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Yeah, but shows like that are about entertainment and ratings, not validity.  They could talk about great scientists and politicians who actually accomplished something, but people aren't interested in that.  They like to see people they know, so they can nod their head and go, "Yeah, Dr. Phil really is a great man."

beaverfever wrote:

By the way, isn't one of the candidates Lance Armstrong, who (directly or indirectly) works as a Discovery Channel representative? Surely it's just a coincidence.

Yeah, but Lance Armstrong really is an impressive person as well as an athlete. Not a great statesman, but I had to put together a list of great american athletes, he'd be #2 after Jesse Owens.

Link to the list? I didn't watch it.

I could see Lance Armstrong, but Dr. Phil?!?!  Dr. Phil is the WORST person to put on that list.  He's a moron!  And a shame to his field.

beaverfever wrote:

dvpierce wrote:

beaverfever wrote:

By the way, isn't one of the candidates Lance Armstrong, who (directly or indirectly) works as a Discovery Channel representative? Surely it's just a coincidence.

Yeah, but Lance Armstrong really is an impressive person as well as an athlete. Not a great statesman, but I had to put together a list of great american athletes, he'd be #2 after Jesse Owens.

Armstrong's recovery from illness has been very impressive, but he is just an athlete, and he's far from being a great ambassador for the US.

If anyone should be on that list, it's people like F.D. Roosevelt - his impact domestically and internationally was beyond compare, and he overcame debilitating illness too, at a time when being a cripple was publicly unacceptable. Armstrong vs F.D. Roosevelt... hmmm.

I can't believe I am discussing candidates - the whole idea of the Greatest American tv show is retarded.

FDR could bitchslap Armstrong with his wheelchair and make him enjoy it - FDR rocked.

That's why I italicised "athletes." If I were doing great american statemen, you could bet your ass that FDR would be on the list.

As far as being an ambassador for the US, he's not. He's a competitor. His politics are irrelevant and if he pisses off the french because he can ride a bike really fast, too bad. That's competition.

This Discovery channel list should put Aaron Spelling at #1.

Or the CEO of the Discovery Channel.

First off, I do think the whole premise of "the list" is pretty silly - it's purely subjective to begin with.  Plus, of course, the Discovery Channel is going for typical "dumbed down, get ratings from the brain-numb masses" style television (too bad - they have some good shows, eg. Deadliest Catch).

I did notice something between the CBC's list and the DC's list - the CBC did at least include two native Americans - Tecumseh and Elijay Harper.  There doesn't seem to be a single native American on the DC list though.  I'd personally have nominated Crazy Horse - sure at the time, US whites hated him, but he was struggling for a sound cause - the survival of his people.  Today, in another country under the same kind of circumstances, we'd be labeling him a hero and pushing for UN or NATO aid to halt the atrocities against his people.

Yose wrote:

We had a show called Greatest Canadian on TV not to long ago and it sounds like it's reception was a lot different than the one Discovery did for all of you south of the border.

In the top 100 candidates there is a good mix from different times in Canadian history; I went down the list I noticed a lot of candidates have schools named after them in Toronto. The program focused on the top 10 candidates and each candidate had an advocate who had an hour of time to state their case. On the elevent show there was a debate and then viewers went away to place their votes for the winner.

I really enjoyed the program and learned some great stuff that I might have glazed over during Canadian history in school.

Here is the link if you're interested. http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/

That list is crap.  Geddy Lee is #96, and Alex Liefson and Neal Peart are nowhere to be found!! 

So I hear George W. Bush is #1.  Yay America.

Remember this was done by viewer voting, so you have nobody to blame but the viewership (which includes yourself).

Metacell wrote:

So I hear George W. Bush is #1.  Yay America.

Did you even bother to look? Of course not.

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