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Talking About History: How 'reality TV' killed The History Channel

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How did A&E Network's History, aka The History Channel, fall into disrepute with history buffs, historians, and TV critics? Essentially, History, which was originally named The History Channel, followed the same path as its parent network, A&E. It was seduced by television’s version of the dark side of the Force: “reality programming.”  And it was consumed by it. First, though, a little history about, well, History. Back in the 1990s, A&E started out as the Arts and Entertainment cable channel. I didn’t watch it much back then, but it used to be the “go to” channel for viewers who wanted to see programs about fine arts, music, travel to exotic places, and documentaries. Eventually, as it often happens with cable channels, the owners of A&E, which include ABC and Hearst, decided to create a separate channel devoted to historical content, primarily documentaries. And in an inspired burst of creativity, A&E named the spin-off “The History Channel.”