The History Channel

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"This weekend on The History Channel, someone digs through old plastic junk ("It's a Dukes of Hazzard wastebasket!"), someone else tries to sell a doll head ("I used to take the heads off the bodies, and I kept the heads")... and Larry the Cable Guy taste-tests Tabasco sauce ("I can't feel my dadgum tongue!"). The History Channel. What the hell happened to us?"
—Jimmy Kimmel Live

The History Channel is a network that dedicates itself (or once dedicated itself, depending on who you ask) to history. The network is/was particularly famous for its sometimes excessive coverage of World War II leading some to call it The Hitler Channel.

Then the channel went though a phase where it was obsessed with The Da Vinci Code, aliens and the apocalypse. Nowadays, the lineup has favored documentary-style reality shows: Some (Pawn Stars, American Pickers) occasionally have something do to with history. Others (Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, the American version of Top Gear) don't. On most days, there's almost no history-related programming on the schedule. You might get lucky if it's a holiday or other day of historical significance. A sister channel, H2 (formerly History International), is closer to the original History Channel in terms of "historical" programming.

Besides tales of old, the station is also noted for its weekly show of Modern Marvels which details the history of everyday and not-so-everyday things. History also occasionally plays movies.

Programs featured on this network:
  • American Pickers - Two guys go around the country looking for stuff people have in garages and junk piles, that they can sell at a profit
  • American Restoration - Got a rusty old gas pump, coke machine or 1930s toy? By the time they're finished working on it, it will look like it just came off the showroom floor
  • Ancient Aliens - Are old historical incidents like Adam and Eve an incident involving God, or involving an extraterrestrial?
  • Ax Men - Cutting timber for a living is dangerous. Really.
  • Conquest
  • Dogfights
  • Full Metal Jousting
  • Ice Road Truckers - In some parts of Alaska and Canada, there are places so far out that there aren't any roads. There is, however, lakes and parts of the ocean frozen so solid you can drive an 18-wheeler over the ice.
  • Life After People - Welcome to earth. Population: zero.
  • Modern Marvels - Many things we use or have been developed involve a lot of complicated work to exist or be produced. And this shows the background of them
  • Pawn Stars - Consider four guys in Las Vegas that run a pawn shop, and the things that get sold there or bought by them
  • R. Lee Ermey (covers Mail Call and Lock and Load)
  • Swamp People - Making a living by collecting the resources of the everglades
  • Top Gear US
  • Top Shot - Win $100,000 by being the best all-around marksman (or woman) in a field of 16
    • Top Guns - Spin off of Top Shot, shows various antique guns and other ordnance how they are used
  • WWII in HD - High Definition video and color films about World War II
The History Channel provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Ancient Astronauts: There is a disturbing number of shows on the channel that subscribe to crazy alien theories of human history. Seemingly, it's barely second-fiddle to History's reality line-up. But you can still catch Ancient Aliens airing occasionally.
  • Apocalypse How: A fair few shows dedicated to either the end of the world or something in the likeness (what if a wildfire burned Los Angeles?). Needless to say the 2012 hype has also made its way to the network programing.
    • Life After People notably averts this, and just talks about what happens to buildings and animals after the apocalypse.
  • Conspiracy Theory: A few. This channel should really change its name to "The Wild Mass Guessing Channel" from now on.
  • Dan Browned: Do not take everything you see on this channel as truth. Actual fact count may vary.
  • Fan Nickname: The Hitler Channel, though it doesn't apply in the current "conspiracy and reality TV" era.
    • Fans have recently started calling it the Hysteria Channel as a result of its new focus on apocalypse/alien-related conspiracy theories.
  • Hollywood History: Arguably more frequent after Network Decay, although it was present even before then (see Fan Nickname).
  • Speculative Documentary
  • Those Wacky Nazis
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