Memo to the History Channel

Here is my idea for the History Channel. Shelve "Pawn Stars" and even my beloved "American Pickers" temporarily, and declare "History Week".

Begin with an epic account of World War II and I am not talking about the movies "Pearl Harbor", or "Tora! Tora! Tora!.
Open whatever vault you need to and show the entire "Victory at Sea". Several new generations, who think the Iraq war is ancient history, need to see it. First shown on NBC in the last century, it has drama, and mystery, and action, and music by Richard Rodgers. What is more suspenseful than the hunt for the German pocket battleship Graf Spee off the coast of South America? It is all there, in "Beneath the Southern Cross". Take us to Mandalay, to the Coral Sea, to The Slot, and The Solomon Islands and to Burma-

And how about the old PBS series"Vietnam"? Maybe Public TV would send it out on loan- And ask them about Ken Burn's "Civil War", while you are negotiating. Remember you are a media giant! And PBS? Well, they are PBS.


Show the 1995 movie "Gettysburg". It has disappeared off TBS for some reason, and it needs to be shown again. It is worth watching just for Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee.


By all means do not skip historical fiction. Show "Lonesome Dove", and in a lighter, sillier mood, resurrect "The Final Countdown", one of my favorites. It has the carrier "Nimitz" going through a time warp on the eve of Pearl Harbor just in time to change history-


If the Discovery Channel can give Great White Sharks a week, surely the History Channel can put their lumberjacks and bulldozer auctions on hold for 7 days, and give us some- HISTORY!