Barbarians Rising

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Wow, History actually doing some history! This looks great, I'm def going to catch it. The fall of Rome is close to my favorite subject next to World War II.

 

 

[Sledgstone 8,672]

That does look great. Its about time History started making some more documentaries I'd actually like. Have you seen History's "Battles BC" series yet? This looks exactly like the same format of that show.

Battles BC: "Featuring cutting-edge animation techniques and the expertise of military historians, this eight-episode series explores the strategies, tactics and weapons used by ancient commanders such as Hannibal, David, Caesar and Alexander."

It was a great series, but it was on the H2 channel that is now gone forever. This is the first show that would have been on H2 that is finally going to be on the actual History channel. When they canceled the H2 channel and turned it into the "Vice" channel (absolute crap now, I'd rather watch the Oprah channel over the shit shows on that network.), they said "the H2 shows we know and love will be produced for the History channel". Its been 3 months since then and this is the first show that I can tell by the trailer would have been on the H2 channel. I'm glad they're actually keeping their word now. I miss H2, that was my go to channel. ;_;

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I never had the H2 channel and would always get irritated when they advertise shows for it. When Top Shot was in its last season, the host Colby Donaldson had a 30min show on H2 the day after the episode aired of himself trying the challanges the contestants went through. I actually got to catch all of those on demand even though I didn't have the channel. I thought it was awesome how he could pull his own weight as a marksman.

People use to make fun of History, calling it the Hitler channel because they use to play tons of WWII docs. I miss those days. I never saw battle BC. The last good doc I saw was America The Story of Us. I saw part of the mankind one. I want more of these. I like Vikings as well... more of a hearty mix of series and documentaries would be nice. And unless they bring back Top Shot or Full Metal Jousting, then they can reduce the reality TV crap by a lot. Forged in Fire is good because blacksmithing has ties in history, but swamp people had nothing to do with history, nor did logging or mining. Well the last two sorta do, but the shows did nothing to relate their historical relevance.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

I'll actually have to watch this, seems rather interesting (my favorite History subjects were always WWI, WWII, Feudal Japan, and Ancient Greece. Rome has never been a big part of my interests but this does look amazing).

I wish History would go back to those days (it's pretty much what the Smithsonian channel has turned into, at least three times a week they have something about WWII on for a huge block of time) instead of all these other shit shows (Pawn Stars was good in the beginning but no it's just crap, Swamp People is interesting to watch but not really related to what the channel is about, etc). Much like DX I never got H2 so I didn't get to see a lot of the shows they had on (some of which seemed rather interesting and good, the one you mentioned included) so I'm happy they're going to release similar shows on the main channel.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

All the reality shows on History are just crap now. Pawn Stars was good at first because it was educational, now its just another reality show. Same with swamp people, Appalachian Outlaws and all the others. Interesting shows for the first season because you learn something new, but after that there is no more education value and the shows are just the same old same old.

I loved that H2 channel, it was the primary reason I had the cable package I still have. It was H2, Discovery and Science Channel. I swear every time I look a the science channel, its nothing but reruns of How It's Made. That was a decent show at first, but I can't watch it anymore because the background music is often too loud an annoying to me. lol.

My favorite shows from H2 that need to either go into reruns or on demand or should be put on netflix includes:

The Universe. 5 seasons out 9 were only on H2. I learned so much from Michio Kaku and Neil deGrasse Tyson and so many other scientists.

Life After People, America Unearthed, Modern Marvels, The Naked Archaeologist (he wasn't naked, lol).

And these are just shows I remember off the top of my head. There were so many other documentary shows that were great.

Science channel is still good, if I can actually find a documentary on there when how its made isn't on. There was a documentary about the worlds monster frogs last weekend that was great.

Discovery channel used to be the best, but it turned to utter shit with reality shows. It was only good for Mythbusters, but once Discovery started airing fake documentaries, I stopped watching 90% of it's content. They're fixing that now, but the channel is still tainted to me:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/discovery-channel-fake-shows_n_6445982.html

I also like watching the Destination America channel for BBQ pitmasters, other BBQ shows and paranormal shows about different monsters. This channel is a trip. Where else can you get BBQ and ghosts in back to back episodes? Unfortunately alot of it's paranormal shows are turning into dumb reality shows like rip off ghost hunters and watching red necks running through the woods looking for monsters with night vision cameras and shotguns. Guess how many monsters they've found? None. Just like the "Finding Bigfoot" idiots on animal planet, they'll never find a damn thing because they keep screaming in the woods in the middle of the night. Its been years guys, change your strategy. All monster hunters, stop screaming in the woods, be like ninjas.

Travel Channel has one of the best documentary style shows ever. Expedition Unknown. They bought the Destination Truth show from Syfy, renamed it and changed it from paranormal investigations to historical investigations. The episode about the viking sunstone was amazing. Josh Gates actually went to the locations, literally went into a mine to get the exact rock that the vikings would make a sunstone out of, found experts, turn the rock into a sunstone, fully explained how it works and how to use it.. then got on a viking ship and used it and proved it was legitimate. Epic. And thats just one of the numerous episodes. I love that series, I have about 10 more eps on my dvr I need to catch up on.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

12 hours ago, Sledgstone said:

Discovery channel used to be the best, but it turned to utter shit with reality shows. It was only good for Mythbusters, but once Discovery started airing fake documentaries, I stopped watching 90% of it's content.

Heh, the only things I watch on Discovery are Deadliest Catch (I love this show, it's gotten a little too Reality TV for me in recent seasons but the show is still a good watch (I know it's not their fault but when Phil died was when the show started tanking hard)) and Alaskan Bush People (yea I know, it's actually quite entertaining for how ridiculous it is at times). I pretty much stay clear of Discovery other then that.

I did forget to mention this but I do love Mountain Men on History. That's probably the only show I still watch on History besides the random documentaries they may have on and when I catch reruns of Vikings (I'm two seasons behind atm, lost interest in it when Ragnar became King).

The only thing I used to watch on the Travel Channel was No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. That show was and still is one of my favorite TV shows since not only did you see the different foods and drink the areas he visited had but it also gave you a look into the culture as well. I still watch random episodes from time to time on Netflix (I was pissed when they lost the rights to the entire show, now it's just a bunch of random episodes from different seasons being offered (and sadly none of the real good ones)).

I'd give anything to get my hands on the Science Channel but sadly it's not offered in the cable package I have. I used to watch that shit all the time down in Arizona when I visited friends who had it (we didn't have cable in my apartment, roommate and I decided against it. We used Netflix and other means to watch the shows we wanted to watch).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I liked No Reservations and Bizarre Foods, just because I liked to see all the weird shit Zimmerman would eat. I always found it funny how he couldn't stomach durian fruit and Bourdain loved it.

I've never had access to the science channel either, another one I'd like. Eventually all these channels give in to the dumbed down reality bs because rating at the cost of their audience. I remember when syfy first came out as Sci-Fi it was my all time favorite channel. Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, Godzilla, Six Million Dollar Man, Logan's Run, Kolchack The Night Stalker... all the great oldies. Now look at it....

[Sledgstone 8,672]

@Strider Hiryu I've only seen a few eps of mountain men but it was interesting to see how these people live. I think there was another show about people living in alaska, but I can't remember its name. This woman ordered thousands of gallons of gasoline to power her generators for the winter and she had so much land, the gas was actually stored in this rubber container that inflated like a water bed and it just sat out in the open exposed to the environment. I couldn't imagine living like that. But it sure as hell is educational to learn how people live in these other environments.

I haven't see Deadlist catch in forever. Only caught the first 2 or 3 seasons, but it must be good considering how many awards its won over the years.

Another show I loved on Discovery was Dirty Jobs. I learned so much from that show and I miss it. But that show covered just about every dirty job imaginable and quite a few more that were only mildly messy.

21 hours ago, DeathscytheX said:

I remember when syfy first came out as Sci-Fi it was my all time favorite channel. Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, Godzilla, Six Million Dollar Man, Logan's Run, Kolchack The Night Stalker... all the great oldies. Now look at it....

After rebranding to SyFy the channel turned to crap except for it's weekend b movies. Everything was reality shows and wrestling and only had a few shows worth watching like Haven, Eureka, BSG, Defiance, Z Nation and a few others. But I think SyFy learned from their mistakes. They got rid of wrestling and a large chunk of reality shows. I think because the few scifi shows they had, did good in the ratings, they double downed on what the channel was all about in it's roots. The majority of their programming now is scripted series that focus on scifi, or the supernatural. Check out the lineup, its actually impressive again:

http://www.syfy.com/shows

Killjoys and Dark Matter should both have season 1 available on netflix now. Great series and I recommend them both and I'm really looking forward to their new season. Same with Z Nation. Sure its a bit campy, but damn its a fun show. Its a much better zombie series that Fear the Walking Dead. I've only seen a few eps of Magicians but it looks good too.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I really liked the mix of narration, acting, and commentary they delivered in the first ep. I'm off Monday so I'm excited to see the second ep. I'm glad they went with the 2 hour format as well. I guess they'll cover 2 barbarian leader/tribes each week.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I completely forgot to watch it. x_x I looked at my cable guide and its going to re-air on Saturday. I set my dvr for it this time in case I forget again.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Sadly I couldn't watch it, my cable provider is completely fucking up lately and has been treating certain channels as premium channels and blocking our access and sadly one of those channels happens to be the History channel. I'm hoping the problem is resolved by Monday so I can catch the next one and hopefully the first ep.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I got caught up yesterday and watched the new ep last night. This series is very informative and a great watch. I was expecting more commentary in the commentary / acting ratio, like in battles bc, but I'm pleased. I never read much on Hannibal or any of the barbarians that are being covered by this series. I'm learning something new every monday. I didn't know anything about Arminius. Romanizing barbarians to destroy their culture and heritage is pretty much the same thing all religions did later on too. I have a feeling they'll skip any religious coverage in this series and focus on specific key battles only.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

The info on Boudica was good. I missed the last 10 mins or so but I think they're doing Attila the Hun next week.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I closed Monday, So I gotta catch it all sometime. X_X I was on a lucky streak. Right now have the early shift every Sunday... but as soon as TWD comes back on, I'll be late shift for some reason... because thats my luck.