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A&E and the History Channel have both been junk for several years now, since they sent all their best programming to the Biography Channel and Military History, respectively. Of course, to get the good stuff you have to pay a much higher-tier cable bill, and I won't.
The History in Name Only Channel shows the most worthless bubble-gum crap imaginable, no history and never a hint of war or conflict. A&E has something good here and there, but just a shadow of its former self.
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The programming reflects the state of consciousness of the channel owners and of course, the viewers. PAWN STARS/AMERICAN PICKERS/AMERICAN RESTORATION have some funny bits and snippets of "historical value" but really don't belong on there. Then there's all the UFO/monster shows....which I enjoy....but there ought to be a separate dedicated "paranormal" cable channel for all this stuff.
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The programming reflects the state of consciousness of the channel owners and of course, the viewers. PAWN STARS/AMERICAN PICKERS/AMERICAN RESTORATION have some funny bits and snippets of "historical value" but really don't belong on there. Then there's all the UFO/monster shows....which I enjoy....but there ought to be a separate dedicated "paranormal" cable channel for all this stuff.
That's right. I miss the real history shows they used to have. You could tune in at almost any time and see a fine, 1 or 2 hour documentary on things that actually mattered.
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And anyone on Time Warner Cable can attest for their horribly slow HD service. It's pathetic, especially considering how much you pay. If I have to see "This Program is Unavailable At This Time" one more time.
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Posted: |
Jan 30, 2012 - 4:39 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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Just last night on the History Channel, I watched a two-hour program that traced the actions of FDR in the 24 hours following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pretty in-depth, I'd say.
They have to give Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, Bible Characters, When Humans Are Finally Dead, Himmler and UFOs, Nostradamus, and Haunted History a breather, I guess.
"History International" was the better of the two channels, but they changed the name to "H2" and now play all that lightweight tripe that the "Age of Aquarius" generation likes. They target my generation whenever Lucas or Spielberg have something to rehash or promote on DVD or in theaters with junk like "Star Wars as Myth", "The Real Indiana Jones", etc.
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I found out recently that I actually get a nostalgia channel called ME-TV (Memorable Entertainment TV). It has all sorts of great shows from the 50's, 60's & 70's. Even if I have a show on DVD, I love actually sitting down and watching it live if it's being run. So anyway, I looked up the schedule on line and I was thrilled with the night's offering: Lost in Space, Star Trek, a Universal Frankenstein movie followed by Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (with more goodness during the overnight hours). Who was running this channel? Me? It was perfect. I hunkered down and watched Lost in Space and Star Trek.
Then it switched over to Guthy-Renker Infomercials for the next 12 hours.
I hate cable.
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I found out recently that I actually get a nostalgia channel called ME-TV (Memorable Entertainment TV). It has all sorts of great shows from the 50's, 60's & 70's. Even if I have a show on DVD, I love actually sitting down and watching it live if it's being run. So anyway, I looked up the schedule on line and I was thrilled with the night's offering: Lost in Space, Star Trek, a Universal Frankenstein movie followed by Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (with more goodness during the overnight hours). Who was running this channel? Me? It was perfect. I hunkered down and watched Lost in Space and Star Trek.
I've been watching MeTV on Saturday nights too. Also there's a similar mini-network called Antenna TV that just got an affiliate in my area, and they're running shows from the same period. It's great. Especially since a third low-budget channel of this type, RTV, was dropped around here recently.
I'm another one who'll watch a show even though I have it on the shelf. Although I will say STAR TREK suffers from the cuts for time. It's a lot better on DVD.
A neat little bonus: if you tune to the standard def version of these channels, you can save a ton of shows on your DVR and use up very little space.
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Do you get the channel without the informercials taking over? I'm sure it's just me, because that's the way it always goes.
All of the old shows are cut for time. Even time compression doesn't take care of it all anymore. Lost in Space was hacked up pretty badly when I watched it. That's the only downside to the channel. The infomercials are compliments of my service provider, I'm sure.
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Posted: |
Feb 1, 2012 - 1:40 PM
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By: |
Adam S
(Member)
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I finally have cable and the few channels that seem enlightening are a few of the non-commercial, non-PBS stations. Amateur in terms of production value but certainly less sensational and superficial than the cable news channels.
The proliferation of half hour ads is an interesting development. But it makes sense. Even a great TV show, from the point of view of commercial TV, is simply the vehicle to get people to watch the commercials. Almost as important as ratings is wanting to support the kind of programming that is more likely to steer people in the direction of superficiality, consumerism and so forth. So something like MTV is an advertiser's dream. Takes impressionable young people and tries to inculcate certain values, prey on young people's insecurities, etc. which is great from the point of view of advertisers. I remember the quote from an MTV exec. that was something like, "we don't just influence youth, we own them" which is an exaggeration but captures in an extreme way that mindset.
I think what happens to cable news, history channels, etc. is connected in some way just in the drive towards more sensational topics and that kind of thing.
- Adam
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Do you get the channel without the informercials taking over?
I'm not sure; I don't want to turn the TV on at this hour and check. But I was watching a one-hour episode of PERRY MASON tonight that came on at 11:30, and at midnight the screen went black and stayed that way. I switched to the HD channel and that was black too, with a Verizon notice saying this channel is currently unavailable. I guess I'll know tomorrow if it's been taken from me forever.
Up to now the worst thing has been that, on most Saturday nights, they show a half-hour local schlock program instead of BATMAN. That's not good.
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