Obsolete: Animal Planet is ruined

[Robo-Floatzel]

Being a major animal lover, it seems to me that Animal Planet is getting a little too "human"

You know, I understand humans themselves are animals, but that doesn't mean that humanity has to be the center of the universe. Being a major animal lover, I am very aggravated with what Animal Planet has been doing in the past few years, it's basically become more about humanity, with animals being pushed to the side, heck, it's slogan is now "Surprisingly human", which is right in so many ways...

When I was a kid, I would watch AP every morning if there was nothing else on, and they would have all sorts of nature documentaries and interesting shows, nowadays they show reality shows that often either focus on animal cruelty, fishermen, or most commonly, have nothing to do with animals whatsoever, and when they DO show animal programming, it's usually about domestic pets such as Cats and Dogs, which are sadly, the most watchable programming they have now, but I want to see shows about wild animals and nature, not strictly peoples pets, but at least shows like "Cats 101" and "Too Cute" are actually ABOUT animals.

Fortunately, there's National Geographic Wild (or NatGeo Wild for short), which is all animals, all the time, basically, it's what Animal Planet USED to be. Still, there's more Animal based programming on Animal Planet then there is Science Fiction on the Sci-Fi Channel (or as they call it now, "Syfy"), but that's a different topic...

 

[Kthleen]

Being a major animal lover, it seems to me that Animal Planet is getting a little too "human"

You know, I understand humans themselves are animals, but that doesn't mean that humanity has to be the center of the universe. Being a major animal lover, I am very aggravated with what Animal Planet has been doing in the past few years, it's basically become more about humanity, with animals being pushed to the side, heck, it's slogan is now "Surprisingly human", which is right in so many ways...

"Animals? We don't need no stinkin' animals!" "An Animal Planet publicist noted "Treehouse Masters" explores more the "planet" side of the channel's name, a sentiment echoed by Animal Planet president Marjorie Kaplan."
""I think the way we think about it is there's not an animal planet separate from a human planet. We all inhabit the same living planet," Kaplan said. "'Treehouse Matsers' is a way to bring the audience up into the trees and back to the wild one tree at a time. We think it's very consistent with what Animal Planet is offering, which is this visceral, human connection to the wild.""

*sigh* There it goes....

 

[Mokoniki]

I was never a major fan of any of Animal Planet's older material that didn't have anything to do with cats or dogs, or the talent show they had called Pet Star, but most of the programing they air now isn't really worth watching.

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Being a major animal lover, it seems to me that Animal Planet is getting a little too "human"

You know, I understand humans themselves are animals, but that doesn't mean that humanity has to be the center of the universe. Being a major animal lover, I am very aggravated with what Animal Planet has been doing in the past few years, it's basically become more about humanity, with animals being pushed to the side, heck, it's slogan is now "Surprisingly human", which is right in so many ways...

"Animals? We don't need no stinkin' animals!" "An Animal Planet publicist noted "Treehouse Masters" explores more the "planet" side of the channel's name, a sentiment echoed by Animal Planet president Marjorie Kaplan."
""I think the way we think about it is there's not an animal planet separate from a human planet. We all inhabit the same living planet," Kaplan said. "'Treehouse Matsers' is a way to bring the audience up into the trees and back to the wild one tree at a time. We think it's very consistent with what Animal Planet is offering, which is this visceral, human connection to the wild.""

*sigh* There it goes....

I know right? The show that drove me away from "Animal" Planet was "The Haunting", the commercials said it was about how people's pets feel more tense around ghosts and older abandoned houses, and then you watch it, and the pets are only on screen (or even mentioned) for about 30 seconds, and then halfway through an episode, you find yourself saying "Where the hell are the animals? This channel is called ANIMAL Planet, not Ghost Hunters Knockoff Planet!" because the show has virtually NOTHING to do with animals, it's just a Ghost Hunters knockoff

And if you look at what little animal-based programming there is on the channel, 90% of it is about domestic pets like cats and dogs, and while I would love to see some animals in the wild or at zoos like lions, elephants, and my personal favorite, otters, at least shows about domestic pets are actually ABOUT animals and not a bunch of random guys doing stuff. I cannot afford trips to the nearest zoo all the time or go on nature walks and see nothing but the occasional deer and squirrel and nothing else to see my favorite animals. And when you go on DeviantART, it's nothing but furry fandom stuff, and on Youtube half of the animal related stuff is cat videos.

Let's just put it simply: Animal-based shows on Animal Planet are on the endangered species list right now, because I needed an animal analogy to make to describe this. In fact, other than Shark Week (which is nothing but sharks, but it's about an animal at least), you rarely see any animal programs on TV overall. If I wanted to watch a channel about people in the wilderness like Treehouse Masters, I would watch a channel about people in the wilderness, but when I watch a channel called Animal Planet, what do I expect to see other than, well, animals?

At this point, Animal Planet is as much about animals as Syfy is to science fiction (it's pretty much The Asylum movie channel now), the History Channel airing History programming, and most notably, MTV playing music videos.

 

[Kthleen]

I would love to see some animals in the wild

I wonder what would happen if they started showing Wild Discovery. I don't remember it very well, but I'm positive it was more animal-oriented than the treehouse thing, though I'm not sure about offering a "visceral, human connection to the wild." Maybe it's the name (from the Discovery Channel)....

 

[CrackFox]

I never watched any of those. Occassionally i'll watch Monkey World or Dogs 101. It's cool that they've finally started broadcasting shows in HD now.

 

[Spyspotter]

Today, Animal Planet aired a human health show! Yeah, Animal Planet is that bad nowadays.

 

[Silverwynde]

Emergency Vets. Or "The Show that Made Me Sob Every Time I Watched". Yeah, I remember that one. It was the biggest reason I watched Animal Planet. I don't think I've watched Animal Planet in the past five years, to be quite honest. The programming looks like utter crap now.

The quality of the programming has declined over the years. I suppose the Discovery Channel rejects are being dumped into reduce costs and fill in time.

They could always sell it, you know. Discovery sold their kid's channel to Hasbro; it's now the Hub. It's a thought.

 

[Kuwata]

Today, Animal Planet aired a human health show! Yeah, Animal Planet is that bad nowadays.

Excuse u Monsters Inside Me is actually really gr8

 

[Chibster]

Anybody remember watching Animal Planet during 2001- 2008, those that the whole family could enjoy. Now animal planet is nearly adult oriented and most of them have little or nothing to do with animals. For example are the list of shows:
Meerkat Manor
Crocodile Hunter
Jeff Corwin Experiance
Planet's Funniest Animals
Orangotan Island
Emergency Vets
and many others that aired during that time.
Discuss.

Don't forget Pet Star and AP's The Most Extreme!

For some reason, a few weeks ago, they started throwing on marathons of Dirty Jobs like they have nothing else to show! -_- I used to watch Animal Planet a loooot and I still do. But, how can I watch it properly if there isn't really anything on besides Dirty Jobs, Call of the Wildman, or Finding Bigfoot? The only shows I really watch when they come on are Animal Cops, Dogs 101, Pit Bulls and Parolees, Tanked, and Too Cute. I pretty much stick to NatGeo Wild now. I mean, I don't really mind if they are going "more human" (although I would much rather watch shows about non-humans), because well, humans are also part of the kingdom Animalia, we live on the same planet as non-humans, and there are no such things as human cells; they are the same as animal cells with no cell walls, but centrioles. No one has to agree with me, I'm just a very science based person.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

Yeah, I am not a fan of the "edgy" and "surprisingly human" aspect the channel seems to dwell on now. Here's the thing about making the channel human-oriented: yes, humans are technically animals, but there are hundreds of other channels dedicated to human beings and humanity. That one channel that we could escape the clutches of humanity and just learn about animals, they HAD to shoehorn humans in and make animals the secondary subject. No thanks to that! I have to deal with the crappy reality of human beings everyday. I don't want to even acknowledge them in a channel about animals unless they are there to help them and teach us about them. That's the way it should be on this channel. Animals first, humans second, not the other way around.

Don't get me started on the "edgy" stuff. I remember waking up every morning to this show called "The Animal Show" before school started. It was cute, fun, entertaining, and you still got to learn about animals. I remember they also talked about humans on that show, and it was great! They still have some charming shows in the likes of Too Cute (I adore that show), but a lot of the lineup consists of shows that my parents would never let me watch if I were younger. Compared to the family friendly shows of the 90s and early 2000s, the stuff they show now is downright grotesque, and I hate it! One show that comes to mind (the name escapes me) had a formula where they would wonder and simulate which two powerful animals would win in a fight if they were to duke it out, and it was disgusting. That show did a nice job pandering to its target audience (which would have fit better on that shitty channel, SpikeTV), but no animal lover wants to see that garbage. I want to see animals helped, shows about animals themselves, or documentaries about animals. None of this human-oriented crap.

 

[PockyAddict]

I have always hated it when channels, stray away from thier original objective. The History Channel, And MTV are extremely guilty of this.

 

[Mokoniki]

I love Dirty Jobs, but it really has no place on Animal Planet. Only about half or so of the episodes have anything to do with animals, and half is stretching it. And "The Pool Master"? What the hell is that? That has nothing to do with animals and should go on a channel about home improvement or something. I don't understand what they are thinking. I thought the show about building tree houses was ridiculous, but this has reached a whole new low.

 

[dig]

I have always hated it when channels, stray away from thier original objective. The History Channel, And MTV are extremely guilty of this.

Arguably none of these channels have strayed from their main objective, and that's to generate revenue. MTV broadcasts rubbish reality shite, and that's because there's a larger market for it. More people are likely to binge watch 16 and Pregnant than they are to listen to same the cycle on songs day in day out. History channel does the same, they show what we demand based on viewing figures, and as it turns out the shows with the largest viewership just happen to be a load of fuck that are at best vaguely related to history. It's what we watch, that's what we get. Now and then a popular show will be critically acclaimed, but more often than not, shows that are more commonly watched are those with mass appeal and cheap to produce.

And it's not just TV, this also affects games, radio, music, literature, fashion etc.

TLR Common denominator rubbish ruins the original subject area of a channel because it's more likely to be watched than niche material.

 

[CrackFox]

I've noticed that. I don't watch AP that much but I browse the tv guide often hoping to find something good to watch on there. I was a big fan of Monkey Life but I feel like I've seen almost every episode now. I was glad that it got a HD channel recently but for a channel dedicated to animals, it's surprisingly boring :/

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

I have always hated it when channels, stray away from thier original objective. The History Channel, And MTV are extremely guilty of this.

When you consider the fact that Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars have more to do with history than Treehouse Masters has to do with animals, you know you've got a problem. In fact, the History Channel has more history programming than Animal Planet has animal programming.

I love Dirty Jobs, but it really has no place on Animal Planet. Only about half or so of the episodes have anything to do with animals, and half is stretching it. And "The Pool Master"? What the hell is that? That has nothing to do with animals and should go on a channel about home improvement or something. I don't understand what they are thinking. I thought the show about building tree houses was ridiculous, but this has reached a whole new low.

I agree with you, unless you're trying to teach your dog how to swim or something, I cannot see what The Pool Master has to do with animals at all. A show like that belongs on HGTV, while Treehouse Masters belongs on the Discovery Channel. Did they put these shows on Animal Planet because the company that owns the channel (the same one that owns Discovery Channel) does not know where else to put them, because I can believe that if it's true. If they don't want the channel to be about animals, they should just rename the network to something else, since it's suffering badly from network decay, but thankfully not to the point of whatever happened to MTV (which might as well be called "Moronic Television" at this point).

 

[Baby Seals]

Are Homo Sapians not an animal according to science?

But all of the other TV channels focus on either humans or cartoons. Real live-action animals don't get 500 channels like humans do.

 

[Silverwynde]

Honestly, we could probably chalk this up to Network Decay, which is a shame. Back in the day, AP used to be one of my favorite networks. Now, I honestly wouldn't touch it with a fifty meter cattle prod.

 

[Professor Sinnoh]

I was thinking about this not too long ago. Although I like some of the shows on Animal Planet, I don't think they really belong on that channel. Is suppose it chalks up to personal likes. Some people like the newer shows, and don't think twice about what channel it's on.

 

[CreativeName0]

Eh, for some reason my cable company decided to replace it with the golf channel on my normal cable tv. during its best time.