{"id":230,"date":"2012-12-03T10:08:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T10:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joecarter\/?p=230"},"modified":"2012-12-03T10:08:56","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T10:08:56","slug":"the-history-channels-wwii-is-totally-unbelievable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joecarter\/2012\/12\/the-history-channels-wwii-is-totally-unbelievable\/","title":{"rendered":"The History Channel\u2019s WWII Is Totally Unbelievable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There have been some great television shows that have explored the theme of war and combat (M*A*S*H<\/em>,\u00a0Battlestar Galactica<\/em>,\u00a0F-Troop<\/em>). But I have to agree with the brilliant TV critic Scott that the seemingly endless series that runs on\u00a0The History Channel isn\u2019t one of them<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[T]here are some shows that go completely beyond the pale of enjoyability, until they become nothing more than overwritten collections of tropes impossible to watch without groaning.<\/p>\n

I think the worst offender here is the History Channel and all their programs on the so-called \u201cWorld War II\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the bad guys. Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check. Secret police, check. Determination to brutally kill everyone who doesn\u2019t look like them, check. Leader with a tiny\u00a0villain mustache<\/a>\u00a0and a tendency to go into apopleptic rage when he doesn\u2019t get his way, check. All this from a country that was ordinary, believable, and dare I say it sometimes even\u00a0sympathetic<\/em>\u00a0in previous seasons.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t even mind the lack of originality if they weren\u2019t so heavy-handed about it. Apparently we\u2019re supposed to believe that in the middle of the war the Germans attacked their allies the Russians, starting an unwinnable conflict on two fronts, just to show how sneaky and untrustworthy they could be? And that they diverted all their resources to use in making ever bigger and scarier death camps, even in the middle of a huge war? Real people\u00a0just aren\u2019t that evil<\/em>. And that\u2019s not even counting the part where as soon as the plot requires it, they instantly forget about all the racism nonsense and become best buddies with the definitely non-Aryan Japanese.<\/p>\n

Not that the good guys are much better. Their leader, Churchill, appeared in a grand total of one episode before, where he was a bumbling general who suffered an embarrassing defeat to the Ottomans of all people in the Battle of Gallipoli. Now, all of a sudden, he\u2019s not only Prime Minister, he\u2019s not only a brilliant military commander, he\u2019s not only the greatest orator of the twentieth century who can convince the British to keep going against all odds, he\u2019s\u00a0also<\/em>\u00a0a natural wit who is able to pull out hilarious one-liners practically on demand. I know he\u2019s supposed to be the hero, but it\u2019s not realistic unless you keep the guy at least vaguely human.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest<\/a>. You won\u2019t want to miss the part about the \u201cunstoppable mystical superweapon\u201d that never appears in the sequels.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been some great television shows that have explored the theme of war and combat (M*A*S*H,\u00a0Battlestar Galactica,\u00a0F-Troop). But I have to agree with the brilliant TV critic Scott that the seemingly endless series that runs on\u00a0The History Channel isn\u2019t one of them: [T]here are some shows that go completely beyond the pale of enjoyability, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military"],"yoast_head":"\nThe History Channel\u2019s WWII Is Totally Unbelievable<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There have been some great television shows that have explored the theme of war and combat (M*A*S*H,\u00a0Battlestar Galactica,\u00a0F-Troop). 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