TV green dream hits the road

Oh what a relief! No more Living With Ed on Planet Green. I can take it off the “blocked” channel list now.

Cable’s Planet Green to change name, program focus – CBS News

NEW YORK — Planet Green is changing course.

Its corporate parent, Discovery Communications, announced Wednesday that the cable channel will change its emphasis on nature and ecology and focus instead on the country’s spirit and culture under the new name of Destination America.

…Destination America will tackle subjects including American cuisine — from Tex-Mex to barbeque — and American mysteries from Jesse James’ lost fortune to Area 51. Other shows will visit amusement park thrill rides and Western ghost towns.

See more here: 7 Common Questions about Changes at Planet Green.

I guess that “green” is out, travel is in. To the planes!

0 0 votes
Article Rating
55 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
MarkW
April 5, 2012 11:01 am

Being green must be really bad news economically, if Discovery Communications believes they can make more money being the 12th incarnation of Food/Lifestyle/TLC than they could being the only overtly “Green” channel.

polistra
April 5, 2012 11:05 am

“the essence of American innovation and hard work.”
Translation: the Kardashians.

EW-3
April 5, 2012 11:09 am

Odd that the icon on the right resembles Obummer’s icon.
Could they be providing support for him ?

April 5, 2012 11:10 am

“….and American mysteries from Jesse James’ lost fortune to Area 51.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ! They finally decided to go for more “credible” subjects than alarmism! I think we are witnessing a tipping-point.

Wade
April 5, 2012 11:20 am

Still not going to watch this channel.

Glacierman
April 5, 2012 11:21 am

“Cable’s Planet Green to change name, program focus – CBS News”
So, it’s mission of leftist propoganda remains.

cui bono
April 5, 2012 11:25 am

Hehe, good laugh. Don’t think we get this in the UK, or if we do, it’s hiding pretty well.
Apparently one early program will be “Cheating Las Vegas” (premiering July 14), which will delve into “the most fascinating and elaborate scams of modern casino gaming.”
From the old channel featuring a fascinating and elaborate scam with muchos $$$$ to a new channel featuring….. 🙂

Wellington
April 5, 2012 11:37 am

UFOs, paranormal phenomena, haunted houses and lost treasures. It hope they keep CAGW in the lineup—it will fit right in.

DaveG
April 5, 2012 11:38 am

Green fades to black – Reality is the strongest dose of medicine!

DaveG
April 5, 2012 11:41 am

OT – REALITY IN ACTION:
GERMAN SOLAR SUBSIDY SLASH PROMPTS NEW SPATE OF SOLAR BANKRUPTCIES
Plunging prices for solar panels, overcapacity, and a recent, substantial slash of government subsidies for solar power in Germany have prompted a rash of major solar firms to declare bankruptcy. Solar Millennium AG’s U.S. subsidiaries—including Solar Trust of America—filed for Chapter 11 insolvency proceedings in a concerted action on Monday, while giant solar cell–maker Q-Cells filed for insolvency in a German court.
http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4518.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2418271&hq_l=4&hq_v=d0622051c2

Dr. Dave
April 5, 2012 11:42 am

This is amusing. Just yesterday I called DISH and canceled about half of my service. I don’t watch it. My GF doesn’t watch it. I was wasting many hundreds of dollars a year. I don’t know if I’ll still have the Green Planet channel. It might take me a month to figure it out. But I have actually watched “Living With Ed” and between nausea and hilarious irony I endured it. My favorite episode is when Ed and his wife went visit Jackson Browne. I like Jackson Browne’s music, but he is an environmentalist idiot. Jackson had a most impressive solar array and they used this energy to pump water to water their lawn to keep the dust down inside their home. Jackson Browne is literally worth millions of dollars. He can afford to be as green as his heart desires…most of us can’t because it’s too damned expensive. I also loved the episode where college students (with a straight face) announced that the car they built with an IC engine emits absolutely NO CO2. Neat trick.

Milwaukee Bob
April 5, 2012 11:43 am

From the list of 7 Q&A’s on their site:
Why is this happening? Why not keep Planet Green on TV?
Planet Green was launched in the midst of an exciting environmental trend in the U.S. and what we found is that
(WE COULDN’T MAKE ANY MONEY BECAUSE ONLY THE GORES & OBAMAS WERE WATCHING) while consumers enjoy sharing information and best practices with other like-minded fans, they prefer to do that via online tools …
Yeah, like – – – here, if they want the fair and balanced thought.
…Where can we find environmental news and information moving forward?
While Planet Green won’t be on TV, Discovery outlets will continue to be a great source for news and information about important environmental issues. Planet Green’s sister site, TreeHugger.com remains the internet’s leading source for news and information related to environmentalism and sustainability….
NOW THAT’S FUNNY! ☺

BernardP
April 5, 2012 11:48 am

In other words:
Planet Green is cancelled
A new show will take its place: Destination America.

conradg
April 5, 2012 11:49 am

What a shame, I used to watch Planet Green just for the laughs. It was always leading the pack in unintentional comedy.

Burch
April 5, 2012 11:51 am

I think Rosie O’Donnell is available…. Just sayin’

Tom G(ologist)
April 5, 2012 12:01 pm

siiiiiiigh of relief. The ‘Foxfire’ movement of the 21st Century is running its course and we might be rounding the final bend and heading for the home stretch.

April 5, 2012 12:03 pm

I watched some of the Living with Ed episodes. I am surprised that his wife did not murder him in his sleep.

klem
April 5, 2012 12:03 pm

Wow, I find this significant. Perhap there is no money anymore in ‘green tv.
Maybe the climate alarmist gravy train has finally pulled into the station for much needed repairs.

Ray
April 5, 2012 12:06 pm

So they just figured out that the American people don’t want Ed and Bill’s lifestyles. Better they realized that now than never… but they still tried to convince people.

Milwaukee Bob
April 5, 2012 12:32 pm

From DA’s website:
“By collecting the very best of travel, adventure, food, home, and natural history into one brand, we’re excited to create a new lifestyle destination for programming that Americans love.”
And all of it is going to be produced right there in New York City, the very HEART of AMERICA!
And they make it all sound so Motherhood and Apple Pie. But read closely:
“Americans may be divided by politics, but we are united by our love of country,” said Henry Schleiff, President & General Manager of Destination America. “As a network inclusive to all, Destination America will celebrate this connective spirit by curating the common ground among us: the pluck of the worn saddle, the promise of exploring new territory, and the diversity that has made this nation great.” “diversity”??
Hey Henry! I have a message for you from THE REAL Heart of America: It wasn’t, isn’t now (and never will be) “diversity” that made this nation great. IT’S UNITY! It’s coming together under one flag, one language, ruled by law NOT by vote, with one supreme law that acknowledges the inalienable rights of the individual, over the “State”, to decide ones own fate. How about you get THAT concept clear in your head BEFORE you start “curating the common ground among us”!!
Bob H

cui bono
April 5, 2012 1:04 pm

Milwaukee Bob says (April 5, 2012 at 11:43 am)
….TreeHugger.com…..
—-
Oh…good…grief!

corio37
April 5, 2012 1:52 pm

This is interesting: a show that premiered in 2007 with NO comments and NO reviews…
http://www.metacritic.com/tv/living-with-ed/season-3
“Keeping score of entertainment…” and the score is apparently zero.

A Lovell
April 5, 2012 2:16 pm

First Current TV and now the Green Channel. These people can’t compete in a commercial, hard money situation. Good.
And
DaveG says:
April 5, 2012 at 11:41 am
They also can’t compete when the subsisdies are no longer forthcoming. Good.
It will all be over when the real world finally bursts their bubble and funding for ‘Climate Science’
dries up, but, Lord, it’s a long time coming………….

Dr Eric J.R.
April 5, 2012 2:34 pm

Travel is back in! Gentlemen, start your engines!

R. de Haan
April 5, 2012 2:41 pm

One gone, 9.999 to go and please hurry up.
Especially the moronic series produced by Discovery like Planet after people, a series that must be the environmentalist’s wet dream. Green solutions, about science fighting Global Warming and all the other alarmist crap.
And don’t tell me I don’t have to watch the stuff.
At this moment in time you can’t put on a program about nature not featuring the eco mafia.
catching animals, showing one thousand way’s to hook up a sea turtle, a shark or a whale with a GPS transmitter, all in the name of science, animal protection and saving the planet.
Hell, they even hook up jelly fish.
I’m sick of it.
Just burn all the crap and never broadcast it again.

Ed Fix
April 5, 2012 2:52 pm

“No more Living With Ed…”
Whatever else you can say about Ed Begley, at least he tries to walk the walk. Unlike most of the limousine liberals.

April 5, 2012 3:00 pm

What Ed Fix said.
Though I don’t agree with his politics, I never-the-less have great respect for Ed Begley Jr. for actually practicing what he preaches, as much as he can. I have tipped my hat to him for a very long time. Funny thing is, if all, or even half of all the greenies out there would do the same thing, they might actually make a dent in the problems they perceive instead of the failed tactic of trying to get everyone else to suffer while they lead the high carbon wasting lifestyle.

HankH
April 5, 2012 3:15 pm

Dennis Wingo (@wingod) says:
April 5, 2012 at 12:03 pm
I watched some of the Living with Ed episodes. I am surprised that his wife did not murder him in his sleep.

I watched a few too. For me, it was a toss up as to who would murder who. There was one episode where his wife sets up a chair with an umbrella up on the roof, blocking the sun from one of his solar panels. He blew a gasket and I’m convinced that had it not been for camera men present he probably would have gone after her with a butcher knife.

Andyman
April 5, 2012 3:29 pm

About time. I wonder how much stimulus money was propping that channel up.

R. de Haan
April 5, 2012 4:09 pm

Don’t know what you’re talking about. Ed Fix
The last Mr. Ed I saw on television was a horse. A talking horse.
That’s when the dumbing down of the public began. But television in those day’s was a lot more entertaining.

Dave Worley
April 5, 2012 4:37 pm

Sustainability is….unsustainable.
But we knew that.

John Silver
April 5, 2012 4:54 pm

“….and American mysteries from Jesse James’ lost fortune to Area 51.”
I just got a great idea for a movie, I call it “Cowboys and Aliens”,
Ooh……wait…..

observa
April 5, 2012 6:30 pm

“I guess that “green” is out, travel is in.”
Err…not quite just yet-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9184693/Surgery-bans-elderly-patient-over-her-carbon-footprint.html
(hat tip to Andrew Bolt)

Jeef
April 5, 2012 6:31 pm

R de Haan – Mr Ed was a zebra.

Gail Combs
April 5, 2012 6:36 pm

Wellington says:
April 5, 2012 at 11:37 am
UFOs, paranormal phenomena, haunted houses and lost treasures. It hope they keep CAGW in the lineup—it will fit right in.
___________________________________
They never changed the focus only broaden it.
Boy am I glad I quit watching TV long ago if this is the type of crud they now have on.

Gail Combs
April 5, 2012 6:44 pm

R. de Haan says:
April 5, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Don’t know what you’re talking about. Ed Fix
The last Mr. Ed I saw on television was a horse. A talking horse.
That’s when the dumbing down of the public began. But television in those day’s was a lot more entertaining.
_______________________________________
I though that was who they were talking about too. At least with Mr. Ed we got to see the front end of the horse. Sounds like the new version was the rear end.

April 5, 2012 7:02 pm

Their last viewer stopped watching in December 2011.

Latitude
April 5, 2012 7:10 pm

an all new low in broadcast journalism……
“Some programs that aired on Planet Green will be available in iTunes under the show name.”
….hosted by Keith Olbermann

johanna
April 5, 2012 7:23 pm

R. de Haan says:
April 5, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Don’t know what you’re talking about. Ed Fix
The last Mr. Ed I saw on television was a horse. A talking horse.
That’s when the dumbing down of the public began. But television in those day’s was a lot more entertaining.
———————————————————–
Hey, no dissing Mr Ed! He was a lot smarter than the protagonists of your average greenie TV show, and much handsomer as well.
Jeef says:
April 5, 2012 at 6:31 pm
R de Haan – Mr Ed was a zebra.
In case you were serious, it’s an urban myth. Apart from the physical dissimilarities, zebras are wild, very wild, animals. Pretty much untameable. Even domestic horses retain the element of unpredictability that means that anyone who spends a lot of time around them ends up getting kicked and/or bitten. And I am fond of horses. Zebras are horses on crack and ice mixed with PCP.
Being Australian, I have not had the privilege of seeing the show under discussion. But we have a possibly worse version, called ‘Carbon Cops’, on our unbiased government broadcasting service (ABC). Ratings are therefore not an issue.
For the strong of stomach, here is a link for the ghastly Carbon Cops:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/carboncops/
Bring back Mr Ed, in the name of intelligent television!

julie
April 5, 2012 7:42 pm

We get to see Man v Food in Australia. We don’t have anything like that here so it is fun to watch and marvel at the enormous portions and exotic combinations (our burghers seriously conservative and a lot smaller – also more expensive).
Maybe this new show will be similar to Man v Food but a bit more upmarket?
Saying the show was launched at the start of an “exciting environmental trend ” is pretty much the same as saying “green fad” – sort of admitting it’s ‘so yesterday’.

April 5, 2012 8:08 pm

Omigod … that is sick! (Living with Ed that is ..)

woodNfish
April 5, 2012 8:54 pm

“johanna says: April 5, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Hey, no dissing Mr Ed! He was a lot smarter than the protagonists of your average greenie TV show, and much handsomer as well.”
Especially from the rear.

Disko Troop
April 6, 2012 1:17 am

That Ed Begley!!!!!!! He was great in Veronica Mars and Six Feet Under. Really good scripted programs…well worth the cost of the DVD’s

MattC
April 6, 2012 3:16 am

How is it possible that charging people to preach at them about how they’re destroying the World is NOT a good business model?
In my experience, most regular people have a real thirst for information about all of the ways in which celebrities and other people of means are superior to them both morally and intellectually. My guess here is that, given more time and government investment, Planet Green would really have taken off.

April 6, 2012 3:56 am

Disko Troop says:
April 6, 2012 at 1:17 am
That Ed Begley!!!!!!! He was great in Veronica Mars and Six Feet Under.

He’ll live forever in my cerebral cortex as Sergeant Greenbean in the original “Battlestar: Galactica”…

April 6, 2012 4:33 am

Discovery channel went “all in” with the warmista propaganda. Alas, no one watched. Who would advertise on the “Doomsday Channel”? Funerals services and lawyers perhaps; but not without an audience.

April 6, 2012 4:41 am

Hi Julie. We call them “burgers” here in The States. Short for “Hamburgers”, yet invented here in the US, not Hamburg. I’m surprised to hear that burgers are expensive in OZ. Your Aussie beef is superior and relatively equal in price here. I seek out Australian beef then I cook my aussie “Burghers” on a charcoal grill.
Man are they good!

Gail Combs
April 6, 2012 7:56 am

woodNfish says:
April 5, 2012 at 8:54 pm
“johanna says: April 5, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Hey, no dissing Mr Ed! He was a lot smarter than the protagonists of your average greenie TV show, and much handsomer as well.”
Especially from the rear.
_________________________________
Very true picture

Dr. Dave
April 6, 2012 9:06 am

Here’s a fun drinking game. Watch virtually any program on the History of Discovery or TLC channels that doesn’t have to do with ghosts, UFOs or manufacturing techniques. Take a drink at every mention of AGW, climate change or environmentalism. The downside is you’ll end up plastered in front of your TV. But I was amazed to catch a program about salt that was hosted by that (usually annoying) Irish scientist who is older than he appears. It was a good program, very interesting and discussed salt in historical context, modern uses, mining and even the thermohaline circulation. Unless I missed it, there was never a single mention of “anthropogenic climate change” – just what occurs naturally. I was impressed…and remained sober.

April 6, 2012 10:00 am

The Real Mr. Ed.

Jon
April 6, 2012 11:54 am

Bah, the Travel Channel already covers it, so they’re going to pretend to capture that market? Lame.

April 7, 2012 8:38 am

They’re just officially acknowledging what they’ve already done. They’ve been cutting their “green” programming back to nothing over the past year.

Pamela Gray
April 7, 2012 8:57 am

The only TV show I like are reruns from Two and A Half Men. And the only reason I watch that one is the shoot from the hip banter coming out of Jake and Charlie’s mouth. The other characters are fillers. The fact that no mention is ever seriously made regarding environmentalism is a plus. Other than that, I watch old movies and read. Lots. Most of the time my TV sits as a rather expensive modern Art depiction of “dark”.

April 7, 2012 11:13 am

“Other than that, I watch old movies”
Old movies are the best; the actors engage in conversation that can be heard and the dialogue actually adds to the plot of the movie. Remarkable!

Christen Lofthouse
April 10, 2012 1:39 am

Straight to the point and well written! Why can’t everyone else be like this?