Animal Planet on an AR bend??

[Hypancistrus]

I am pet sitting my parents puppy today. I can't DO anything because he is insane... so anything outside of the living room is off limits to me right now. So I've been watching some TV.

I turned on Animal Planet to watch Big Cat Diaries. There were two commercials that I found moderately disturbing.

The first was for this show "Fatal Attraction" which details relationships between humans and animals that go bad (think the chimp lady up in New England or a person getting attacked by their captive big cat). They also show in the preview people who keep hots and large constrictors.

The second was for a show about "Killer Aliens" and the preview was like an HSUS ad for the python ban.

It really disturbed me. Why doesn't Animal Planet, which professes itself to be the network for "animals and those who love them" focus on positive representations of the human-animal bond??

I will go and look up these previews on their website... see if I can find them so everyone can see.

 

[wade]

Lauren, I've had the same feeling sometimes with Animal Planet. Some of their programing I have to just not watch because it makes me so mad.

 

[Hypancistrus]

I turned it off. I was enjoying the program, but the commercials kept popping up and it was really angering me. I am trying to decide if it's worth typing a letter to them asking why they choose to air so many programs that show the negative sides of pet ownership and human and animal interactions?

 

[wade]

If you do, post the address here, I'd like to write to them as well.

 

[Snakewhisperer]

I must be weird, because I got excited at seeing a show where idiots do stupid stuff and actually die because of it, instead of almost dying, stupid teases. However, the killer aliens probably isn't going to be all that great, it should at least take some of the heat off of the burms and put more focus on fire ants, africanized honeybees, etc. But like I said, I may just be a mentally disturbed person :bird:

 

[Hypancistrus]

I am having a difficult time finding an address, and couldn't find any of the video previews for these shows on their website either. In fact, the only thing I did find about them on the AP website was the time they will air. The Killer Aliens one airs Sunday night, for instance.

I am going to go to Discovery's website... they own AP. Maybe they have a network address.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Success...

Discovery Communications
Viewer Relations
One Discovery Place
5th Floor
Silver Spring, MD 20910

I had to go to Discovery and then to their viewer relations FAQ's. I am now trying to decide if I actually want to watch the program first. Perhaps the program itself will be more balanced than the preview?

 

[Carinata]

Animal planet is a jopke now. As a kid I loved Steve Irwin or Jeff Corwin. I laughed at Austin Stevens. Anyway recentally AP seems to want us to not like animals anymore? Snake attacks, croc attacks, shark attacks, and bear attacks. Then it got crazy. Deer attacks? I plan on watching fatal attractions and killer aliens. Both of which look outrageous. I could tell by the creepy british lady in the commercial. It is sad we can't educate about these animals without telling people they are monsters.

 

[snakewispera snr]

Animal planet is a jopke now. As a kid I loved Steve Irwin or Jeff Corwin. I laughed at Austin Stevens. Anyway recentally AP seems to want us to not like animals anymore? Snake attacks, croc attacks, shark attacks, and bear attacks. Then it got crazy. Deer attacks? I plan on watching fatal attractions and killer aliens. Both of which look outrageous. I could tell by the creepy british lady in the commercial. It is sad we can't educate about these animals without telling people they are monsters.

What are you trying to say Dave.........:uhoh:
As for AP.... I just can't watch it..... Too sensationalized IMO...

 

[Hypancistrus]

Found some videos for the Fatal Attractions series.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/fatal-attractions-videos/

Upon examining their site, I find it interesting that their pet care section includes only information on dogs and cats. Nothing about so-called "exotic pets." Nothing positive that is...

I also noticed that on their homepage, they link video selections for clips from their programs. Of the 8 listed, 5 are clearly videos with negative connotations, and a 6th video, Werewolf, could easily be categorized that way. Werewolves generally inspire a negative connotation in peoples minds. So what exactly are they trying to sell here??

Animal Planet came out when I was a kid and I was delighted. They showed the Crocodile Hunter, which improved world-wide view of reptiles and their importance significantly, in addition to advancing conservation interests while balancing the human side of things. They had dog shows and pet shows and it was a nice network. I enjoyed it. Now when I look at their programming, I am seeing all of these very negative shows. Animal Cops is showing for the next two hours... again, a show that depicts the very worst of the relationships between humans and animals.

This is really making me sad... and bringing up some really good questions.

 

[wade]

Thanks for the research Lauren. I think watching the program first is probably a good idea. I think I will wait so I can refer to specific things.

 

[Lore]

http://www.redtailboa.net/forums/789860-post9.html

Link has more links regarding email addresses / addresses / websites regarding AP's outlook on reptiles.

 

[Hypancistrus]

http://www.redtailboa.net/forums/789860-post9.html

Link has more links regarding email addresses / addresses / websites regarding AP's outlook on reptiles.

Thanks for that info!

I sent an email to them.

When I was a kid and animal planet first came out, I watched it non-stop. It was ALWAYS on in my bedroom. I hung on every word. My favorite show was The Crocodile Hunter with Steve Irwin. I loved the positive messages he offered with regards to reptiles and conservation.

These days, I barely ever watch your station. It's all negative stuff that seems designed to cause people to fear animals. There are a lot of examples of happy and positive interactions between humans and animals of ALL shapes and sizes. It baffles me why all of a sudden your station is showing almost exclusively the negative side of the human-animal bond. Could it be that you have caved to the money that HSUS (a well known anti-pet animal rights group) pays you in advertising fees?? I truly hope not... but it sure seems that way.

I think I am going along with Wade... I'm going to watch that program on Sunday so I can add specific points to my mailed letter.

 

[kathylove]

Animal Planet was infiltrated by humaniacs a while ago...

in my opinion. Between the animal cop shows from a bunch of different cities and the sensationalistic programming that seems to center on animals attacking people, I lost interest in that channel a long time ago. I recently cut my satellite channels down to the bare minimum to save money, and don't miss AP at all. I do miss the Science Channel, which was also a Discovery Channel, AFAIK. But they actually had interesting science programs that were not all about trying to sensationalize "scary" things.

There have been some interesting threads about AP programs, and even about PBS and History Channel programs about reptiles lately, over on the law forum on KS. I believe that I read over there that a couple of people on the board of AP are also on the boards of one of the humaniac groups such as PETA or H$U$. I don't remember the details. But here is the thread on Alien Invaders - there was some interesting info in it:

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1795301,1795301

 

[kalena]

I loved Jeff Corbin. I'm sure AP - like most networks - broadcasts whatever draws the most viewers, positive or negative.

 

[kshannon]

I am glad I am not the only one that has noticed the horrible programming on AP lately. I also agree what happened to the good shows like the Little Zoo That Could etc... Now it is all about death and destruction.

 

[kshannon]

I e-mailed them also thank you for the info.

 

[VickyChaiTea]

I thought the same thing, they showed a python, then a baby like the python went out of it's way to get to it or something. All of it was very anti-exotic pets.

 

[tom e]

All the channels that used to be educational are now just pretty silly IMO. Remember when Discovery didn't have their policy of equal time for aliens and conspiracy theories? History channel, animal planet all the rest are the same. Even starting to look like reality TV in some shows. I like PBS though, but we quit cable long ago and never looked back.

 

[Tavia]

It wouldn't surprise me if PETA or like groups were taking it over but I think at least part of it is the whole media/consumer expectations as well. It seems like pretty much everything on TV is geared toward "if it bleeds it leads" & anything else they can get people afraid of is wonderful. Warm & cuddly shows are just not "in" right now.