To be fair, AMC may be the only channel I think of that actually drifted into something better. I don’t know what movies they run nowadays, but they make the best dramas on TV.
I don’t have cable, so I am stuck with the ways local broadcast stations have thumbed their noses at the additional HD bandwidth and are showing variations of The Same Old Sitcoms on new frequencies: The other day I found three stations showing MASH reruns. Correction: One was showing the movie, as a part of a MASH marathon :rolleyes:. Just how often can one enjoy that show?
Stick up an antenna and try some over the air programming. Antenna TV is good. Me Tv is another. These are often on the digital subchannels of your local stations.
I think the classic rock format is a good analogy to this. IME the stations usually play a few hits of the leading musicians of those days, in heavy rotation. The less commercial but more interesting album cuts and B-sides hardly ever get played. For instance, the people who program this stuff seem oblivious to the fact that the Doors recorded many songs besides “Love Her Madly” and “Touch Me”. An exception is when you get some old DJ from back in the day who knows their stuff. And, interestingly, when they have a request show that’s usually a lot better. The listeners understand better than the corporate programming bots.
And the situation with TV doesn’t seem all that different. I’ve never been one of those anti-TV snobs; through most of my life there have generally been at least one or two shows on that I made a point of watching. But I don’t know any more. Much of it’s gotten so cheap and uninspired that I begin to understand how those snobs feel. Earlier this evening, the History Channel and History International concurrently played Swamp People and Monster Quest, respectively.
I’m sure that there was more to watch in the days of 53 channels than today with 500. Hell, I’m not so sure there wasn’t even more to watch in the days of five or six VHF channels and rabbit ears.
I still think the OP’s complaint is mildly ridiculous. When you get down to it, pkbites is complaining about a channel whose whole reason for existence is to show familiar reruns of old TV shows. His complaint is that he has already seen the re-runs.
pkbites, it’s not “the old diamond in the rough / forgotten shows channel”; it never has been. It’s a channel that wants viewers to think, “hey! I remember that, I liked it, I’ll watch it again” And it has been pretty consistent in doing that. To expect it to show your particular favorite low rated shows from thirty years ago is pretty ridiculous, don’t you think?
If you think otherwise, convince them that you should be their program director. If you do manage to land that, I give you you six months before the channel changes to non-stop ghost hunting cake baking reality shows.
I don’t mean to sound combative in this, but c’mon. They are one of the few channels that have mostly stuck to their original philosophy. They try to show the high points of television from the last fifty years. Don’t bitch.
I can’t even watch TVLand on the rare occasion they actually are showing classic TV because I get so sick of EVERY DAMN COMMERCIAL BREAK being filled with THE SAME DAMN COMMERCIALS for their stupid new sitcoms and reality shows. I mean, sure, they need to air something to tell people about their crappy shows, but I don’t need to see the same commercial every 5 mins or so when they come to a commercial break.