Animal Planet hates animals

I know drama and horror earns more ratings, but this has gotten stupid. I watched Animal Planet all day yesterday for the first time in ages, and every single show was about animals as a negative presence. Infested, Monster Inside Me, Weird True & Freaky, Hoarders, Fatal Attractions, that one about the asshole exterminator...I'm sure there are some others I can't think of.

I do get entertained by how the families on "Infested" usually lose the war against nature, especially when they're just stupid fucking pussies afraid to live in a yard with harmless garter snakes everywhere.

Weird, True & Freaky is probably the worst. They collect a bunch of youtube videos, then dramatize them as "disturbing" even when they're just cats making funny noises. This show actually used my girlfriend's video of her hissing cockroach giving birth, but made it out to be disgusting and flat-out lied that the species was capable of infesting houses.

Don't even get me started on the shows that aren't about animals.

edited 21st Feb '11 7:19:49 PM by scythemantis

Looks like it's gone downhill since Meerkat Manor ended.

I actually tried watching some of those, and I lost interest pretty quickly. The True Crime shows on Investigation Discovery are better than that crap.

I didn't particularly think the Animal Hoarding shows portrayed the animals themselves in a negative light. The episodes I've seen have made a point to reflect the suffering of the animals as well as the owners, and to emphasize that the problem was on the part of the owners.

There are some good shows. For example, Dogs 101.

Well if I was mowing the lawn, Garter Snakes would be annoying if they didn't get out of the way of the mower, assuming they had a lawn and mowed it.

But yes, they are harmless, I know people who have been bit by Garter Snakes several times with no complications and they are cute and fun to play with.

Really though, don't they have shows about animal cops and The Dog Whisperer? Those don't seem all that negative.

I thought Dog Whisperer was on National Geographic Channel.

I'm fond of Cats 101.

You're right. Animal Planet does have a female british Dog Whisperer expy, though I can't recall the name of the show off-hand.

edited 23rd Feb '11 5:56:40 AM by Meeble

it's me or the dog

A much better show, by the way.

it is actually

Why are there ghost shows on the animal planet now?

Network Decay. They're trying to attract more viewers so they get more money.

•[5(∞)]

The entire channel block seems to be sailing down the same river, unfortunately.

Y'know what I miss? Animal Planet's The Most Extreme

I loved that show! I watched it all the time when I was a kid.

THE MOST EXTREME ISN'T ON ANYMORE!?

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! THAT SHOW KICKED ASS!

...this is why I should make an effort to keep up with what's happening with TV, so I don't get bombshells like this dropped on me.

edited 25th Feb '11 4:59:28 PM by LizardBite

Latin American Animal planet is doing much better. They have Dog Whisperers And the British one . Even though if Victoria and Cesar were put in the same room they wouldn't agree on anything.

But there is something that sucks and it is that they started putting movies on it. Sometimes, extremely off-topic movies including Brooke Shield's quasi porn movie she made when she was 13 - The excuse was that the lagoon had a natural frame, lol. But that's better than when they put horror movies in which animals are the villains...

My thoughts exactly

And wait, Animal Planet has shows that aren't about animals?

They have that one "I Shouldn't Be Alive" show that, as far as I can tell, has pretty much nothing to do with animals unless they have a victim of a shark attack or something. Most of the time, it's about a guy surviving an avalanche or nearly falling down a cliff.

They oughta be showing movies like Beethoven and Over the Hedge if they're gonna show movies.

Or Finding Nemo...

Interesting observation, I was learning in my anthropology class that National Geographic actually doesn't really care that much about the native cultures they visit. They're much more concerned with the romanticized idealism and physical attractiveness of the landscape rather than the cultural background of most of the countries.

Then there's always that infamous article they ran a few years back about elephant hunters where the guy supposedly documenting everything actually bought a bunch of ivory and handed it out to the locals so that he could set up a good photo op.

It could be worse guys.