History NetworkDecay / InUniverseExamples

* The subject of the ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'' episode "Take Back MTV". Spyke and Iris are upset that MTV is not like it used to be, so they hire the real Kurt Loder, Tabitha Soren, and Matt Pinfield to storm MTV headquarters. Spyke and Iris break into the office of MTV's president (who turns out to be an adolescent girl), while the other three take over the main airway. As it turns out, there isn't much of a market for a NostalgiaFilter-oriented channel devoted to aging Gen-Xers reliving their GloryDays, and people soon start tuning out.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAADcaIHDig sketch]] featuring WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys has the Discovery Channel threaten to stop showing Nigel Thornberry's documentaries, unless he conforms to their "philosophical shift" towards shows that rely more on shock value than on educational content. Cue footage of the "Wild as F***" Thornberrys sky-diving and lion-hunting naked, then eating tarantulas, before Eliza enters an [[InterspeciesRomance Interspecies Marriage]] with Darwin.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' takes a shot at them during the cold open of "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E10NorthwestMansionMystery Northwest Mansion Mystery]]" where Dipper watches a ''Series/GhostHunter'' show on "The Used To Be About History Channel".

* Mocked in a ''JimmyKimmelLive'' comedy short:

* The Music/AndrewWK song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwlb2gGEk54 Hearing What I Said]]", which was used as a promotion for CN Real, pretty much sums up Creator/CartoonNetwork’s attempts at live action. Not surprisingly, [[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/cartoon-networks-death-knell-promo.html it wasn’t received very well.]]

* The reactions to MTV's decay are mocked in [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18998_the-real-reason-mtv-no-longer-plays-music-videos.html this]] ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' video, where a twentysomething woman who grew up watching MTV asks one of their executives why they stopped playing music videos in favor of reality shows about vapid celebrities whose only accomplishments all involve starring on reality shows. He gives her the gods-honest truth with BrutalHonesty: her generation was the one that stopped buying albums in favor of iTunes, streaming, and piracy, thus destroying much of the reason for flashy music videos and, by extension, MTV's old format to exist. Furthermore, even if they ''did'' play music videos today, they'd be playing the same crappy pop music as the radio stations do, not the nostalgic hits of the '80s and '90s. And the kicker? The complaint that MTV doesn't play music anymore is now legally old enough to drive, so the fact that millennials are making this complaint is a sign that they are getting old.

* ''TheOnion'': "[[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39135 Learning Channel Switches to All-Gilligan Format]]".

* Parodied by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in the episode "[[http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s15e13-a-history-channel-thanksgiving A History Channel Thanksgiving]]", when the boys believe that aliens were involved in the original Thanksgiving after watching a "special" on the channel.

* [[http://koikoi11.blogspot.com/2008/07/education-programming-on-learning.html This just about sums it all up.]]
* And [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8jeuYMHX9Y this]] too.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In a FlashForward episode set in [[{{Zeerust}} 2010]] Marge comments that the FOX TV network had switched to hardcore porn so gradually she never even noticed.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': One of Bart's [[CouchGag chalkboard gags]] as "I no longer want my MTV."

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch featuring WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys has the Discovery Channel threaten to stop showing Nigel Thornberry's documentaries, unless he conforms to their "philosophical shift" towards shows that rely more on shock value than on educational content. Cue footage of the "Wild as F***" Thornberrys sky-diving and lion-hunting naked, then eating tarantulas, before Eliza enters an [[InterspeciesRomance Interspecies Marriage]] with Darwin.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch featuring WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys has the Discovery Channel threaten to stop showing Nigel Thornberry's documentaries, unless he conforms to their "philosophical shift" towards shows that rely more on shock value than on educational content. Cue footage of the Thornberrys sky-diving naked, then eating tarantulas, before Eliza enters an [[InterspeciesRomance Interspecies Marriage]] with Darwin.

* Two [[MissingEpisode banned]] episodes of ''TheBoondocks'' (you can watch 'em on DVD) bash BET's decay for all it's worth. The irony here is that the Executive Producer "Reginald Hudlin" in the credits is the same one who currently runs BET. Contractual obligations keep his name on it, but series creator Aaron [=McGruder=] has made his stance on the network clear. "Martin Luther King Jr." called out the network in one episode, and shortly afterwards, the former president of the network ''[[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]]''.

* The ''Music/AndrewWK'' song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwlb2gGEk54 Hearing What I Said]]", which was used as a promotion for CN Real, pretty much sums up Creator/CartoonNetwork’s attempts at live action. Not surprisingly, [[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/cartoon-networks-death-knell-promo.html it wasn’t received very well.]]

[[TheMillenniumAgeOfAnimation But the times they are a-changing,]]\\

* An episode of ''GarfieldAndFriends'' has Garfield watching a game show called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Hit The Buzzer, Win A Cookie!"]], to which Garfield quips "And this is on the ''educational'' channel."

[[AC:VT4]]
* When [[UsefulNotes/FlemishTVStations VT4]] was renamed to VIER [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9L9zWERMQ8 there was a ceremony to make the rename official.]] At a moment a lampshading on the previous channel decay occured.
-->Speaker 1: ''If ''De Slimste Mens'' is finished it is already 9:45 PM.''\\
Speaker 2: ''Back then there was [[UsefulNotes/{{Pornography}} something]] on VT4 for when the woman was sleeping.''

-->Speaker 1: ''If ''De Slimste Mens'' is finished it is already 9:45 AM.''\\

--> ''If ''De Slimste Mens'' is finished it is already 9:45 AM.''\\
''Back then there was [[UsefulNotes/{{Pornography}} something]] on VT4 for when the woman was sleeping.''

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' takes a shot at them during the cold open of "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E10NorthwestMansionMystery Northwest Mansion Mystery]] where Dipper watches a Ghost Hunter show on "The Use To Be About History Channel"

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' takes a shot at them during the cold open of "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E10NorthwestMansionMystery Northwest Mansion Mystery]] where Dipper watches a Ghost Hunter show on "The Use To Be A History Channel"

-->"This weekend on The History Channel, [[Series/AmericanPickers someone digs through old plastic junk]] ("It's a Dukes of Hazzard wastebasket!"), [[Series/PawnStars someone else tries to sell a doll head]] ("I used to take the heads off the bodies, and I kept the heads")... and LarryTheCableGuy taste-tests Tabasco sauce ("I can't feel my dadgum tongue!"). The History Channel. What the hell happened to us?"

* The subject of the ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'' episode "Take Back MTV". Spyke is upset that MTV is not like it used to be, so he hires the real Kurt Loder, Tabitha Soren, and Matt Pinfield to storm MTV headquarters. Spyke breaks into [=MTVs=] president's office, while the other three take over the main airway.

* In the WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy humor book ''Stewie's Guide to World Domination'', the section "Why MTV Is the Root of All Evil", has Stewie Griffin lashing out on MTV.
--> "There's no bloody music on the network anymore! Yes, I'm aware this is an age-old complaint, but the word "music" is right there in the name of the channel, you loathsome cretins. At the very least, stop being disingenuous and just go ahead change the name of the network from Creator/{{MTV}} to ''RoadRules''-''PimpMyRide''-and-Intoxicated-College-Students-Doing-Disgusting-Stunts-for-No-Pay-but-Rather-Because-Someone-Shoved-a-Camera-in-Their-Faces TV."
* Lyrics for the BowlingForSoup song "1985" include: ''"There was U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV..."''

* The reactions to MTV's decay are mocked in [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18998_the-real-reason-mtv-no-longer-plays-music-videos.html this]] ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' video, where a twentysomething woman who grew up watching MTV asks one of their executives why they stopped playing music videos in favor of reality shows about vapid celebrities whose only accomplishments all involve starring on reality shows. He gives her the gods-honest truth with BrutalHonesty: her generation was the one that stopped buying albums in favor of iTunes, streaming, and piracy, thus destroying much of the reason for flashy music videos and, by extension, MTV's old format to exist. Furthermore, even if they ''did'' play music videos today, they'd be playing the same crappy pop music as the radio stations do, not the nostalgic hits of the '80s and '90s. And the kicker? The claim that MTV doesn't play music anymore is now legally old enough to drive, so the existence of this complaint among millennials is a sign that they are getting old.