Published: April 24, 2008 05:23 am         

Publisher’s Notebook: History Channel has dim view of the future

I usually like to watch television for 15 to 20 minutes after retiring to bed to relax and release my mind from events of the day. Watching The History Channel helps me to decompress and drift off to sleep fairly quickly.

But lately, some of shows I’ve been watching just before I go to sleep have prompted nightmares. Or they prop my eyes back open and force me to contemplate the end of the universe for hours.

Producers of The History Channel evidently have a pessimistic outlook for the future of man. Why else would they program a show on Sunday night entitled, “Last Days on Earth,” in which it counted down seven ways the human race could become extinct?

Here’s how the network promoted the show: “Using state-of-the-art computer-generated graphics and interviews with the world's top scientists, we will leave viewers pondering humanity's place in the universe and will reveal the most terrifying truth of all — that our greatest enemy is ourselves.”

Just a few weeks ago, I tried to fall asleep while watching “Population Zero,” which vividly showed how Nature will reclaim the Earth after the last person dies off. The last image I remembered seeing before I closed my eyes was the Hoover Dam, which the show said would be the last man-made structure to survive, finally crumbling thousands of years from now.

On another night, I was watching The History Channel while trying to go to sleep and was shocked to learn that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. I had to know why we’re going out so soon, so I stayed awake until 2 a.m. to learn about the end of the Mayan calendar. I know we’ll all be hearing and watching a lot more about that date in the coming years.

I love the shows on The History Channel, but I can’t watch it anymore late at night. I’m afraid I’m going to drift off after watching one of those doomsday shows and have a nightmare about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse galloping through my bedroom.

I’ve since gone to sleep watching mindless drivel such as “Flavor of Love” and NBA highlights on SportsCenter.



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Speaking of history and television, I thoroughly enjoyed HBO’s seven-part miniseries about John Adams, which concluded Sunday night. It starred Paul Giamatti as one of the forefathers of our great country and its second president.

I normally don’t like period pieces such as that. I can’t get into all the costumes and wigs. But I found the authentic recreation of Adams’ life and his efforts in framing our country extremely fascinating.

The second episode was the best. It vividly depicted the birth of a new nation as Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and others debated the ramifications of the Declaration of Independence. Hearing the words of those great men as they spoke so eloquently about the kind of government they wanted filled me with a great sense of patriotism and thankfulness.

They spoke so eloquently because that was the time before Americans we’re using contractions while speaking. The Declaration of Independence certainly wouldn’t have been as powerful if the authors had used a lot of “can’t” and “ain’t.”

HBO’s “John Adams” was produced by Tom Hanks, who also teamed with the network to produce “Band of Brothers,” another historical drama about the 101st Airborne in World War II. Both were extremely well done and I hope they team up for more excellent television in the future.

The miniseries should be required viewing for all school history classes.

I did fairly well in history in school, but I never realized until after watching the miniseries that Adams and Jefferson both died on the same day, July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the establishment of the Declaration of Independence.

Talk about cosmic significance. How supernatural is that? I wonder how that event fits into the Mayan calendar? I can’t wait for the doomsday show on The History Channel.