The Learning Channel
August 3, 2023 2:18 PM Subscribe
I'm going to post these in the order that Billiam posted them, but I think, for an old like me, they should really be watched in reverse order because that's chronological rather than working backward from modern outrage to historical corruption. Anyway: 1: TLC'S Biggest Lies [26m] 2: The TLC Iceberg [44m] 3: When TLC Killed “The Learning Channel” [29m]. I remember The Learning Channel, and 3 was like being reminded of watching my favorite pub burning down.
Remember when Newt Gingrich said we didn't need PBS because we have cable TV? I do.
posted by mollweide at 3:01 PM on August 3, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 3:01 PM on August 3, 2023 [14 favorites]
Don't go chasin' waterfalls...
posted by chavenet at 3:34 PM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:34 PM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
This post could use a little context regarding who “Billiam” is.
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:41 PM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by star gentle uterus at 3:41 PM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
He spent several hours talking about Lost in a couple of videos I posted from him earlier. His YouTube account might yield more information, but I'm not sure what the definition of "who" you're looking for outside him being a YouTuber about media.
posted by hippybear at 3:45 PM on August 3, 2023
posted by hippybear at 3:45 PM on August 3, 2023
TLC is where, in the mid-1990’s, I first saw James Burke’s fantastic Connections.
If only they had doubled down on that sort of entertainment…
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:47 PM on August 3, 2023 [21 favorites]
If only they had doubled down on that sort of entertainment…
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:47 PM on August 3, 2023 [21 favorites]
TLC is where, in the mid-1990’s, I first saw James Burke’s fantastic Connections.
It aired on PBS in 1979.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:59 PM on August 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
It aired on PBS in 1979.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 4:59 PM on August 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
Does that mean Big Al couldn’t have seen it on TLC in the 90s?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:35 PM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:35 PM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
All I know about TLC is that it rejected an excellent series of animated educational videos.
posted by krisjohn at 5:37 PM on August 3, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by krisjohn at 5:37 PM on August 3, 2023 [14 favorites]
His YouTube account might yield more information, but I'm not sure what the definition of "who" you're looking for outside him being a YouTuber about media.
Yeah, see, I for one didn't know ANYTHING about him, including the fact that he is "a youtuber about media". And there are a great many of those.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:49 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yeah, see, I for one didn't know ANYTHING about him, including the fact that he is "a youtuber about media". And there are a great many of those.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:49 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
Does that mean Big Al couldn’t have seen it on TLC in the 90s?
i believe big al may have meant the mid-nineties connections², a sequel to the original.
it was excellent, and a perfect example of the dumbing down of TLC.
posted by winston smith at 7:19 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
i believe big al may have meant the mid-nineties connections², a sequel to the original.
it was excellent, and a perfect example of the dumbing down of TLC.
posted by winston smith at 7:19 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's entirely possible that Connections was on The Learning Channel in the Nineties. They were reaching for content at that point, and it isn't like it was under exclusive license to PBS. It, like its companion series The Day The Universe Changed, were BBC series. Syndication was a powerful way to get one show in front of a lot of audiences.
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think TLC aired all the Connections series as well as The Day The Universe Changed. Until fairly recently, the recorded versions off that channel (it maybe it was Discovery) were the only way I had to watch them. Fortunately, they're on DVD now.
posted by Ickster at 8:28 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 8:28 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
Any chance any of those shows are available on any of the free streaming services? I’d love to show them to my 15 y.o. son.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:10 PM on August 3, 2023
posted by Big Al 8000 at 10:10 PM on August 3, 2023
I was on junkyard wars (and so were a lot of my friends) I will have to watch to see what went wrong.You can't see the episodes anywhere and when I put up the VHS transfer of the episode I was on it got taken down in a week or so.
I still have the nomex coveralls.
posted by boilermonster at 10:28 PM on August 3, 2023 [11 favorites]
I still have the nomex coveralls.
posted by boilermonster at 10:28 PM on August 3, 2023 [11 favorites]
Any chance any of those shows are available on any of the free streaming services?
Connections 1 is on Kanopy.
posted by rhizome at 11:37 PM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Connections 1 is on Kanopy.
posted by rhizome at 11:37 PM on August 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
The thing that I loved about the SciFi channel when it came out was that they played a lot of old Doctor Who reruns. So many cable channels that promised us great things have really abandoned their supposed focus.
posted by Quonab at 12:46 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Quonab at 12:46 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
You can also find alot of videos of the older Connections on YouTube as well.
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:14 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by LizBoBiz at 3:14 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I saw Connections on VHS from the library, so worth a check if they did a DVD version.
posted by hoyland at 4:26 AM on August 4, 2023
posted by hoyland at 4:26 AM on August 4, 2023
Yeah, Syphy no longer shows ANY programming about syphilis.
posted by rikschell at 4:57 AM on August 4, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 4:57 AM on August 4, 2023 [9 favorites]
I own the DVD set of connections I (birthday gift). I still watch it every year or so.
About 20 years ago I got a wild hair to own The Day the Universe Changed and the only way I could get it then was to buy a used library set from EBay. I spent an irresponsible amount of money on it, like a few hundred $C in 2005 dollars, and THEN got screwed by duty as the shipment crossed the border. Still on the shelf, still have a functioning VCR. They all show up on youtube on occasion as well.
Connections^2 and ^3 were okay but not nearly as good as the originals.
(I want to be james burke when I grow up)
posted by hearthpig at 5:39 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
About 20 years ago I got a wild hair to own The Day the Universe Changed and the only way I could get it then was to buy a used library set from EBay. I spent an irresponsible amount of money on it, like a few hundred $C in 2005 dollars, and THEN got screwed by duty as the shipment crossed the border. Still on the shelf, still have a functioning VCR. They all show up on youtube on occasion as well.
Connections^2 and ^3 were okay but not nearly as good as the originals.
(I want to be james burke when I grow up)
posted by hearthpig at 5:39 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Big Al 8000: “Any chance any of those shows are available on any of the free streaming services? I’d love to show them to my 15 y.o. son.”https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke
posted by ob1quixote at 5:42 AM on August 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
Worth mentioning that another TLC favourite (that I remember being shown in a block with Connections), The Secret Life of Machines is on YouTube on its creator Tim Hunkin’s channel, and he’s been producing a new series, The Secret Life of Components.
posted by rodlymight at 5:48 AM on August 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by rodlymight at 5:48 AM on August 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
Does that mean Big Al couldn’t have seen it on TLC in the 90s?
Not at all. My point was that it wasn't original content. However, it appears I'm wrong. The latter versions were. According to Wikipedia: "Years later, the success in syndication led to two sequels, Connections2 (1994) and Connections3 (1997), both for TLC."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:19 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not at all. My point was that it wasn't original content. However, it appears I'm wrong. The latter versions were. According to Wikipedia: "Years later, the success in syndication led to two sequels, Connections2 (1994) and Connections3 (1997), both for TLC."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:19 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
My household got cable in 1994, when I was an impressionable science-minded teen who was wondering about a career in medicine and research and also deeply closeted. What I most remember about TLC, then, were all the programs that were just unedited recordings of surgeries. It was amazing. I watched heart and liver transplantation, reconstruction of a tibia and femur that had been shattered in a car accident, treatment of necrotizing fascitis, several childbirths and cesearean procedures, it was wild. What I will forever most remember, though, is the 40ish year old guy whose vasectomy program included the pre-surgery conversation with him, and then him getting naked and prepped for surgery on the table. Like... I don't have words to describe how closely I watched that program. Three cheers to you, early TLC, no matter your foibles.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
I made it about two minutes into the first video I clicked on. Apologies, I find Youtube dude unwatchable. I appreciate the walk down TLC memory lane, though.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:36 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 7:36 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I still think the most egregious example of focus shift was the Travel Channel going in on supernatural reality shows 24/7.
posted by Ber at 7:55 AM on August 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Ber at 7:55 AM on August 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
unedited recordings of surgeries.
Oh, my God, I remember that, but it was so weird I halfway thought maybe I'd invented it. So I didn't dream it?
I must've been house-sitting for somebody and trapped on the couch channel surfing for hours when I saw this stuff because I never lived anywhere where there was cable. There were these surgery videos that made you want to black out from the gore! And I know I saw a thing about yeast infections. (This was in the days before you could get antifungals designed for vaginal yeast infection over the counter. If you can imagine, you used to have to make a dag appointment with the gynecologist first before you could go get some damn monistat. Unbelievably stupid--but they didn't trust women to know what they were dealing with so we had to come in and get checked out to make sure we didn't have, I dunno what would look like a yeast infection other than a yeast infection, a rare tropical disease?)
Anyway, there was this insane video on a random cable channel that I guess was The Learning Channel, and I swear to God, behind the un. be. lieve. able. footage (I saw more than I had ever seen in my father's enormous and eclectic porn magazine collection) I heard voiceover from the patient, whose face we never saw, as far as I know, and she said in a soft voice with I think a midwestern accent--like she sounded like basically a kindly middle-aged kindergarten teacher or something. Anyway, she goes, "The itching is unbearable. I used to think about taking a bottle brush. You know, an old-fashioned bottle brush? And just... going to town up there..." And meanwhile we were looking up there. I was just, like,
...how?
...
...how is this on television?!?
That era of cable TV was a special, special time.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:18 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh, my God, I remember that, but it was so weird I halfway thought maybe I'd invented it. So I didn't dream it?
I must've been house-sitting for somebody and trapped on the couch channel surfing for hours when I saw this stuff because I never lived anywhere where there was cable. There were these surgery videos that made you want to black out from the gore! And I know I saw a thing about yeast infections. (This was in the days before you could get antifungals designed for vaginal yeast infection over the counter. If you can imagine, you used to have to make a dag appointment with the gynecologist first before you could go get some damn monistat. Unbelievably stupid--but they didn't trust women to know what they were dealing with so we had to come in and get checked out to make sure we didn't have, I dunno what would look like a yeast infection other than a yeast infection, a rare tropical disease?)
Anyway, there was this insane video on a random cable channel that I guess was The Learning Channel, and I swear to God, behind the un. be. lieve. able. footage (I saw more than I had ever seen in my father's enormous and eclectic porn magazine collection) I heard voiceover from the patient, whose face we never saw, as far as I know, and she said in a soft voice with I think a midwestern accent--like she sounded like basically a kindly middle-aged kindergarten teacher or something. Anyway, she goes, "The itching is unbearable. I used to think about taking a bottle brush. You know, an old-fashioned bottle brush? And just... going to town up there..." And meanwhile we were looking up there. I was just, like,
...how?
...
...how is this on television?!?
That era of cable TV was a special, special time.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:18 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
You mean to tell me that the profit motive doesn't promote good pedagogy?
Gosh, I hope someone tells the charter school people.
posted by Reyturner at 10:51 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Gosh, I hope someone tells the charter school people.
posted by Reyturner at 10:51 AM on August 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Continuing the derail in honor of Burkeian tangents: If you liked Connections back in the day you will probably really enjoy Ed Conway [Twitter/X link] today. He's got a new book out Material World, is a Sky News economics guy and post excellent long threads on the social media platform we no longer know what to call about the quirks and weird interdependencies of current economies and technologies like this one on sand [twitter / x link]. I hadn't made the connection until right here but it is all very James Burke-ian.
posted by srboisvert at 10:35 AM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by srboisvert at 10:35 AM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
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