WWII in HD is pretty awesome. I am only about halfway through the series on my dvr, but so far, so good. I concur though, history channel hasn't been good in 3 or 4 years. I used to love interesting shows like History's Mysteries, this week in History, etc.
As far as the "reality show" crap, its on EVERY friggin channel. I dare anyone to set a 12 hour timer on either one of these channels HGTV, DIY network, Food, discovery, or animal planet. I bet you don't make it 45 minutes into those 12 hours before you go nuts with the reality shows. Everything is reality this, reality that. Luckily, we're absolutely saturated in it. It's cycle hit its peak and now hopefully it will go down soon so we get some more shows with substance before the next craze catches on.