And I thought this was going to be a another Joss Whedon vehicle. Color me disappointed.
Yeah *Apos, I can see it now!
Spike gets his own talk show, only no one knows he’s a vampire!
Oh, the hilarity . . .
:smack:
I understand the concept of channels for women.
From the earlier days of cable, there was ESPN, and a variety of similar channels which catered to a mostly male audience.
Lifetime was the first woman’s channel, and filled a void that existed in programming. Of course, it was good a few years ago. Now it seems to be reruns of mostly mediocre sitcoms and abused wife of the week movies.
Well, we’ve seen this happen again and again. Start out with a male-dominated activity, whether it be sports, politics, education, exercising, whatever. Eventually, women get involved but, because it is such a male-dominated activity, they ask for their own “special” version of it just for them. So now you still have a mostly male-dominated activity, with small pockets of female-only activity within it.
Inevitably, you then get some males who say, “Hey – how come the females get their own ‘special’ version? That’s unfair!” And then, one of two things happens: either the males who feel slighted lobby to join the women-only version of the activity, or else they feel the need to create their own “men-only” version, ignoring the fact that the activity as a whole is still predominantly men-only to being with.
We don’t need a special “men-only” network, since a large chunk of programming on many networks are already targeted exclusively at men, and there are already entire networks aimed exclusively at men. No, not all men watch racing or other sports, but neither would all men enjoy the programming planned for the new “Spike TV” network. I happen to love NASCAR, but wouldn’t be caught dead watching “Stripperella.”
There are so many male-oriented/targeted programs on so many networks that I can always find something on TV to watch. I find it insulting to be told that there will be a network “just” for men, and then see the type of low-brow, sexist garbage that they think men want to watch.
But then, that’s just me…
Barry
Seems to me that using the name Spike TV for a men’s programming channel is about as subtle as a fart in the bathtub. What, was CockTV already taken?
[hijack]
Fibber, fyi – 1st season of Xena is out on DVD. 
[/hijack]
I don’t think it’s stupid to have a channel with a bunch of programming that men like besides sports. There’s a kids channel, a religous channel (more than one), women’s channels, why not for men too?
Then name, however, is stupid.
Er…the name is stupid.
I did preview. Honest.
This is probably a pit rant, but since we are discussing “spike TV”…The worst part about this is Spike “the whole world revolves arround me” Lee’s contention that this channel is trying to capitalize on his image and name.
Does this mean that everything named spike, from dogs to vampires, is named after this asshole? Sorry, I have seen Mr Lee's movies, and the content of this channel, agree with it or not, has NOTHING to do with him, even if he can afford to hire Jonny Cochran. Worse yet, Spork and Jonny seem to have found a judge who flunked out of law school:
:wally
Harp and Sword
Speed Vision isn’t just for men - I’m a female! Although I can’t stand their F1 announcers so I watch the ITV broadcast on the TSN (Canadian Sports Network).
In Canada we also have the woman’s network. I think Life is very much aimed at women (‘A baby story’, ‘A wedding story’, ‘A dating story’, to which I say ‘Yuck’)
I see nothing wrong with a less politically correct channel … I can always change the channel … but right now i have a fascination with MXC!
Aw, it’s just a maneuver to make the sponsors happy. This way, they can concentrate their commercial airtime on computers, beer and cars. Basically, they’re trying to devise a 24/7 channel for the Male 18-35 market.
From a money standpoint … yeah, I concede it makes some sense. It’s fraught with generalizations about what the market wants, but I can see the origins in what might once have been logic.
If you ask me, advertisers are starting to panic. The baby boomers are getting older and the generations after them don’t fall into the same cute categories.
That doesn’t mean I’m gonna watch it, though. 
FISH
I wonder, since when does “TV for men” mean it has to be Maxim Mag for cable. If there are men really crying that Women have three networks just for them…maybe we should give them similar programs for their very own channel. We could have The Erectile Dysfunction Hour, an hour long talk program dealing with the problems of limp linguini…and we could have a peppy cast of TV has-beens…ala the Other Half. Or maybe The Golden Guys…four geriatric friends who live in a retirement community in Florida…who find the joys of Viagra…hillarity ensues. And finally…we could have the movie of the week…where a guy meets a woman, falls in love…gets married and thinks he’s in for a lifetime of sex and comes to learn his life now consists of working long hours, a fast receeding hairline and weekly classes for ballroom dancing. Oh the horror!
Let’s face it…we’ve been bombarded by these crappy attempts to “take back our manhood” and reach our inner cave man crap. The market is flooded with it and this too shall pass. I’ll stick to the Discovery Channel, where if I want a testosterone fix I can always tune into American Chopper.
…isnt this where "Howard Stern,the high school years "is gonna show up eventually?..;j ;j
TNN isn’t changing their programming substantially, right? If not, then it’s been a “men’s” channel all along. If they are changing the programming, what could they possibly add that would be attractive only to males? Not sports. Not “need for speed” shows. Not COPS. There are few things males like that no females like at all.
There are even small pockets of females who watch such dreck as The Man Show.
[sub]PS: I actually thought Mockingbird was female.
PPS: Bedrosian Bixby, did you name yourself after Bedrock?[/sub]
I’m sorry, but who the f*ck cares?
I think both males and females each get a fair share of tube time that’s aimed to entertain each specifically.
It’s, for the most part, just a marketing stunt anyway. I think the only problem is that television like this embraces stereotypes. I know men who would dry heave for hours if they were forced to watch WWE. How many women would really want to watch old made-for-TV reruns and hour long Unsolved Mysteries? Maybe their are men who would rather watch Robert Stack over Stone Cold. There are a lot of female wrestling fans… not as many as men, but they’re out there.
I watch “chick-flicks” on Oxygen.
The LABEL “Women’s TV” is why I think a lot of men feel like they might want a channel that’s upfront about being specifically labeled for them. It’s sort of like a double standard. Most programing on the tube is “white,” so now there’s a “Black Entertainment Television.” A lot of people could argue that there’s no “White Entertainment Television”, to which people could reply: “NBC”. The only problem with that is that if NBC changed it’s name to “White Entertainment Television”, all hell would brake loose. This is a way for men to have their own ‘thing’… so to speak. It doesn’t sneak around when targeting a specific group of people. It’s not ashamed to say it’s for the guys.
I think there is a big distinction between channels focused on a particular subject (ESPN, Speed, Golf, Food Network, HGTV) and those aimes at particular populations (Lifetime, BET, Oxygen, Spike TV).
First off…even if Spike TV doesn’t impale itself on your neighbor’s satelite dish, check out their logo and the excuse for it. I believe the reasoning was “We’re getting a new name, just like a new person, so we used a signature”. sniff sniff Smells like Nephew Art.
Anyway, from what I understand from the files I have collected deep within the Pollo-Cave, TNN is trying to get a jump on the in-development Maxim Entertainment Network, or MEN.
I figure with Pro-Wrestling, Star Trek, Miami Vice and the A-Team, you don’t really have much of a choice but to say you’re appealing to men only.
…you’re not married, are you?
I don’t care about Spike TV. I really do despise the women’s stations, though…not because I hate what they play (though to be frank, if I flip past one more clone of Steel Magnolias I’m going to puke), but because they reinforce the emotional basketcase stereotype.
Ugh.
I don’t see this as a bad idea, any more than Lifetime, Oxygen, or BET. Just like those channel the programming won’t appeal universally to the target audience, and no one should assume that all men will like Spike.
Spike is a stupid name. I suppose they could not have named it penis network so they chose the closest thing they could get away with.
Has anyone else seen the program that was on public access here in Chicagoland a few years ago, and still is for all I know? It featured guys talking about the care and repair of motorboats and their engines. There were some pretty women on it dressed in clothes like a magicians assistant: pink and white leotards with lots of sequins and feathered headpieces, sheer sparkly stockings, and very high heels. The guys would explain what they were talking about to these women who would listen intently and point to things occasionally like Vanna White wannabes. That always struck me as Men’s TV. I liked it because they did not act like the women were idiots or make fun of them even though they were obviously there to be eye candy.
At least they seem to have gotten rid of that stupid black band, with program IDs and ads for other shows, across the bottom of the screen…for now.
I wonder if that was part of the planned change or just temporary until this whole “Spike vs. Spike” court battle is over.