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TVLand Is A Joke

Captainfirst said:
(I'd cancel my cable but it's included in the rent in my apartment complex, so I might as well use it)
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To say so jokingly, and respectfully, MOVE! You're being ripped off! (=;
 
Maybe this post belongs in the "Ask Radio-Info" forum, but I propose a separate subforum specifically for anti-TV Land threads - there's certainly a lot of them (and rightly so)...
 
Captainfirst said:
Last night, for the second time in less than a week, TVLand reran the same episodes of "Roseanne"
in the same exact order. Who, exactly, is in charge over there, anyhow?

(I'd cancel my cable but it's included in the rent in my apartment complex, so I might as well use it)
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Uh...not sure what cable system you have, but aren't there a lot of other choices? It's not like it's TV Land or nothing, right?

Even basic cable channels are breaking out with good - even great original dramatic programming - Mad Men (AMC), Breaking Bad (AMC), and especially FX with at least a half dozen new dramas over the past few years (The Shield, Damages, Rescue Me, etc.) Then there's USA, A&E,and TNT, which are running a number of more traditional, but still very watchable new action and drama shows (Monk, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, Psych, Royal Pains).

These networks are giving pay services like HBO and Showtime a run for their money. I find it hard to believe that there are so many people out there that hate cable and satellite, just because TV Land sucks so hard.

Your glass is more than half full people. Open your eyes.
 
The most repeative show on TV Land has to be ANDY GRIFFITH, they mush go thought the entire 9 seasons in a month, every time I turn on TVLAND it's yet another ANDY GRIFFITH Marathon, Roseanne is getting that way as well as Married with Chridren ,Bonanza, Gunsmoke and Cosby, there got to be more shows from the last 50 years to run, hey bring back Bob Newhart for awhile.
 
Lkeller said:
[These networks are giving pay services like HBO and Showtime a run for their money.
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Not really hard to do since..well..the only "thing" going for HBO & Showtime in recent years as far as their programming is concerned is that one can use the "F" word every 4 seconds ( The Sopranos ), graphic death scenes ( Six Feet Under ), extreme violence and full frontal male nudity ( OZ ), drugs ( Weeds ), more extreme violence ( Dexter ) more nudity ( Real Sex )...etc.....Sooner or later the "shock" value of such stuff does wears off which of course usually works as an advantage to networks like FX and TNT.

Sort of like a 13 year old smoking a cigarette for the very first time thinking it is cool. Of course when one is 43, still smoking and hacking up tar....ah the "thrill" is long gone.
 
Having first obtained cable in 1980 and various versions of cable/satt (pizza pan and BUD versions) since I never saw the Showtime attraction. Other services had better movies and their specials never impressed me. HBO was a novelty at first but that quickly wore off and then VHS tapes and DVD's took away their movie monopoly.

The only reason I had cable/satt for so long was for offerings like The History Channel and Turner Classic Movies. Sadly, even those services have gotten "old" with either often repeated shows and movies that are becoming more recent than "classic" would indicate. I found myself watching fewer and fewer shows and finally decided that it no longer was worth the $70/month I was paying.

I have a fairly extensive collection of movie favorites and find I can purchase or rent specials easily and cheaper than subscribing to a service so cable/satt is history at my house.

And TVLand was one of the first services to go when they morphed into what is becoming a very-hard-to-define, and worthless, service.
 
I'm totally with Captainfirst on his first gripe, concerning the same Roseanne eps at the same time. That's an annoyance on other channels, too (showing the same movie at the same time 2 or 3 nights in a row, for example). That's the kind of thing that hand-to-mouth UHF's were made fun of for back in the day.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
I'm totally with Captainfirst on his first gripe, concerning the same Roseanne eps at the same time. That's an annoyance on other channels, too (showing the same movie at the same time 2 or 3 nights in a row, for example). That's the kind of thing that hand-to-mouth UHF's were made fun of for back in the day.
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Oh no, you guys are wrong! In a similar thread, a fellow poster of a more 'modern' mindset (who's moniker is reminiscent of a popular cartoon character) lectured me on how TV Land and others are simply using shrewd programming choices to react to new technologies and changing demographics. I suppose that would include running a so-so show like Rosanne into the ground night after night. ::)

Despite my arguments to the contrary, I've been lectured that all of these things you're discussing are simply wise tactics used to grab the interests of younger viewers and to hell with what anyone over 35 thinks. We really don't matter. Or so I've been told when I refer to the programmers at Viacom as idiots. [sarc off]
 
About TV Land: is it me, or do some of their shows seem to start at :15 or :45 after the hour, when it never says that on the programming guide on Dish. This seems to happen pretty frequently when I'm flipping by during "TV LAND PRIME" and the late evening hours.
 
Captainfirst said:
Last night, for the second time in less than a week, TVLand reran the same episodes of "Roseanne" in the same exact order. Who, exactly, is in charge over there, anyhow?
Click to expand...

The TV Land execs must have been watching Peter Gunn on RTV
and thought "hey, what a novel idea!" <roll eyes>
 
BRNout said:
Oh no, you guys are wrong! In a similar thread, a fellow poster of a more 'modern' mindset (who's moniker is reminiscent of a popular cartoon character) lectured me on how TV Land and others are simply using shrewd programming choices to react to new technologies and changing demographics. I suppose that would include running a so-so show like Rosanne into the ground night after night. ::)

Despite my arguments to the contrary, I've been lectured that all of these things you're discussing are simply wise tactics used to grab the interests of younger viewers and to hell with what anyone over 35 thinks. We really don't matter. Or so I've been told when I refer to the programmers at Viacom as idiots. [sarc off]
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm sympathetic. It must be tough for the YKGOML party to accept that this is 2009, not 1969 anymore, and business strategies that once worked don't translate so well after four decades. Of course, it helps to not lie exaggerate about the new realities, but what's a little stretching of the facts? I mean, somehow us old fogies (as one well past the days of youth myself) seem to think we can tell the young 'uns about walking to school in the snow, walking uphill both ways and expect them to believe us.


YKGOML--You Kids Get Off My Lawn
 
quadraphonic said:
About TV Land: is it me, or do some of their shows seem to start at :15 or :45 after the hour, when it never says that on the programming guide on Dish. This seems to happen pretty frequently when I'm flipping by during "TV LAND PRIME" and the late evening hours.
Click to expand...

I guess they figure when they're showing 12 episodes in a row of Andy Griffith, who's gonna notice?
 
quadraphonic said:
About TV Land: is it me, or do some of their shows seem to start at :15 or :45 after the hour, when it never says that on the programming guide on Dish.
Click to expand...

It's another Viacom trademark -- schedule programs on the hour or half-hour, and actually show them several minutes earlier or later than scheduled -- for no reason. I've seen this in the past on Nick and MTV.
 
firepoint525 said:
I can get Andy Griffith reruns on channel 30. And I don't even have cable!
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Be lucky you only get Andy once or twice a day, instead of drowning in the same stale daily marathons on TV Land.
 
I think TV LAND, Nick-at-Nite, and Spike TV all need make-overs.

Spike TV was better when they were TNN and showed old sitcoms and dramas in the mornings/early afternoons instead of being the all-CSI Network. Here's how I'd program SPIKE-TV:

9AM WKRP x 2
10AM Alice x 2
11AM Wonder Years x 2
12Noon Roseanne x 2
1PM Spike's Most Amazing Videos
2PM Extreme Home Makeover
3PM Original Programming (All those dopey reality shows they have on TVLAND - HS Reunion, The Cougar, How'd You Get So Rich, She's got the Look, etc).
4PM WKRP x 2 (same episodes as in the morning)
5PM Alice x 2
6PM Wonder Years x 2
7PM Roseanne x 2
8PM-12Midnite Movies/UFC/TNA
12AM-1AM CSI
1AM-2AM CSI New York
2AM-3AM Unsolved Mysteries x 2
4AM-9AM Infomericals

Saturdays/Sundays

9AM Xtreme 4x4
930AM Horsepower TV
10AM Trucks!
1030AM Muscle Car
11AM-7PM Spike-TV Originals - Manswers, DEA, Jesse James is a Dead man, Surviving Disaster, etc
7PM-1AM Movies
1AM-2AM Married with Children x2
2AM-3AM CSI
3AM-4AM CSI New York
4AM-9AM Infomercials

Here's how I'd do TVLAND:

9AM-10AM All in the Family x 2
10AM-11AM The Jeffersons x 2
11AM-12Noon Good Times x 2
12Noon-1PM Leave it To Beaver x 2
1PM-2PM 3's Company x 2
3PM-4PM Sanford & Son x 2
4PM-5PM Brady Bunch x 2
5PM-6PM Beverly Hillbillies x 2
6PM-7PM Gunsmoke
7PM-8PM Bonanza
8PM-12Midnite TVLAND PRIME Modern TV Classics
8PM-9PM Home Improvement x 2
9PM-10PM COSBY x 2
10PM-11PM 3rd Rock from the Sun x 2
11PM-12Midnite Scrubs x 2
12Midnite-1AM MASH x 2
1AM-2AM Little House on the Prairie
2AM-3AM Addams Family x 2
3AM-4AM The Munsters x 2
4AM-5AM Hogan's Heroes x 2
5AM-9AM Infomercials

Saturdays/Sundays
6AM-8AM Andy Griffith x 4
8AM-10AM Star Trek x 2
10AM-11AM Just Shoot Me x 2
11AM-12Noon Scrubs x 2 (2 episodes repeated from during the week)
12Noon-4PM TVLAND Movie Classics x 2 (No Movie newer than 1979).
4PM-5PM Bob Newhart x 2
5PM-6PM Night Court x 2
6PM-8PM Mama's Family x 4
8PM-10PM Carol Burnett x 4
10PM-11PM Home Improvement x 2
11PM-12AM COSBY x 2
12AM-1AM 3's Company x 2
1AM-3AM Too Close For Comfort x 4
3AM-5AM Mary Tyler Moore x 4
5AM-6AM Green Acres x 2

Here's How'd I do Nick-At-Nite:

8PM-9PM Malcom In The Middle x 2
9PM-10PM Everybody Hates Chris x 2
10PM-11PM The Nanny x 2
11PM-12Midnite George Lopez x 2
12AM-1AM Family Matters x 2
1AM-6AM Repeat of 8PM-1AM

Saturdays
10PM-11PM Glenn Martin DDS x 2 (Nick-at-Nite Original)
11PM-12Midnite Malcom x 2
12Midnite-1AM Everybody Hates Chris x 2
1AM-2AM The Nanny x 2 (Repeat of one that aired during week)
2AM-3AM George Lopez x 2
3AM-4AM Family Matters x 2
4AM-5AM Malcom x 2 (Repeat of 11PM airing)
5AM-6AM The Nanny (Repeat of 1AM Airing)

Sundays
9PM-10PM Malcom x 2
10PM-11PM Everybody Hates Chris x 2
11PM-12Midnite The Nanny x 2
12Midnite-1AM George Lopez x 2
1AM-2AM Family Matters x 2
2AM-6AM Repeats of 10PM-2AM
 
Since Spike is aimed at male audiences (hence the reason ABC moved Grey's Anatomy to Thursday nights, to establish a beachhead with women while CSI retained the male audience), things like putting Alice there would be a bit like C-SPAN's book programming winding up on ESPN.

The contract for CSI NY also wouldn't allow a 1 am play; the nighttime rights belong to TNT now.
 
imhomerjay said:
Hey, I'm sympathetic. It must be tough for the YKGOML party to accept that this is 2009, not 1969 anymore, and business strategies that once worked don't translate so well after four decades. Of course, it helps to not lie exaggerate about the new realities, but what's a little stretching of the facts? I mean, somehow us old fogies (as one well past the days of youth myself) seem to think we can tell the young 'uns about walking to school in the snow, walking uphill both ways and expect them to believe us.


YKGOML--You Kids Get Off My Lawn
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So, in 2009, cutting edge programming means running the same episodes of Rosanne over and over again? It means slapping the same one movie you happen to have rights to over 4 different cable channels whether it fits their audience or not? Let me let you in on a little secret: "CHANGE" is not always good. Some changes are stupid or bad or totally foul things up. Yeah, there are good changes. And there are horrible ones. For the past few years, Viacom has run its channels changing things for the sake of changing things.

Your 1969 analogy is a straw man. For one thing, there were no specialized cable channels in 1969. Barely any in 1979. Network programming was aimed at a general audience and, yes, they raked in the dough back then. Specialization of cable channels took place in the 1980s and 1990s. It's a model that's still quite valid and is expected by the viewing public. Why not have a channel for classic TV? There are literally channels for every taste and subject, so why not? When it was run as such, TV Land had a nice fan base - even before a lot of cable systems picked them up. These aren't 60 year olds complaining here on this board; it's actually a pretty good cross-section.

All Viacom is doing is screwing around with that model for the sake of saving money and assuming that people will watch the dreck because they're too dumb to know better. In other words, they don't care. Careful Homer, you're coming dangerously close to defending some pretty dumb programming moves. You seem smart enough to know better than to argue yourself into a corner!
 
A noble effort at setting up a straw army of your own with lots of things that weren't said in the first place. Kudos for playing well with lots of straw.

Let's pick one for kicks. Did I say every strategy is implemented without mistake? Nope. Never has been, never will be. There have always been, and likely always will be, missteps in implementing any strategy. And sometimes there are even--gasp--simple mistakes, be they human or technical (which we could trace back to human error, but that's another story).


Why not a channel for classic TV, indeed. If someone makes a go of it in a way that suits their business plan and keeps them in business, great. Go for it. No one is stopping them...and, yet, only some fringe players seem to be jumping into the alleged void, and they're struggling, too. Hmmm. Curious thing, that. Wonder if it's because some of those shows that have now added another few decades to their age continue to lose mass appeal over time, and because the audience becomes less attractive to advertisers as a full time option. Nah, can't be that.

And is saving money now a bad thing? People are tightening their belts at home, and a pretty good crowd of people suddenly decided in 2009 it's bad for the government to spend too much money (how they ignored it for the previous eight years, choosing not to march on D.C. until, conveniently, 2009...oh, just another coincidence, I guess). Yet a business finding ways to be more frugal is problematic? Sounds like some degree of fiscal conservatism.

The idea that people don't care just because they don't air what you want them to is comical. I mean, really, it's a laugh. It's about like me saying the restaurant down the street doesn't care about staying in business because they don't offer something on the menu I like (never mind they have a good crowd of people who like what they do offer). Not catering to your whims is hardly the same as not caring, it's called looking at the big picture here and now, in, repeat after me, 2009.

Change may not always be good, but refusing to adapt almost always leads to extinction.
 
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