This morning I was watching, again, the History Channel show Dogfights, on Kamikazes. (There is some dispute on how many times I've seen this show, I think 3 or 4 my wife says at least a dozen. But this was the first time on my HD TV) One of the historians describing the action against USS Laffey was mentioned as being with the USS Midway museum. Lo and behold it was Karl Zingheim, aka Captsonghouse. This might be old news to others here, but I thought it was pretty cool. Way to go Karl.

Very cool!

Oh, great, now my cover's blown!

Working with the guys at Digital Ranch (the people who actually made "Dogfights!") on those episodes was a blast. No matter whom I encountered, from the writers to the animators, I could tell they cared about the product and wanted to get the history right.

It's a shame the History Channel management decided to abandon history in favor of a string of so-called reality programs which made a gem like "Dogfights!" a thing of the past (...ouch, bad pun...). And let's not mention "Battle 360"...

Hopefully the 'reality' fad will pass and concepts like "Dogfights!" will come back into vogue.

--Karl

YES!!!...I'd like to meet the sory SOB that came up with the "Reality show" and put the boot to his junk !!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I was told that the new History Channel CEO was the same individual who had purportedly turned the E! Channel around and she was the mastermind behind the sudden and complete makeover in History's programming. It's all about capturing the 18-34 year old male demographic.

To me, if that's all that matters, then why have specialist channels? Anyway, I have not encountered anyone overjoyed at the programming change and everyone simply jumps over to History International to catch re-runs of arguably better programs from earlier seasons. So it goes.

--Karl

BTW, Chris, will you be bringing back "X-Files" soon? (I bet you get that all the time...)

I agree entirely, I stopped watching History Channel as often after they started showing those new crop of pawn store and garbage picker shows, the supposed "monster" shows where bad enough, but I find myself hard pressed to find anything that actually covers anything approaches history on that station anymore, and thats a real shame.

Here's the YouTube link. He's in part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0336583D5849292A&sort_field=original&page=2

Personally I kind of like Pawn Stars. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. Mainly because the shop owner is really excited about the historical items he gets to play with, especially the old guns. At least that has some historical context. Somebody please explain to me what UFOs, Nostradamus, Ice Road Truckers, or Ax Men have to do with history?

Since finally getting a HD TV I've become quite a fanatic about HD. History Channel does broadcast in HD, History International doesn't. Still I'll watch H.I. when it's a good show. Military Channel isn't bad either.

The only "reality" show I watch religiously is "Deadliest Catch." They can keep everything else.

I for 1 was extremely annoyed when i heard the Dogfights series had been cancelled as i found the program very informal and well put together and the fact that the History Channel still airs "Ice Road Truckers" is a joke the programs are supposed to be about the past not some two-bit reality show about some foul-mouthed haulage drivers(no offense intended just my opinion)

i agree it's good to have a celebrity amongst us, but i was also saddened to hear of dogfights being cancelled. but i have to disagree with you brother about ice road truckers, they risk their lives doing what is a dangerous job, so in essence history is being made ever time they go out, though i agree that history channel is more about the past and that ice road truckers would probably be better suited on the discovery channel like greatest catch and lobster men.

I agree with the disappointment in the History Channel. There are ways to make history interesting to a broad audience while still keeping it primarily about "history". The fact that they have settled for nipping at the edges of the Discovery Channel and other specialty channels (like the series "Food Tech") proves that they have mostly given up on "history", and have settled for a cheap ratings grab.

A few professors I work with were on the History Channel as featured "experts" for some of their shows. But, that was a few years ago. Now, instead of featuring people who know history like those professors and Karl, they focus on Lumberjacks and Pawn Store owners. Give me a break.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant.

Karl. Congrats! That is really cool. Thanks for sharing your time and efforts. I'm glad you had a great experience on the show, and I can't wait to watch it!

*** Warning! History content!! ***

The attack on the USS Laffey is an incredible story. If anyone wants to learn more, I HIGHLY recommend the book "The Ship that would not die" by F. Julian Becton. You can visit the actual ship at Patriot's Point in Charleston, SC.

That's a good tip on the USS Laffey, Steve. The folks at Digital Ranch originally wanted to plan their suicider show around the USS St. Lo, but since that storyline is thin, I suggested the destroyer picket struggle off Okinawa, especially the stories of the Laffey or Aaron Ward.

In the event, they chose the Laffey and I met Ari who served aboard--outstanding guy, too...To give you some idea of the calibre of production on "Dogfights!", they actually had us confirm the shamrock patterns on the Grumman FM-2's that helped provide CAP for the Laffey. Being modelers, we appreciate that concern for detail, but to see it in a TV production was truly gratifying.

--Karl

LOL Chris and a straightforward question, do you actually get out very often ? While you have a great sense of humour do you actually build anything ? Have you honestly got time ? Negative behaviour problems are one thing, having a good old moan is another.