# When did AMC become so horrible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821 "2010-04-21T02:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/1 "2010-04-21T02:50:39Z")
Man, I guess the economy has killed the Programming Department over at AMC. I’ve noticed lately that they repeat movies as often as possible. I think they’ve showed _Pulp Fiction_ at least six times this month so far. They have also developed the habit of streeeetttttchhhinnnggg movies to play longer, presumably to get more advertising money. I can sort of see that, but when _The Shining_ takes three and a half hours? :dubious: To make matters worse, they’ll be showing \*Rambo I \*and _Rambo II_ **every day** next week. …or has it always been this way and I’ve never noticed? Did they put all their money on _Breaking Bad_? At least I still have TCM. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/2 "2010-04-21T03:25:12Z")
I think they lost it about the time they started adding commercials. I haven’t watched any of their movies in ages. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/3 "2010-04-21T03:30:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I think they lost it about the time they started adding commercials. I haven’t watched any of their movies in ages. Also when they started bowdlerizing nude scenes and swear words (though bloody, hacked up bodies of little children are fine, of course). Or have they always done that? I don’t remember. When Jack Nicholson goes into the room and there’s a naked (but blurred) woman in the bathtub, I briefly forgot I was watching “family” TV and thought the blurring was a special effect. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/4 "2010-04-21T03:33:38Z")
The show some pretty shitty movies, but their TV shows are the fucking shit. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/5 "2010-04-21T03:38:48Z")
I stopped taking them seriously when they added Catwoman to their line-up a few years back. _Fucking Catwoman._ ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/6 "2010-04-21T03:40:36Z")
Aren’t they responsible for _Mad Men_? That’s got to cost a lot to make. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/7 "2010-04-21T04:18:26Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/8 "2010-04-21T04:23:20Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > _Fucking Catwoman._ Yeah, all right. Incidentally, I have the moulds used to make Catwoman’s fingernails for the film. Haven’t a clue what to do with them. I haven’t even seen the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/9 "2010-04-21T05:24:23Z")
Am I the only one that thought this thread would be about [cars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Motors)? ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/10 "2010-04-21T11:44:31Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > At least I still have TCM. My understanding is that’s the problem. Ted Turner (or some corporate entity backed by him) bought the rights to several studios worth of movies to create the channel leaving AMC to struggle with the definition of _classic_. Please don’t ask for a cite. All I can give you is my mom’s phone number. **Oakminster** , my fist car was a '71 Gremlin. I had a .5 second flash of thinking the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/11 "2010-04-21T12:32:59Z")
All I can do is agree with the OP. I remember long ago, when AMC was great and my cable provider didn’t carry it, and I’d look in _TV Guide_ every week and drool over the movies I was missing. Then they started carrying it and I was in heaven. Then TCM came around and it was double heaven. Then AMC went to shit and who misses them? Not I. I can’t remember the last movie I watched there. No class, no love for movies. Never thought I’d say it, but **thank you, Ted Turner.** ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/12 "2010-04-21T13:24:08Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Aren’t they responsible for _Mad Men_? That’s got to cost a lot to make. Yeah, and that’s in 1960s dollars. Imagine what it would cost now! ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/13 "2010-04-21T14:19:05Z")
To be fair, AMC didn’t go downhill. They _changed their format_. It wasn’t a case of, “Hey, they’re playing all these B&W classic films, what’s Predator doing here??” It was a case of a complete change in programming. In fact, AMC is no longer an acronym-- that’s just their name now. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/14 "2010-04-21T15:01:27Z")
Every time I channel surf across them recently they’re playing _Top Gun_. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/15 "2010-04-21T15:19:26Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Am I the only one that thought this thread would be about [cars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Motors)? I was thinking All My Children 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/16 "2010-04-21T15:25:16Z")
Ted Turner and the Encore genre channels basically forced the format change on AMC. Back in the Bob Dorian days, though, AMC was da shizznit. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/17 "2010-04-21T15:34:19Z")
From the archives (so to speak): [Eve’s obit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=114405) for AMC. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/18 "2010-04-21T15:40:03Z")
Nitpick: There is no _Rambo II_. The first movie was called _First Blood_. Then came _Rambo: First Blood Part 2_. Then came _Rambo III_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/19 "2010-04-21T15:41:30Z")
I just flipped over to AMC to see what they were showing in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. It’s the original version of _The Day the Earth Stood Still._ Those SOB’s! ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821/20 "2010-04-21T15:43:20Z")
It’s been at least since 1998-99. Mr K and I used to get together on Fridays for date night, when they showed awesome 1950s-60s scifi/horror movies. In fact, when we were having issues with the placement of the dish (it had gotten just a little knocked out of alignment, so even though we were getting a strong signal it was causing channels like AMC to ‘break up’), I called and told them they needed to send a repair person out _that day_ else they would be responsible for our divorce. 😃 You know, I understand the concept of programming changes, but a little _warning_ would’ve been nice. It seemed to change literally overnight, which is… annoying. And yeah, it sucks now. I tried watching The Shining the other night and had to turn it off in disgust. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-amc-become-so-horrible/536821.md?page=2)