Hello,
I was sorry to see that the Discovery Wings channel is becoming the Military Channel in the middle of January. No doubt, this will be good news to armour and figure modellers, but I’m lamenting the probable loss of programs like “From the Ground Up”.
What do you guys think?
Mark
I’m glad you mentioned that. I was thinking of bumping up to Satellite plan soley so I could access Discovery Wings.
Looks like a change of plan.
I guess it all depends on your perspective. I watch that channel almost daily, but generally it is Wings at War, Wings around the World and the like. Doing both armor and planes, this intrigues me. I can understand being upset that some of the civilian plane shows are leaving, however.
I started about a year ago recording hundreds of hours of episodes for future reference. But I also upgraded to get the Wings channel, I suppose it is time to go back to basics.
well the channel in the uk its just constant reapeats all the time , so i wont be missing it
I wouldn’t worry too much, most of the Wings programming gets re-run ad infintum, so I suspect there will still be a lot of aircraft still featured.
Regards, Rick
the problem is that they’ve been running re-runs so long that a dedicated ‘Wings’ channel has to ‘adapt, adjust and overcome’ it’s coverage to appeal to a larger audiance. If you’ve been a regular viewer you’d noticed that all f ftheir episodes are now available on DVD, at a price. For all WW II aircaraft modelers, this channel gave more insight and information than any other outlet. The ‘in the field’ views of the Warbirds showed ‘front line mods’ which allows us to build what we like.
TV being TV will recycle different episodes as time goes by and we’ll just have to hope they publish a listing.
[BH][BH][BH][BH][BH]
Well from what they stated is that the subject was limited and I think the History channel was drawing the viewers away from them because all they ran was re-runs most of the time and never ran any good subjects like the old show Wings on the Discovery channel
I agree that Discovery Wings will not be terribly missed by those of us who have seen their programming ad nauseam. They did no original programming, it was all generally old, well-worn documentaries that were made on the cheap, showing the same old stock footage and often with laughably incorrect information in the narratives. (For example, how many times have we seen that footage of “the attack on Pearl Harbor” that starts off with a flight of Dauntlesses peeling off? And how many times have we seen that filler footage of the signing of the surrender on the deck of the Missouri?)
It would have been nice if they’d at least begun showing the old original “Wings” docs that orginally aired on Discovery (before the channel got so dumbed down with custom motorcycle shows and other fluff) had a different a/c type every week, but mostly they did cheesy tricks like constantly renaming the same old documentaries and promoting them as new. The Science Channel, run by the same outfit, is almost, but not quite as bad.
For those of us who upgraded our cable largely to get this channel, it was really a rip. Just watch, we’ll still get the same old docs on aviation matters. It’s just that they’ll add the same old docs on Nazi Germany to the mix. Considering how many aviation enthusiasts are out there, from casual a/c buffs to serious amateur historians, you’d think there would be an advertising market that would support a good aviation channel. But, I guess not.
Tom
This is sad news, I take it this will impact all over the planet?
Doesn’t bother me all that much because although things with wings is my main interest, I like targets tanks and other targets too.
Personally I’d like to see a WWII channel, though. There’s enough good docs, bad flix and episodes of ‘Combat’ to fill the time slots… [:p]
Fade to Black…
Makes me ever so glad I have 20 plus VHS tapes from the old Wings series.
From what I gather, I didn’t miss much by not having the dedicated Wings channel, which I have viewed on occasion, only to see the same footage repeated among different subjects. The same is true for the History channel. Although they both provide interesting and enlightening glimpses from time to time, they can also be grossly innacurate, even to the point of showing footage of the wrong aircraft from that which they are describing.
Perhaps someday there will be a really good series produced that is not just entertainment fodder for the masses, but for those who have a genuine interest in such matters. And with that in mind, that is why I so enjoy the Forum…WE CARE!!!
VIVA LA FORUM and a big thank you and Merry Christmas to all my fellow members.
stinger
i will miss some of it but like all the above responses i tend to not watch the endless reruns.
joe
With all the junk channels out there why can’t we have a wings channel AND a military channel. Maybe they could get rid of one of those shopping channels.
I suspect that the change will end up being a good thing. Even though the name will change, I am quite sure that a large percentage of the programming will continue to contain military aircraft. Those civilian aircraft programs that remain popular will probably end up on on the basic Discovery Channel, Discovery Science, or Discovery Times.
Discovery Wings was getting to the point where it was rebroadcasting the same programs for the fourth or fifth time - if not more. They were obviously not drawing the number of viewers they wanted or the change would not have been necessary. I’m personnally looking forward to a channel dedicated full-time to ALL aspects of military history.
ALL RIGHT!! Another “Hitler Channel”. My kids are groaning now! (too bad for them)
Sadly, I gotta agree that another wartime, military, shoot-em-up, “this is the ‘glory’ of combat kid!” kinda channel really is a let down…I’m hoping it doesn’t end up that way. While there were a few interesting shows on older aircraft, I think I’d go spare if I have to watch another show on a WWII ME-109 or the F-4 in Vietnam. I am so tired of hearing about the same offensives, the same bombing runs, etc.
I really don’t mean to offend any of the vets on the board here at all, so please don’t be upset by those comments. I just think a view of aviation from a slightly less military and a slightly more innovative approach would be highly refreshing. [tup]
Best~
Media Nazi Rupert Murdoch attacked and absorbed DSS- expect it to be turned into another Fox network. The military Channel will probably be just another Fear Channel, like DTMS. Just more propaganda bullshit.
From my POV, at least it will be all military. The “A Plane is Born”, “Airport”, etc civvie stuff was booorrriiing!!!
I have to agree, as someone who has spent my lifetime in some corner of the “media,” that anything Rupert Murdoch touches will be dumbed down, corrupted, sleazed up and just generally bad, i.e. Fox News Network. And I also, without getting political, am not comfortable with the narration on so many of these “documentaries” (and I use quotes because they don’t tell us or show us anything new and often are terribly inaccurate, so they don’t really fit the traditional definition). How many times have we heard some variation on the breathless, gee-whiz approach to seeing cluster bomb units tearing a place into shreds, or a B-52 carpet bombing described as “a spectacular show for anyone lucky enough to see it.” I’ll bet the grunts who were in stuck in a jungle seething wth malaria and VC booby traps, wet and scared and miserable, did not feel priviledged to see this fireworks show put on, if you believe the sound of the narrator, just to boost their morale. And, since it would no doubt brand me a disloyal American, I won’t say anything about the fun of the experience for the enemy troops directly below that cell of B-52D “Big Bellys.”
But really, most of us are rational people who have a passion for aircraft and a love for their history and none of us are big fans of killing and maiming. But the fact is, most of the history of flight is hand-in-hand with the history of twentieth century warfare. We accept that. But none but an idiot considers what these airplanes are capable of doing to be a sideshow act or an airshow attraction. They are killing machines. Only the greedy, cynical little men who make these mockumentaries seem oblivious to this.
TOM