Oh Animal Planet, how you have sunk so low. The once respected animal-centric television channel on the Discovery Network has, over the last few years, continued to lower its standards in an attempt to reach that ever growing audience of over-sensationalized reality television viewers. We’ve all seen that mermaids debacle, a pair of shows that AP still puts out there like they’re legitimate documentaries, and now they are finding a way to make lampreys into something of a legendary monster. Did the ScyFy channel take over Animal Planet or something? Has the “Sharknado” director been given an influential position at the company? What the heck is going on with these people? Seriously, how do you turn a parasitic cartilaginous fish into a blood sucking predator, even giving them their own special called “Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys”?
And if that wasn’t bad enough, they’re firing up the social media machine to find viral videos of lamprey attacking people, going so far as to post an obviously fake video of some jerk teacher getting attached, and presumably killed, by an angry lamprey while in front of a classroom full of students.
With Animal Planet obviously having lost touch with its core audience in hopes of entertaining the fringe (at least we hope there isn’t that many people who eat this stuff up), we’re wondering how much longer the Discovery Network will continue air this filth. Between this, the mermaid shows, Tanked, and several others, we think the network is in serious need of an overhaul and a big shift back to documentaries and specials on coral reefs, sharks, and anything else besides the garbage that’s currently on display.
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