I've mentioned on several occasions my level of disappointment with the Discovery Network's lineup of channels and shows and the extent to which they have debased the original concept of bringing some level of scientific authenticity to the wasteland that is television. But a big hat tip to Michael at Only In It For The Gold for pointing me to the far superior Onion treatment.
Udate: So I'm watching "G Word " ("G" is for green, I suppose) on Planet Green (a Discovery Channel) and the host, Summer Rayne (think Johnny Rivers - "taps at my window"), is in Abilene, TX interviewing someone from AES Energy Systems at their Buffalo Gap wind energy facility. It's not really bad until Ned Hall, their President, says "this machine is 1.5 megawatts." Summer asks "and what does that mean?" Hall says "it's enough electricity for your home for the whole year." Ummm, an analogous inanity would be me saying "my car goes 125 miles per hour. That's enough to go from here to San Francisco." And this, let me repeat, is the President of an energy company.
2 comments:
I have always wondered how a channel that starts out the "History Channel, now has large parts of its schedule devoted to shows such as "Pawn Stars" or "UFO Hunters".
Is it the same phenomena that impels Barns and Noble to place NewAge (rhymes with sewage) books next to physics books?
Sigh...
These networks (Discovery, History, National Geographic (!)) are an indicator I'm afraid. If the ghosts, the Nessies, the bigfeet, the Yetis, the UFO's didn't pay better they's do something different. I'm in a sad minority (even in my own house) with respect to wanting at least some serious science on television.
By the way, can I nest parentheses in a blog?
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