TLC is a cable TV network in the US, that carries a variety of informational and reality-based programming. TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications since 1991, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, as well as other learning-themed networks.

TLC imports a significant amount of programming material from the United Kingdom (such as Junkyard Wars) mostly through its parent company's ties to the BBC and also produces U.S. versions of some shows (like What Not to Wear, originally a BBC production) as well as original programming (like Robotica).

The letters "TLC" come from the original name: "The Learning Channel." The channel was originally dedicated to be an informative/instructional network focused on providing real education through the medium of TV. The channel mostly featured documentary content pertaining to nature, science, history, current events, medicine, technology, cooking, home improvement, and other information-based topics. These are often agreed to be more focused, more technical, and of a more academic-nature than the content that was being broadcast at the time on its rival, The Discovery Channel. The station was much geared towards an inquisitive and narrow audience during this time, and had modest ratings.

The Learning Channel suffered from this difficulty in engaging a wider audience through much of its initial history. Because the channel’s content was so education-orientated, many people apparently associated it as a channel meant for students and children, and perceived it as “dry” and “dull” and only of interest to a narrow spectrum of viewers (what some might call “nerds”) similar to the perceptions the general public seems to have of PBS or CSPAN. According to TLC chief executive Roger Marmet "People always had this connotation that it was a children's channel, and that was one of our biggest pieces of baggage". The channel suffered from increasingly poor ratings

In 1991, The Learning Channel was purchased by its rival The Discovery Channel. Discovery purportedly “jazzed things up”. The Learning Channel continued to be focused primarily on instructional and educational programming through much of the 90’s, but began to air shows with less focused educational agendas, and more themed towards popular consumption and mass-marketing that would be later expanded.

TLC produced a great deal of original, and commonly regarded to be high-quality, documentaries, miniseries, and series during late 80’s and early-to-late 90’s. Examples of some of these include the Understanding series. This was a full series, similar to The Ultimate Guide that gave the viewer a complete one-hour look at a different subject each episode. The show was known for its comprehensive overlook of various complex subjects, and was generally lauded by teachers (as well as many students, and many non-academics who were interested in such programming) around the country. The show is most-noted for the being narrated by Candice Bergen. Topics explored included fire, cities, laughter, the brain, magnetism, electricity, uncertainty, and many others. The series is still sometimes aired on The Science Channel.

Another noteworthy example of TLC-produced content in the 90’s, is the epic 8 part series War and Civilization (originally aired in 1998), which explored the entirety of human history in context of the links between civilization and the phenomenon of war, and their effects on the each others’ developments and progress. The program featured commentary by high-profile military historian John Keegan, was narrated by Walter Cronkite, and intended to be a major broadcast event. Another production of TLC that still airs today on other Discovery branched channels is Rome: Power and Glory (originally aired in 1999 and now shown from time-to-time on Discovery Times Channel), an in-depth 6-hour look at the Ancient Roman Empire, from beginning to end. Such programming still formed the bulk of the focus of TLC, though more and more of its programming began to be devoted to niche audiences for shows regarding subjects like home improvement, arts and crafts (similar to Martha Stewart) and medical programming (particularly reality-based ones following real operations of real people and following them through the process), and other shows that appealed to daytime audiences, particularly housewives. This was to be indicative of a major change in programming content and target audience over the next few years.

Perhaps due to poor ratings from a narrow target audience, TLC began to explore new avenues starting in the mid 90's and increasingly towards and after the advent of the 21st century. Less and less material that most would deem to be truly educational in nature was featured on the channel. This was likely due to better ratings being achieved by shows such as these, as TLC brought in more viewers that were less-interested the other content being featured on the channel.

In 1998, the channel officially began to distance itself from its original name “The Learning Channel”, and instead began to advertise itself only as “TLC”. This may have had to do with the channel drawing in an increasing number of female viewers watching the shows that were centered on home decorating and interior design, as well as the rising number of medical shows, specifically ones regarding pregnancy (the forerunners of A Baby Story). It’s possible the new audience may have held the common misconception that TLC stood for “Tender Love and Care”, a common acronym. The marketing maneuver to use only “TLC” may have been intended to encourage this misconception, as the station moved more towards reality-based personal-story programming that would engage a wider, more mainstream audience, a high proportion of which would arguably be female. Today, a visit to TLC’s website will show almost no mention at all of “The Learning Channel”, with “TLC” being used almost exclusively. This move to distance themselves from a “PBS Stereotype”, was accompanied by a change in motto, and paradigm.

The explosion of popularity around reality TV programming was a huge boon to TLC. The huge revolution in genre produced by shows like Big Brother, Survivor, and American Idol, created an opportunity for TLC to reach out to a wider audience and pursue new avenues of programming. Around the turn of the century, the Channel changed its official slogan to “Life Unscripted”, from the previous “a place for learning minds”. This change came before the huge reality-tv boom, and perhaps in anticipation of it. During the period of 1999 through 2001 there was a huge shift in programming, with most programming geared towards reality-drama, and interior design shows. The huge success of shows like Trading Spaces, Junkyard Wars, A Wedding Story, and A Baby Story exemplify this new shift in programming towards trendier, more hip shows.

This came at a time when Discovery itself was overhauling much of its own programming, introducing shows like American Choppers. Much of the old, more educationally-focused programming missed by original fans of the channel can still be found occasionally dispersed amongst other channels owned by Discovery Communications. Most programming today is geared towards reality-based drama or interests such as home design, Emergency Room dramas, other medical dramas, extreme weather, law enforcement, dating, and human interest programs.

Some of the shows currently on TLC include:

• A Baby Story – A show following the journey of real expected parents through the prenatal phase, birth, and initial child care.
• Trading Spaces – A reality show where two teams have to redecorate the other’s home in some fashion, and surprise them with the results. This sometimes includes one party’s dismay and shock at horrible design choices, and other times results in elation at particularly beautiful remodeling jobs.
• Miami Ink – A reality show, similar in many ways to the popular show American Choppers that airs on Discovery, that follows the day-to-day operations, interactions, and internal dramas of a thriving Miami tattoo parlor.
• What Not To Wear – A reality fashion show that provides fashion advice, examines evolving trends and styles, and where participants with poor taste are brought on the show for makeovers.
• While You Were Out – A reality show in which an unsuspecting participant is tricked by their spouse, friend, or family member to leave town for a few days, while the shows crew comes in and does a complete remodeling job on their home, garage, yard, etc. The returning party is then surprised by the unexpected changes for good or ill.
• Ballroom Bootcamp – A reality show following average people through a crash-course in ballroom dancing.
• Psychic Witness – A show about psychic forensics and psychic detectives.
• Martha – A show hosted by the well-known home-making queen, Martha Stewart.
• Untold Stories of The E.R. – A reality medical drama following peoples’ dramatic experiences at the Emergency Room.

Other shows, are of similar nature and content. A full lineup can be found at the TLC website.

Many today, particularly academics and the channel’s original audience, are critical of the changes made to TLC’s identity and programming. Some see the fact that the learning channel no longer has much of anything to do with learning is yet another sign of “the dumbing-down of [American] television". Some now categorize TLC programming as "infotainment", and others think that even that is a euphemism since there is so little info in the programing. Many of the original audience have stopped watching the channel years ago, and moved to PBS, National Geographic Channel, or to Discovery-owned digital networks.

Common arguments include that TLC’s movement towards trying to fit the misnomer of “Tender Love and Care” has set it up as more and more of a female-orientated show, as most shows aimed at male audiences (such as Junkyard Wars) have been increasingly rare, and tends to come on after daytime hours.

Another common complaint is that content on TLC is repetitive and seems to follow popular mainstream trends in an effort to appeal to viewers. Many argue that most TLC content can now be narrowly categorized as either: sex, dating, interior design, human drama, forensics, psychic and paranormal phenomena, medical drama, pregnancy, police chase/law-enforcement operations, or arts and crafts. The argument is that most of these tend to follow popular trends, and almost all are reality-based in nature, making TLC more about ratings than learning. At the bulletin board http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/7506 a user posts the following remark: “TLC has two versions of crap -- a pink and a blue version. Lots of dating in the morning, will-they-or-won't-they things, and maybe a bit of marriage talk simultaneously. The planes and car chases come on at night.”

Many critics call this “pseudo-educational” programming, and say that while the content may be non-fictional in nature, it is as much entertainment as watching the latest soap opera, and probably with as much information as well. Programs and showings of true informative nature are exceedingly rare. The focus of what documentary and educational programming remains on TV, critics argue, is still geared towards human sexuality, beauty, forensics, and other items of pop-culture interest. Shows dealing with history, human civilization, look at current events, politics, or science not related to either forensic investigations (popularized by shows like CSI), pseudoscience regarding the paranormal (aliens, UFOs, psychics, etc) are almost nonexistent. Many would like TLC to officially change its name to something else, rather than continue to claim to be the channel for learning.

To counter the critics, fans and supporters of the new TLC cite the increased ratings of the channel as proof that viewers approve. Though the critics dismiss this as inconsequential, many fans of TLC only watch the channel because they enjoy the current line of programming, and have little concern for its educational value or the meaning of the station’s acronym. The new viewer-base would likely disappear were TLC to return to its former its former paradigms, and supporters point out that most of the content that the former viewers want can still be found on other Discovery-owned channels, such as The Science Channel, Military Channel and Discovery Times Channel, as part of the specialization and refocusing of Discovery’s more than 15 stations in its channel lineup.

A British version of the channel was launched in the mid-1990s and was subsequently renamed Discovery Home and Leisure and later Discovery Real Time as part of Discovery's bouquet of themed channels.

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• TLC (Official Site)