History Special Makes Ratings History

COMMENTS (12)

• I watched 5 minutes and thought it was terrible – does anyone actually think Michael Douglas has real insight into the experience of the pilgrims?! At best the special is good for 1st graders.

  Comment by umm — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 1:48pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Lol… I was wondering the same thing!

    Comment by Anonymous — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 2:49pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Same thing here…I was wondering what the hell was going on in the episode with celebrities giving insights into historical periods. It seemed well produced, but just like most TV specials, was extremely pedestrian for people who don’t know much about American History. The best way to learn history is read it from several sources, including textbooks and primary documents. But that would require reading, and we all know how much us Americans love to do that…lol.

      Comment by JohnDoe — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 5:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • who thought it was a good idea to put Trump in there?

    Comment by mbm — Tuesday April 27, 2010 @ 4:12am PDT  Reply to this post

• And how much of our history got flushed down the proverbial Memory Hole in this series?

  Comment by Duck Fuke — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 2:20pm PDT  Reply to this post

• God Bless America

  Comment by Romeo Bashir — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 2:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Wondering how much of that landed in P18-49 demo?

  Comment by Cable boy — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 5:55pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I think they edited out the part where Obama said he loved learning American history at the Muslim school in Indonesia.

  Comment by Brian G. — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 8:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This is the problem with History Channel. Yes they got a Nielsen bump. But how many Women (since that is likely who watched) will stay around for History Channel, month after month, year after year.

  MISSING is the huge drama of military history. Like, off the top of my head:

  George Washington outwitting the D-Day style amphibious British troops who could use the Sea as a highway.

  Andrew Jackson using experience in the Indian Wars in the Florida/Georgia bush to command a rabble in the Battle of New Orleans, and win, almost exclusively based on his knowledge of the type of terrain (akin to Florida swamps which caused him so much misery).

  The battles of the Mexican War as a proving ground for Civil War Generals.

  The appalling bravery of Torpedo Squadron 9, who were wiped out to the last man at Midway, but lured the Zeros down so that within a minute, the Japanese went from total triumph to losing 3 carriers and the war.

  The sacrifice of the “Tin Can Navy” against the mighty Japanese armada including the biggest and most deadly battleship ever built, the Yamamato.

  The see-saw, desperate battle on Guadalcanal, and the near defeat of the US Navy by the better night-fighting Japanese at night.

  Instead, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Zoot Suit Riots, Sacajawea, and other PC heroes get top billing over stuff that is actually interesting to men and boys: military history filled with astonishing drama, and lessons.

  [Obviously, the Network president felt women love celebrities, therefore put lots of celebrities in the thing.]

  Comment by whiskey — Monday April 26, 2010 @ 10:51pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Maybe if you bothered to watch more then 5 min you would have learned something and could have made a better judgement. I thought it was well done for the time allowed to cover the amount of material. If more younger Americans watched instead of texting they may learn something about what our ancestors sacrificed to make us all Americans. Maybe we could all take a lesson from the Declaration of Independance and become united again as one country, one nation instead of trying to tear our country apart and complaining about everything. Maybe just once we could look at the positives and not negitives – what is in the glass not what is missing…….What a novel idea PEACE…… I will watch the remaining shows with an open mind!

  Comment by Lanni — Tuesday April 27, 2010 @ 11:34am PDT  Reply to this post

• The episode completely skipped over the time period from about 1635 to 1750 (from the Pilgrims to the French and Indian War), you know, the whole period where the colonies were established, and when the Anglo-American legal and constitutional system was created, as well as a distinct American identity.

  I guess things like the world’s first written constitution (1639 Fundamental Orders of Connecticut) are not at all important in “the story of us.”

  Comment by Walter Sobchak — Wednesday April 28, 2010 @ 7:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

• And, once again, the Civil War was all about slavery….

  Comment by Virginia Boy — Saturday May 22, 2010 @ 11:27am PDT  Reply to this post