# Why the fuck must every cable channel slowly degrade from what made us like it?!?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 7, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379 "2002-09-07T02:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/81 "2002-11-14T16:10:42Z")
Actually, my major gripe about the History Channel is how much they show “Haunted History.” I mean, really, it’s NOT accurate history. It’s just an advertisement for whatever hotel/restaurant/tourist attraction is claiming to have ghosts. Awful, fucking awful. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/82 "2002-11-14T19:11:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*It’s between those two. On your system, it may be marked as the Meredith-Baxter-Getting-Beaten-With-A-Rod Channel. \*\* hey now, i might be willing to pay for that, if i pay extra can i get the throw-pies-at-sally-struthers-channel? seriously, the state of tv is so bad, i can list what i watch on my fingers: the late show with david letterman late night with conan o’brien (sp?) cops (saturdays on fox for the new ones, the “glad it’s not me show”) becker whose line is it anyway (with drew carey) houston rockets nba games dawson’s creek (with the sound off, katie holmes IS that hot!) racekarl, two wheel tuesday’s rocked, all bike racing all day, i used to see racing from the isle of man!!!, now it’s the nascar channel, if i want to see something go around in a circle, i’ll try to flush a ping pong ball!. i watched frank zappa from new york city (get a rope) on mtv on halloween, now it’s rap music and “the road rules” (i’m not even sure what that is, it just sounded funny) get a hobby, things will not change as long as they are making $$$ unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/83 "2002-11-14T19:22:27Z")
Oh, I like “Haunted History”, because I loves me some good spooky stories. Although the “Incredible But True” stories are starting to wear thin. AMC had these movies on last month: _Robo Cop_ and _Hot Shots_. What the fuck? Those are not AMERICAN MOVIE CLASSICS!!! Thank god for TCM. Otherwise, I would never have been able to see _The Enchanted Cottage_. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2002, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/84 "2002-11-15T08:13:58Z")
The History Channel: the big “H” in the corner of your screen is for Hitler! (It’s a good thing the Poland Channel is way over on the other end of the dial.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/85 "2002-11-16T05:23:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > \*\* IFC - Movies no one has ever heard of and or cares about Which scares you more: that I have heard of a good portion of their movies (somewhere around 1/2) or that I actually watch them? Not this weekend though, it must be Subtitle Fest, and I don’t make commitments to movies I have to watch without blinking to understand the dialogue. I might, maybe, watch a movie in Spanish, but that’s about it for non-english language films. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/86 "2002-11-16T05:42:37Z")
They’re gradually screwing up MTV2, too. It didn’t used to have commercials, but now it does. A lot of commercials. They used to just play wall-to-wall videos of any genre in no particular order, but now they’re dividing them into programs, countdowns, “control freak,” etc. They’re showing a lot less rock and “alternative,” and a lot more hip hop and rap. A lot more. MTV2 even has its own awards now. We used to leave it on M2 all afternoon and listen to it like the radio; now I can’t remember the last time I watched it. Ick. They used to call it M2. Now it’s MTV2. Less M, more TV, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/87 "2002-11-16T05:52:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pugluvr \* > \*\*The Evil Television Programming Demons had better not come between me and “Big Joe Polkafest” on RFDTV. It’s more bizarre than anything I’ve ever seen on the SciFi Network. \*\* Now I haven’t seen that one, but I love, love, LOVE Trains & Locomotives. One full hour of trains. Trains go up the hill. Trains go around the bend. Trains go through the tunnel. Here comes the diesel SR3298 with a modified diesel SR3290 pusher going up a 3% grade at Dead Railman Pass. I understand none of it, yet I’m fascinated by it. Like the cat with the goldfish channel (which I don’t have, but would probably be fascinated by, too), I can’t take my eyes off it. It’s very zen. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/88 "2002-11-16T06:43:47Z")
If VH1 and MTV played Videos, like they’re suppose too, VH1- Classic and MTV2 wouldn’t have to exist. ABC Family, not FOX Family is going to have Fucking Power Rangers, wasn’t it a few of years ago that people trying to get kids to stop watching, WTF, not that MMPR’s are a good show anyway, it should have been over 8 years ago. TV Sucks anyway, kill your TV. * * * BTW ABC family was Fox family until murdoch got out of it and even before when it was just pat Robertson’s "the family channel: (imagine a lower budget pax TV if possible) Actually I find it ironic that After all the Disney ranting and the like against cartoons and shows like Spiderman x-men batman that fox used to show ect They own all of them now except maybe the batman and the spielberg wb cartoons But I remember when we first got Disney channel it showed all the good animal movies and old Disney cartoons , Now all the kids shows are PBS or nick wanna bes and it runs ABC or wb reruns in a 4 hour block Although ive heard there’s another Disney toon channel that shows the old stuff and their former weekday afternoon fare Now the history channels fare hasn’t changed all that much from when I used to watch it , basically Old programs a couple new ones and a few specials But I’ve always complained there was too much WW2 stuff and I wanted to see more stuff like the history of britain They have history channel international … But I find my self watching their 6am "cable in the classroom " hour these are commercial free versions of their best stuff so schools could tape them And when I first watched amc they were good showing all the old movies I liked until turner and warner merged and amc lost most of just movies through copy rights and such But they seem to have made amc into bravo and TNT light And when was there anything overwhelmingly good on nick other than a few mentioned shows that went over the head of the auidence? I mean I thought most nick shpows sucked even when I was in their demographic , But most of the channels are being split off into niches and the main channel suffers until there’s nothing left ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/89 "2002-11-16T07:27:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Although ive heard there’s another Disney toon channel that shows the old stuff and their former weekday afternoon fare We have the Disney Toon channel, and it seems like it is almost exclusively new cartoons based on recent(ish) movies (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Timon and Pumba, etc.), with some of their Nick-wannabe cartoons. I wish they’d show old Mickey Mouse club or something like that, but no. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/90 "2002-11-17T04:02:37Z")
Get this-I flipped to AMC and they were playing _SHORT CIRCUIT_! Admittedly, I LOVED that movie as a kid, , though not anymore. But what the FUCK is it doing on AMC??? FUCK YOU, AMC!!! Even Absolutely Audrey marathons don’t make up for this crap. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/91 "2002-11-17T06:43:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Get this-I flipped to AMC and they were playing _SHORT CIRCUIT_! > > Admittedly, I LOVED that movie as a kid, , though not anymore. > But what the FUCK is it doing on AMC??? > > FUCK YOU, AMC!!! Even Absolutely Audrey marathons don’t make up for this crap. \*\* I’d admit Short Circuit into the Classic Film Pantheon before I would Robocop III. But that’s what they were showing this morning. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/92 "2002-11-17T11:02:06Z")
We have the Disney Toon channel, and it seems like it is almost exclusively new cartoons based on recent(ish) movies (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Timon and Pumba, etc.), with some of their Nick-wannabe cartoons. I wish they’d show old Mickey Mouse club or something like that, but no. " Thats their old syndicated/saturday morning line up they ran til they bought abc , Although on the general question to todays auidence whats considered classic isnt great movies its whats been hyped the most and theyve seen a million times anmd what they remeber as a kid … I’m pretty sure theres a few movies we consoider classics that people thought were utter shit when they came out ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/93 "2002-11-17T11:36:06Z")
Speaking of cartoons… Is anyone showing old _Animaniacs_ episodes? That show busted many a gut. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/94 "2002-11-17T12:00:03Z")
cartoon network does but not as much as they used to … ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379/95 "2002-11-17T18:48:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nightshadea \* > \*\*Although on the general question to todays auidence whats considered classic isnt great movies its whats been hyped the most and theyve seen a million times anmd what they remeber as a kid … > > I’m pretty sure theres a few movies we consoider classics that people thought were utter shit when they came out \*\* Well, yeah, The Wizard of Oz and Fantasia both leap immediately to mind. However, I submit that Robocop III is no Wizard of Oz. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-fuck-must-every-cable-channel-slowly-degrade-from-what-made-us-like-it/127379.md?page=4)