bit of a cyclical pattern in niche businesses. First a new bizness may choose to go in a particular niche when given market is oversaturated but once they find their footing and expand to te maximum of their niche the only way to grow further becomes to be more general and abandon the niche.

[@Ozzypup1]

I havent watched the history channel in years. And now I dont even have cable TV. All those stupid reality shows arent worth the money.

[@blake7297]

Ironic how TV killed itself - two-fold. First by watering down and homogenizing its content to "reach" more people thereby sapping the interest of its respective niche audiences. Then, by overloading the airtime with advertisements in the ever-growing hunger for more dollars (or perhaps a hopeless attempt to compensate for lost revenue?). Sad to see how things have changed but ultimately for the better. It continues to baffle me what the major providers charge for that Luke-warm ad infested slush these days.

[@emagneticfield]

If the algorithm has figured me out by now I will watch two hour or more college lectures, history, medical or science documentaries when I am off work and bored. I do this more than listening to music or watching videos. But because I am 70 years old I am bombarded with flex card scam ads that they target toward seniors instead. I would prefer ads about things I am truly interested in.

[@jonathankchikian7471]

My favorite shows were battle/Patton 360, dogfights, The men who built America, Grant and others like it

[@thevintagekitty]

Another channel which went SEVERELY downhill was A&E. It contained educational, high value programming. I loved their documentaries like Biography, America's Castles and Investigative Reports etc. That channel also morally bankrupted itself to reality programming. I feel this way about Martha Stewart, LOL, is that weird?? Just watch something she made in the 1980s or early 1990s and compare it to the new pot smoking, Snoop Dog chum of today.

[@kylemcmullan2831]

History channel was once a station to grab high attention from a niche selection of viewers, therefore ads could theoretically be more targeted (I’m guessing here, but probably targeted toward males 50+) which meant ads could be sold for a higher price. Then, their execs realized if they introduce more reality TV they could grab more viewers and, ideally, hold the attention of the niche viewers while increasing their overall viewership and therefore ad revenue. Then, the execs forgot their original idea and saw only dollar signs, if they did more reality TV, they would get more money, this is what happened near 2010. This caused long-term viewers (myself included) to leave, and therefore, among their new viewers, the ratings reflected that they wanted more of the reality TV programming. This was a self-fulfilling prophecy that ended with history channel going all-in on reality TV. Once the corporate structure started championing more reality TV programming the rest was inevitable.

[@karenryder6317]

Capitalism at it's finest! Everything has to yield commercial profit or it's toast.

[@davidunderwood9728]

I will say the Battle 360 series that followed Patton in Europe and Africa and the Enterprise through the Pacific was an amazing show. I like some of their reality show but the had like 2 good years before diminishing returns. Ancient Aliens killed my love for the channel.

[@osochara]

Why are there notification sounds around the beginning of minute 6? Lol

[@duncanmoore3780]

I stopped watching tv in early 2009, so i have a time capsule of History Channel in my heart; Westerns, Presidents, Modern Marvels, and ALL THE WWII docs. I get nostalgic about Discovery Channel and Animal Planet too.

[@sosmooth13]

Ngl, but History Channel looks like it’s for some dude name Bill living in trailer park these days.

[@David-cr6fb]

Lovin the new channel!!

[@HowHistoryWorks]

Thank you!

[@mattcollins4550]

Hilarious commentary here is awesome

[@josepholdani543]

I loved me some Modern Marvels back in the day.

[@davidhauk4163]

I had disconnected from cable for a long period of time. But I remembered the History Channel was a good one. So when I reconnected to cable I went to the History Channel and I got "ANCIENT ALIENS", wtf?!?! Thanks, I was wondering what happened.

[@Peachcreekmedia]

The History and Discovery channels used to be my favorite channels to watch. But the garbage...the garbage...

[@snowangelnc]

Even with the lower costs to produce them, I still wonder how these new reality shows are more profitable. Scrolling through the comments I'm seeing the same sentiment I've been hearing for a few years now. For the most part people are saying how much they enjoyed the old format and can't stand the new stuff that's being churned out. Are there really enough alien conspiracy theorists and pawn shop enthusiasts out there to replace all of the old fans that have gotten bored and walked out?

[@adamaitouahmane6519]

I miss Dogfights, Shootout, Battle/Patton 360, Men Who Built America, Rome: Rise And Fall Of An Empire, The Revolution, Civil War Combat, Engineering An Empire, The Warfighters, and Sniper. I hope that the History Channel can return to the shows of old and make some high-production HISTORY shows that actually have more than 3 brain cells in them.

[@veno8mm]

What about Beyond 2000? That's where I and most of the world were introduced to the McLaren F1.

[@xStar24x]

Wait MTV doesn’t show just music videos anymore ? Where have I been

[@victoriacyunczyk]

Some Hollywood movies portray history better than the current History Channel (1917 and the new version of Midway come to mind). I grew up watching old History Channel documentaries about WWII. There's a small theater aboard USS Laffey (DD-724), one of the local museum ships, and they still play the episode (I can't remember what the show was called, might've been Dogfights) about Laffey defending against swarms of kamikazes in 1945. This stuff was good, imagine how much better that kind of programming would be with today's CGI tech.

[@chadjones1266]

Thanks again

[@JenniferVaughnEstrada]

And the same thing happened with HGTV, which gave up practical advice about interior decorating for house flipping reality shows.

[@timothyharshaw2347]

At the end of the day they're a business operating to make a profit. I think a lot of people assume that they're some PBS-esque nonprofit that abandoned its founding principle - to make entertain and make money.

[@AmericaineAParis]

I think this has happened with other channels that were supposed to be more intellectual (Discovery Channel, TLC, probably also A&E). THC needs to just go ahead and change their name to be more logical with the fact that they are not actually about history. All of American TV is just trash everywhere, anyway.

[@tiddlypom2097]

0:50 I see what you did there 😏

[@thedeathcake]

Sounds like the speaker has been autotuned...

[@jerrywatt6813]

Yes it's a trend to sound exciting or something with the up talk pause up talk pause sounds like a freaking wired robot !

[@tommyaoi1183]

I miss How it's Made, American Book of Secrets and Modern Marbles. 😢😢❤

[@yuki-sakurakawa]

They should feature this video on the history channel. Actual history of their history.

[@drabarne5084]

There was a Warner Bros. cartoon on when I was a kid... Histeria... history made entertaining for children... something like that should be produced today.

[@availablehage]

They had really good shows biography,tactical to practical,modern marvel,miniseries and that car shows as i was growing up..now it could be vh1 or mtv and still be same

[@thomashaapalainen4108]

Modern marvels was great. It showed how history corresponded and influenced modern life and technology. As a kid it taught me how history effects today and why it is worth learning. Albeit I was in elementary and middle school so it's 6th grade level of presentation felt natural

[@SynRequiem]

Agree with all takes except Modern Marvels. That show was peak History channel for me, and I actually like documentaries about Eskimos and Napoleon.

[@jamesschenk]

This is the classic case of dumbing down america

[@juniorjames7076]

Up until the late 90s if you lived in the tri-state area (NY/NJ/Conn) PBS channels had such good programs, series and docs from the BBC (Masterpiece Theater, Monty Pythons Flying Circus) and renowned educational and cultural institutes (Pew Charitable Trust, Ford Foundation), historical films, etc you really didn't need cable or network television. But then everyone was "forced" to go digital when US switched from analog tv stations. Not sure why, but overnight public television became crap, broke (always begging for money through telethons) and also focusing on reality tv like Antique Roadshow- playing 24hrs straight sometimes. No more independent or foreign films or silent film showcases on weekends. Anyway by 2010 I realized there was no reason to own a television anymore.

[@samshelton436]

Storage wars was the final straw for me.

[@bevvy.bee9]

Cartoon Network has live action now???

[@NekoBoyOfficial]

In the early 2010's they did. First with a live-action/cartoon hybrid, followed by a bunch of game shows.

[@kamikaze9699]

Is it any wonder why I watch Internet instead of TV?

[@KingOfHithlum]

Nobody understands the real reason behind the start of that Alien Show. I believe, the main producer's dad had abandoned him/her along with his/her mother. So growing up, every time he/she asked about the dad, mom would say, " Your father is a piece of s**t!" Little did she know that, kid cooked up a spicy story in his/her mind of his/her dad being an super Alien to cope up with his/her loss. And as "history" would have it, we know why everything cool is built by an aliens.

[@conradojavier7547]

Now, WBD is slowly phasing out the Cartoon Network Name for Adult Swim.

[@itabiritomg]

history used to be my favorite channel but now, it is a complete garbage. I never even turn it on anymore.

[@boikanyontsimane8641]

Drinking game idea: take a shot every time he says Nazi

[@pedropedrohan102]

9:45 pun intended?

[@williamfrankferge1957]

I so miss the late 1990s and even the early 2000s I really miss the old history Channel tlc discovery Channel And E cartoon network MTV nickelodeon TNT TBS ESPN SO sad

[@Eveseptir]

I remember when I got my own place and got to choose my own HDTV package and I was like Ohhh the Nat Geo channel, that sounds cool. 92 hours of "Ceasar, the dog wisperer" on the docket with no end in sight. Wow discovery, TLC, history channel etc. All gone to make a buck. If it wasn't for the children and the animals I'd say launch the nukes and end it, we've failed.

[@YouilAushana]

uh oh, mid-late 2000's around the launch of the iPhone, social media, self indulgent, ego driven, self love and self empowerment in the era of Reality TV as a priming tool to change society.

[@armorbearer9702]

(7:06) This is why it's up to KZbin channels like this one to fulfill the niche.

[@alexanderwood5999]

It used to be all Hitler, all the time. And that was ok. At least it was history. Sometimes there’d be the occasional medieval documentary or WWI in color, but I specifically remember the day I realized it was changing. There was an 18 hour block of “Ice Road Truckers.” After that they began slowly eliminating all history from the History Channel.

[@jpscsa]

History channel is today in my guilty pleasure vitrine.

[@bankstube9290]

And this is why I don’t watch it anymore!

[@boggledbunny]

Ah, Histrionics Channel, I remember you when you were sober and respectable, before you were reduced to selling yourself for your next fix.

[@jonodegaard5236]

It may have been on the wrong network, but I maintain that Modern Marvels was a genuinely good program.

[@MikeStoneJapan]

Ken Burns is pretty good though ngl

[@boowiebear]

I remember the glory days of the History channel. I watched it, Discovery channel and Science channel almost exclusively. They all sold out for schlock.

[@ElectrostatiCrow]

Then What started WW1? Now Did aliens abduct Tupac?

[@amicaaranearum]

Did the alien abduction of Tupac cause WW1?

[@Justin-fq8dt]

This was so insightful, glad I watched it.

[@tommywatterson5276]

Why would History channel make a show about Dark Marvels. Instruments of human execution.

[@layercakexxx]

🔥🔥

[@HowHistoryWorks]

:)

[@gazzabethyname]

If I hear 'History' 1 more time lol

[@CStone-xn4oy]

Part of the issue is also that the audience has gotten dumber since the 1990's which affects the sort of shows that get good ratings. The largest issue was that the History Channel put ratings over history because its a business...one that is now being out done by various KZbin channels in terms of historical content.

[@danielwild.]

I miss war footage and how battles played out. Ps i miss when discovery channel was blue planet/planet earth...even life Oh well

[@cypher568]

It went from history channel to the hitler channel to the alien channel.

[@romanpisani8157]

I am going to make a video "The History of How History Works: How How History Works Went From History Videos to the History of the History Channel"

[@ADefenestrator]

KZbin (and nebula and CuriosityStream) is the new History/science channel. Want to watch a car fab show that's about car fabrication and not two idiots throwing chairs at each other? Bad Obsession Motorsport's got you. WWII combat engineering? Real Engineering. International relations and how they're affected by geography? RealLifeLore. And of course, How Money Works and How History Works.

[@Code7Unltd]

>Bad Obsession Motorsport There's also "Garbage Time" if you want Aussie chaos in your car fab. A lot of people found Wade through his now-specified tech channel "DankPods" and like his chaotic energy.

[@paulgaither]

History doesn't get tings, so people such as myself turn to Hardcore History by Dan Carlin and various sources here on youtube and other platforms to get our fix. There is an audince, but probably not the audience which beer and pizza companies have any disire to invest in targeting.

[@bernadettepotenti301]

Boufon? Think he meant to say buffoon

[@pbnjtamwichfpv]

this got real meta real quick lol

[@GrantJohnston-dr9rt]

Just goes to show that people will swallow the most outrageous bullony as long as it's packaged right!

[@aname4390]

1:00 Docudubry and oversimplified

[@shadoworsonic]

Drinking game: take a shot every 2 times he says history.

[@brendanwiley253]

Shoutouts modern marvels, most interesting show in my opinion

[@emrenazmiev]

So I’ve seen “How money works?” and I gotta say “How history works?” doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way. Glad to see the new channel and curious to see more content.

[@WutAPunk]

Oversimplified beat them at their jobs- I mean, they were punished severely.