Curse you Discovery Channel

I already spend too much time watching TV as it is. Why must you continue to make new, shows to draw me in even more?

Let's see, I already watch the following religiously:

  • Mythbusters: What's not to love for a geek like me? This has been one of my favorite shows for the last few years. I haven't missed an episode since the first time I saw it.
  • Deadliest Catch: I got hooked on this one earlier this year. I'm not sure why I find it so fascinating as it's virtually the same thing every episode (oooooh look, big waves, crab.) But I can't get enough. Fortunately this show is obviously much more seasonal.
  • Dirty Jobs: I've watched this one off and on for awhile, but really got hooked on it this summer. The fact that it has a huge backlog of episodes I haven't seen yet makes it a particularly potent time sink.
Now throw in the following shows which I've started to watch of late:
  • Survivorman: I've watched Discovery's own alternative Man vs Wild before, but just couldn't get into it. This show, however, is much more engrossing. The host Les seems more genuine in his desire to inform while entertaining. He doesn't seem like he's blatantly trying to pander to shock value. It's more like extreme camping and I'm just along for the ride . . . watching comfortably from my couch while he slowly starves before being forced into eating bark and termites.
  • Build it Bigger: Discovery's learned well the lesson that people identify with personalities, even on non-fiction programming. As a result, they've put a new front-man on a previously existing show (Extreme Engineering) and it's suddenly one of Discovery's latest success stories. I also get a chuckle out of how Toyota has gone over-the-top in their product placement on the program so as to compete with Ford's similar product-placement on spokesperson Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs.
As if those shows weren't enough I now feel myself being sucked in by a couple more:
  • Last One Standing: A bunch of athletic westerners being thrown into the ring to square off against primitive, tribal warriors in their physically-demanding native challenges? Where do I sign up for this testosterone-fest? I've only seen one episode so far, but it's already on the record list. *sigh*
  • Storm Chasers: Yeah, yeah. This kind of stuff is more limited in its appeal to weather geeks like me and can already be found on the Weather Channel. But which network do you think is going to make a more entertaining program? The Weather Channel or the marketing geniuses behind the Discovery Channel? Fortunately this one is only supposed to be a 4-episode series. But that's how most of the shows above started off as well . . .

0 comments

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

My Work Blog Posts