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does anyone miss the nitch cable tv days?

T

theoldguy

Guest
from a viewer viewpoint does anyone miss the days when cable tv programing was more specific?MTV was music, USA was more cult entertanment,ect.

not from a business vantage point ,but from what you liked as a viewer then.
 
MTV was music.
USA had Night Flight which was fun.
TBS had more movies and was actually called WTBS.
Disney Channel actually had family-friendly programming and not stupid "not-funny" teen sitcoms.
Weather Channel actually had weather...
TV Guide actually was the TV Guide (I miss Prevue Guide)
and last but not least - Syfy was Sci-Fi and actually had great programs like "Dark Shadows" reruns and old science fiction programs - not WWE Smackdown and stupid horror movies ("Sharknado" - yuck!!)

-crainbebo
 
That would be "niche" and it's pronounced "neesh."

I really don't miss those days. I did prefer the History Channel when it ran more shows that were actually historical documentaries, but I realize you can't just run World War Ii footage forever, and most of mankind's history has not been filmed, obviously.

There are so many of the cable networks now providing great dramatic series that it's hard to hold it against them that they no longer fulfill their original mission. The best example is AMC. No - they don't run classic films anymore, but they are running some of the best original dramas in TV history - Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, etc. Besides, TCM is still around if I want to occasionally watch a classic film.

If I were still 30, I might miss MTV's videos - I enjoyed them in the 80s. But I'm way out of the demographic now, and couldn't care less what they run.
 
Heck of a lot more family-friendly movies and Disney programs. More Mickey Mouse and less stupid sitcoms like Jessie and Dog with a Blog. (Which are not funny!)

-crainbebo
 
I miss when Disney had Vault Disney with classic cartoons. I also miss when Cartoon Network had classic cartoon shows like Toon Heads, The Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones Shows and Late Night Black & White on Sunday nights. It looks like to me that those could still be run on Boomerang, but even they've gone to running newer shows.
 
i just do not like it when just about every channel on cable has programing that overlaps on another.back in the day you went to the channel for the mood you were in and got that kind of programinng.for the most part.

what the hell does ice truckers have to do with history?what the hell does wrestling, naked vegas, and face off have to do with syfy?
 
Unfortunately - with today's demographics, the name doesn't mean the programming on that channel anymore. Syfy unfortunately is a branding. Since people like watching WWE on "Syfy" then they have the right to put it on there. 20 years ago that would have NEVER gone through. Sci-Fi back then was old science fiction programs, more "Twilight Zone", and "Dark Shadows" reruns!
 
I miss "niche" cable from an esthetic viewpoint - it seems crazy that all the networks are now doing basically the same thing. But in practice, I doubt I would be watching many of the "niche" channels if they still existed. My time for TV watching is limited, and I'm addicted to the basic and premium cable dramatic offerings like Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, etc. I really don't care what network they're on, and I also stream some of these shows from Netflix, and soon Amazon. I hear even Hulu is getting into original progamming.

The days when I was interested in a half hour here and there of the History Channel, Discovery, or a few videos on MTV is more or less over.
 
LKellerIII said:
If I were still 30, I might miss MTV's videos - I enjoyed them in the 80s. But I'm way out of the demographic now, and couldn't care less what they run.
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Today's 30-year-olds have probably never seen videos on MTV. If anything, they MIGHT remember TRL with its "snippets" of videos. I say "snippets" because even those videos were usually interrupted by "shout-outs" to their "homies" back home, and always ended with a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

They MIGHT remember VH-1 showing videos back in the '90s. VH-1 was a bit slower to drop videos.
 
I think cable networks can get away with it because nowadays, people watch shows, not channels for the most part (except for news, where the program is heavily associated with the channel).
 
mjlarochelle2 said:
I think cable networks can get away with it because nowadays, people watch shows, not channels for the most part (except for news, where the program is heavily associated with the channel).
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kids watched nickelodeon, even if it was the same episode of "My Brother and Me" the saw for the 27th time 2 years before
 
Boy do I miss all of that. Another thing I miss is how the local cable company would carry local independent stations from outside of the market, you had the next market over carried, and you also had the superstations. In the part of NJ I used to live in, we had WKBS (RIP), WTAF (now WTXF), and WPHL out of Philadelphia up until 1990, plus WTBS. I'd count WOR and WPIX, since they were cable superstations back then, but those were out of my home market. The closest thing to out of market I've had in the past few years was from late 2010 until this past summer, out in Erie, PA, I had the superstations on Dish, including WWOR and WPIX, along with KTLA, KWGN, and WSBK, and since this past summer, here in the Ocean County, NJ, part of the NYC dma, I have Philly stations KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, the aforementioned WPHL and WTXF, WPSG, along with WMCN in Atlantic City. Both NYC and Philly are now in HD here.
 
I miss the old days of cable period. You had the niche channels, but you also had channels from nearby markets, as well as distant superstations. The part of NJ I lived in (NYC market) received WKBS (until they went dark in 1983), WPHL (until 1986), and WTAF/WTXF (until 1990) out of Philadelphia, plus WTBS out of Atlanta. I had the Superstations on Dish out in Erie, PA from late 2010 until this past July, including the two NYC stations (WWOR and WPIX) that I grew up with, and now here in Ocean County, NJ, I have KYW, WPVI, WCAU, WHYY, WPHL, WTXF, and WPSG out of Philly, along with WMCN out of Atlantic City, plus the in-market NYC stations. But it isn't the same these days. Back in those days, having the nearby markets, the superstations, and the niche channels was like being in heaven.
 
firepoint525 said:
Are you referring to shows like "Saved by the Bell"? Yeah, agree, those would likely be better on Saturday morning TV, if at all.
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Saved By The Bell was a Saturday Morning program. Actually the first season was called Good Morning Miss Bliss. It aired on NBC, and rang the death knell for Saturday Morning cartoons. Yes, I watched it. I was in my mid 20's.
 
visaman said:
Saved By The Bell was a Saturday Morning program. Actually the first season was called Good Morning Miss Bliss. It aired on NBC, and rang the death knell for Saturday Morning cartoons. Yes, I watched it. I was in my mid 20's.
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No, "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" was a separate program (produced before "Saved by the Bell") that featured some of the same characters as "Saved By the Bell". Also it was originally broadcast by the Disney Channel, not NBC.
 
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visaman said:
Beavis and Butthead would be in their mid 30's now, so yeah they watched videos on MTV. It's the tweens who have never seen a music video on MTV.
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But again, similar to TRL, they only showed snippets of videos. ("Change it, Butthead, change it, that sucks!") To me, MTV jumped the shark when they started showing Monkees reruns. That was in 1986.
 
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