Reality tv Memes

Remember when we'd watch explosions in the name of science instead of people catching bass? The Great Channel Evolution Experiment has failed spectacularly! Once upon a time, Discovery Channel was our laboratory for curiosity—blowing things up, testing urban legends, and exploring the cosmos. Now it's devolved into "Watch This Guy Catch a Fish" and "Drama in the Wilderness: Season 47." It's like watching Einstein's brain slowly transform into a reality TV contestant's. The experimental hypothesis "educational content can survive on cable" has been BUSTED! *maniacal scientist laugh* The control group (History Channel) isn't doing any better with its "Ancient Aliens Built My Swimming Pool" programming. We demand the return of our explosive science goodness!

The great extinction event of educational television. Once upon a time, Discovery Channel was the natural habitat for magnificent science documentaries that roamed freely across our screens. Now those majestic programs have been hunted to near extinction and replaced with invasive species of reality shows about people yelling at fish. The ecological niche that once supported fascinating explorations of quantum physics and deep ocean trenches now sustains only "Man Finds Old Thing in Garage" and "Angry Person Catches Crab." Science communication's natural selection apparently favors drama over data. Darwin would be disappointed.