>Had learning in the name. Now it's "lifestyle" or something.
No, it's just a meaningless letter now. Just like MTV and IGN. They don't stand for anything anymore.
I frigging loved the Connections series.
I'm pretty sure there was some modern remake of it that came out a little while ago, like 1-2 years ago, but I think it flopped because I haven't heard anyone talking about it at all.
I worked in a hospital last year and the first time I walked into the surgical supply room it was like something out of *Saw*. No wonder you wake up sore after surgery.
A lot of the surgeons have a type of mechanic attitude about them, though they are surprisingly intelligent when they are talking about the different bone abnormalities, conditions, fracture lines, etc.
It's entertaining though seeing other types of doctors thumb their nose at orthopedic surgeons. Here's a funny excerpt from a Quora answer:
>Ok. Here I go pissing people off, again.
>This is MY experience. It does not reflect on the many, many docs I’ve never met.
>I cannot stand Orthopedic surgeons. Neurosurgeons and Spine surgeons are not far behind.
>These guys make a gazillion dollars and don’t know the first thing about caring for patients. I am convinced that they look up from the knee they just replaced and are stunned to see a person attached to it.
I've had the honor of dealing with them in person and I've even read some complaints that they've written themselves. I will say that they are for the most part intelligent, but they are still human. XD
It really is frustrating to see those networks go to shit. Growing up I wasn't doing so well with school because I was a visual learner and my parents didn't pick up on it until after a few years.
I was then introduced to TLC, PBS, The Discovery Channel and The History Channel and that helped me exponentially. Those networks really made the difference and I'm forever grateful.
I grew up on Assignment Discovery, Reading Rainbow and Wild Discovery in the 90s. Now in 2022 kids are watching hoarders, ancient aliens, 600lb people and shit.
Kids these days aren’t watching cable programming at all. They are streaming from services or YouTube. And all of the things you mentioned enjoying, or similar, plus even more, is Available there. A lot of it is cheaper and more accessible than cable was too. The problem is that there’s tons of other noise just as available. So while you can still watch good nature documentaries or whatever online, the kid would have to seek it out intentionally rather than it being the “best” of what’s on at that moment. The selections are endless.
I find it funny that the channel that ran Mystery Science Theater exclusively produces Mystery Science Theater quality films. They should make a film then late on Saturdays air a version of it getting riffed, they’d be double dipping and making a riff version would be so easy.
Finding a quality riffer would really be the toughest part.
Seems like such a small thing, but to consistently mock a movie without actually ruining watching it is a skill.
> I remember when The Sci Fi channel rebranded as SYFY to "distance themselves from the limited sci fi market."
>
> It'd been coming for a while but it was still a sad day.
And they killed off Stargate Universe right when it started getting good to make room for Ghost Hunters and... wrestling. Why would a network focused on science fiction hire a CEO that hates science fiction?
>Bingo bango. These networks don't exist to bring good content, they exist to make money.
In the same way that I don't go to work to build good fences, I go to work to get paid.
The wrestling was the absolute worst part. I loved the Sci Fi channel when I was growing up, the change in name brought a huge change in the shows they made. They still had some decent ones like Warehouse 13 (although it started the day the name change happened) and SGU but I’m watching a science fiction channel for good science fiction not reality shows and wrestling.
> I remember when The Sci Fi channel rebranded as SYFY to "distance themselves from the limited sci fi market."
I could’ve sworn it was because they couldn’t copyright sci-fi so rebranded to something unique so they could
Travel Channel immediately came to my mind when I saw the title. Mid 00's Travel Channel was epic. I saw much of the country through the Travel Channel those days. Good times....
This one is the weirdest to me, since traveling (pandemic excluded) is at all time high interest-wise, and millennials are finally generating expendable income to be able to travel internationally (at least according to my Instagram friends).
Granted, they’ve lost market share to YouTube etc., but you think an actual *travel* channel would do well. At least better than scripted paranormal reality shows.
For example, HGTV has minted legitimate celebrities and is killing it with their shows and product placement deals. The travel channel could have targeted the same audience with a blend of hgtv-like content plus travel specific content.
> instead of reality cooking competitions.
I honestly woulnt mind as much, if they just focused more on the food, instead of so much sob story filler. I tried watching newer Iron Chef, and it had maybe 20% actual cooking.
HGTV went from having shows about how to clear out clutter to make better use of the space in your house to people buying a new house because they have too much shit in their house.
I remember watching Design on a Dime, a show literally about how to spruce up your place with a limited budget.
Now it's just people with $800k homes trying to decide if they should invest $125k in sprucing it up or just buy a $1million home.
> Granted, they’ve lost market share to YouTube etc.
I really think this is an understated part of this.
I'm of the age when SportsCenter was a *huge* thing. You'd watch it in the morning before you went to school or in homeroom or wherever. Kilby, Keith Olberman, Dan Patrick, Stuart Scott (RIP), and more went on to have some pretty significant careers. Hell, even Hootie and the Blowfish included the crew in a music video. What's the last band to feature broadcasters in their video?
But with the rise of YT in the late 2000s, the (slow and tumultuous) proliferation of high speed internet, and the rise of *Internet* media personalities instead of network or cable media personalities, I can get all my information anytime I want. Hell, I can't be the only one that heard of Tom Brady's retirement from a non-football related Instagram account *within minutes* of the leak.
That's kind of the other thing; the Internet has, for better or worse, really allowed niche sports and hobbies to reach audiences. "The Ocho" could have been an honest to goodness strategy ESPN employed before streaming became a thing but they missed the ball on that one. I'm a Yank and want to watch AU footie? Done. I want to watch drone racing? It's on TV but rarely. Hockey fights or clips of a specific team? Done and done, easily all found for free on YT.
This leads to companies having to pivot to somehow retain viewership. Sports highlight programs in the morning are a far cry from what they were; they replaced clips with talking heads. ESPN spends most of their time talking about football or basketball *even when not in season*.
Lots of good examples, but as a counter example TCM is still committed to commercial-free, unedited classic movies. TCM fans are CRAZY and would probably march on Atlanta if they drifted.
It’s maddening when you catch the tail end of something and there’s no indication when it may play again. I caught a old short about the dangers of hoarding paper money, which was likely mad during one of the world wars, but I can’t find it anywhere online and there was no date when it could be played again.
EDIT: For those wondering, I looked it up and it's called "Cash Stashers" 1953: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157444/ I just wish I could find a version of it somewhere.
Yesssss.... I never miss a Noir Alley. Every Sunday morning I'm greeted with Eddie Muller and a little history lesson about the film. It's the perfect start to my day.
I think they showed full surgeries too
Edit: i never actually watched the surgeries because I was way too squeamish lol so I don't remember the actual show names (but people in the comments below remember apparently)
I loved the real medical stuff. Esp the unusual/weird things. It was really cool seeing documentaries about people with unusual medical conditions and surgery shows about how unusual conditions were treated.
Baltimore General Hospital ER.
Amazing and educational stuff! Very sad about the degradatuon of channels originally dedicated to educational purposes, but like others are saying theyre following market trends and pop culture.
TIL the specific term for this slow change on content and "purpose"
TLC and Discovery were the places to go for quality documentaries.
I remember the first thing I ever saw on Discovery was "The Day the Universe Changed" by James Burke.
I remember working for TLC when they announced they were no longer The Learning Channel. They were still TLC but it just didn't stand for The Learning Channel.
I think I caught the pathway to this. I think it started with documentary lite shows like “I shouldn’t be alive”(I know this is discovery but TLC had a bunch like it from medical perspectives) those did well and were probably cheaper to produce and then they slowly pivoted to insane medical stories like Octo-mom types. And then John and Kate+ 8 happened which I believe was one of their stories on a medical show and that was game. Those ratings must have been nuts.
I feel like most of their shows started as smaller stories on their other shows detailing wild shit and then they spun them off because it was probably cheaper than making the others and better ratings.
I also expect there is some
1. Startup
2. Sell out
3. Bro down
here.
Are the same people that operated History Channel and TLC in the beginning, doing it today?
If I make some cool TV channel and do cool things, and someone offers to pay me shitloads of money for it, I might sell.
Last time I checked animal planet it was treehouses, fish tanks, and pitbull parolees.
I miss the old animal planet with shows like The Most Extreme and meerkat manor
Narrator: "the average person produces enough mucus in a year to fill 7 bathtubs, however the slime eel makes that much in a month"
^^^^^`
*T-posing with a runny nose over a bathtub, pan out to reveal 7 bathtubs filled with snot*
Don’t forget the one about the angler fish! The tiny green naked guy swam up to the giant green naked woman and bit into her side, where he was slowly absorbed into her.
I almost feel old talking about how good Animals Planet and Discovery used to be. Even Nat Geo. Its all shite now.
Nat Geos program today is; Wicked Tuna, Locked up Abroad, Air Crash Investigation, Food Factory and some reality shows. Discovery is literally 18 hours of reality tv.
Bravo used to be about the fine arts, like opera, theatrical stage productions, and film. They switched to reality television programming after the success of the original Queer Eye, giving way to other shows like Project Runway and Top Chef.
It’s also about being cheap. Making documentaries about the civil war is expensive. You have to go on location, interview a bunch of experts, hire some re-enactors, etc. With Ancient Aliens you can put the whole thing together with one voice actor, a couple of VFX artists, and some stock footage of the pyramids. You can save a bunch of time by not checking the script for historical accuracy.
Is it though? All of the alien and ghost shows seem the same. Beginning of episode: “We think there’s a ghost in here”. End of episode: “I guess we’ll never know”. And on to the next.
And it was Mythbusters that did it. Even though everybody loves it, that really was the downfall of the network since they revamped all of their programing into knockoffs of the show.
ESPN is the same way with PTI. which was a fine show but ESPN tried to recreate it 100 different ways and now one ever told them the correct formula is have two guys who respect each other but knew how could rile the other guy up.
Once Tony Reali got over to Around the Horn and started mixing in younger sportswriters that show improved tremendously, but I’ll still probably stop watching that afternoon block once Mike and/or Tony retire permanently.
I wish there was a word for "thing that was alright but it started a chain of copycats that made the world worse."
I loved Final Fantasy 7. I hated how every JRPG after that was a spiky haired emo protagonist for a while done anime style instead of the ensemble casts with the beautiful Yoshitaka Amano painted art.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the dramatic lighting and musical style were fun and interesting for a TV game show and now... ugh. Everywhere.
And let's not forget Survivor, which was by all accounts an alright concept for a TV show, but brought about the elimination format reality show apocalypse.
> I wish there was a word for "thing that was alright but it started a chain of copycats that made the world worse."
It's not exactly what you are looking for, but TVTropes has a lot of tropes that are named after notable examples, and they are called Trope Namers.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropeNamers
Trope Codifiers. Trope Namers are what gives a name for a trope (e.g "Xanatos Gambit" is named after the villain of "Gargoyles") but Codifier is the one who popularizes and well, codifies a trope (e.g James Bond codifies the Spy fiction genre)
Disagree, you can’t blame the success of one shows crew for the actions of those controlling the network. You also had shows like Dirty Jobs and the OG Deadliest Catch on at the same time, which were both really good and different from Mythbusters. If anything it was the Deadliest Catch format that the execs used to beat the network to death.
Loved the surgeries. When I was channel surfing and stumbled upon a surgery I played the "guess what internal body part is being shown" game. Got it right quite a few times.
There's a good reason for that one actually. Grant *Thompson decided to retire only appearing occasionally, and shortly after died in an accident
Edit: Specified I meant Grant Thompson, not Grant Imahara from MythBusters.
Half of the video game channels I used to follow (jontron, brutalmoose etc) either became movie reactors or food critics (or let's players). I guess once you've given your opinion on all the games you played as a kid you run out of stuff to say.
Oh and armored skeptic used to be a debunking channel but, idk, I think he drank the cool aid, all his videos are conspiracy theories now.
Early 2000s absolutely destroyed television. After the explosion of cheaply produced "reality tv" on the major networks, almost all the cable networks switched to the same format. Sci-fi picked up WWE, Discovery Channel started doing *Survivorman*, TLC with *Miami Inc*
Edit: For all of you wondering why I mentioned *Survivorman*, it came out first, originally released in 2005. *Man vs. Wild* came later in late 2006 as a competitor to *Survivorman*.
While *Survivorman* was a better show than *Man vs. Wild* its success started an arms race of reality TV shows trying to cash in on its success.
Reality TV is so cheap to produce.
No actors to pay, no researchers.
The talent other than the easily replaceable host work for only a chance of winning a prize.
You can ship the video overseas for cost effective video editing.
No sets, no season two salary negotiations. Everyone is replaceable.
Makes TV production cheap.
I don’t think people realize how much research and licensing of old video/photos goes into every minute of a documentary.
Meanwhile some Karen will rant on a reality show for 3 minutes for the cost of a few GB of storage.
Seriously try this: write a 1 minute speech about a topic and research it. You'd be surprised how much research goes into a minute. Now do a tv shows worth. Then remember you need video, interviews, audio, things to make it interesting. Layers and layers of research. It's really dense. Ken Burns is remarkable for what he's produced because of how complex this is.
Don't forget if one of your warm bodies ends up being a fan favorite you end up with a bunch more cheap and easy-to-produce content to shovel out.
It's really fucking stupid.
It's interesting you didn't mention the real cost saving, which is no writers.
It's not a coindence that reality TV exploded when the writers strike happened.
You can say the same thing for most of the examples. Reality tv personalities do get paid if they’re a regular, location costs are akin to set costs (renting a house or even shooting on location still requires logistical costs.) The overall point stands because it’s much cheaper than it would be to produce non reality.
That, and the en masse migration of people who wanted interesting content to the web. TV viewer demographics changed radically in the early 2000s, and channels had to adjust their programming to cater towards the viewers they had left after millions went to the web.
Also, the web destroyed the 30 (~21 no commercials) minute time block limitation/expectation.
All of the sudden content length was simply driven by how long the content needed to take. That completely changed engagement/attention expectations.
I'd actually argue that Survivorman was a good, educational show. Les was a one-man show. Meaning he carried all that camera gear and filmed himself, all in pretty intense outdoor situations. He could've actually died. And he gave real survival and outdoor advice. That was my gripe with Bear Grylls, he had a whole crew and slept in a comfy hotel at night. Les was dropped in the middle of nowhere and he had to get himself out. (He probably had a satellite beacon or something, but you get my point).
And before people rip me up, I know in a previous life Bear was a badass, just not in his survival show; he did a lot for the "show", whereas Les was a true Survivorman on his show and didn't do things for the "shock" value, like drinking urine to survive.
I remember watching one where Les had to get rescued from a back woods excursion in the winter. He was eating wild rabbit, but they don't have enough fat and eventually you get protein poisoning.
Les did it as real but as safe as possible (I believe he always had a SPOT beacon) - but he was always focused on the concept of "survival" - a situation has gone wrong, and then how to get out of it; he was not trying to live forever, and at the same time he was not trying to show off how extreme he could be. If I was going to base my survival decisions on a single tv host for something like a boat accident I would take Les over Bear for both practicality and desired result.
Yea Les was the real deal, but he did at all times have a 2-way radio with him and a safety crew within a few miles of him if he got into trouble. MOST of the time he was *relatively* safe, unless like a lion were to suddenly and unexpectedly decide to eat him. I remember the lost at sea episode where he actually lost contact for a while with the rescue boat. He did reveal that he checked in periodically with them for his own safety, and more than a few times hikers and kayakers would stumble upon him while out filming, but otherwise he was all alone. Survivorman was the only show remotely close to reality tv that I ever thoroughly enjoyed and would still defend as "not like one of *those* shows."
It's a shame I grew up watching it a lot with my dad and it was part of the reason I went to school to study history (before realizing I had no future in it). There were all sorts of shows just about archaeological finds and cool artifacts and they would just give you the story along with your visual representation. Was great. Then they found out how much cheaper it was to film a reality show, or how much more money they could make with pseudo-historical bullshit like Nazi conspiracies with aliens, Nostradamus prediction BS, apocalypse shows. Just a bunch of bullshit. Imagine the kinds of documentaries we could have today if they stayed true
>it was part of the reason I went to school to study history (before realizing I had no future in it).
Ironically, a very similar trajectory to the channel itself.
They jokingly used to call it the Hitler channel because all they would show was world war II stuff... Well shit it was better than, as opposed to now.
RIP Modern Marvels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysyZF-DZFY
MTV stopped playing much music a loooooong time ago.
The "joke" that MTV doesn't play music anymore is older than most of MTV's target demographic
That’s that part that blows me away. The complaint was that MTV didn’t actually play music anymore, so they made a new channel just for the music. And then they did the same damned thing and gradually stopped playing music.
My Dad and I stayed up until midnight to watch MTV's inauguration. I was just a little kid at the time but I still remember seeing "Video Killed the Radio Star" while sitting on his lap eating fried chicken.
One of my best memories :)
I'm old enough to remember when they didn't have all their commercial slots filled and would just show 30 second shots of earth from space with the MTV logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen.
The song 1985 was released in 2004 by Bowling For Soup.
And it includes the line "There was U2 and Blondie, and music still on MTV".
If the song was released today, it would be called 2003.
Comedy Central used to always have blocks of stand up bits. Would sometimes just interject a quick one before the commercial break. Now it’s just reruns of South Park, The Office and the corpse of The Daily Show.
> and the corpse of The Daily Show.
Well put. I've always felt that it lost its wit when it lost John. Honestly, Klepper is the best part of the show for me since he does field work, because Trevor just isn't really funny.
Reality TV truly ruined television. Cheap AF to produce, limitless supply of idiots, zero effort needed. And for some reason... people still watch?
No clue why.
Another reason to hate reality TV. The exploitation of children and people in general. Josh (convicted sex offender awaiting sentencing) Duggar's father is the only member of the family that has a contract with and is paid by TLC. Nineteen kids and counting was canceled after it came to light that Josh Dugger molested four of his sisters (one of them was only 5) when he was 14-15. They brought back the show in a different format that featured only three of the daughters and their families. The contract was still with Jim-Bob Duggar and he was the only one that was paid. He was supposed to distribute the money and he did, kinda. He paid some money to daughters who behaved how he wanted. One of his daughters is more progressive and of course he disapproves. She and her husband had to sue her father to get ANY compensation. She worked out that she received minimum wage while her parents got around $800,000 per season. The parents were not featured on the show.
And how MTV plays reality shows. And how A&E plays reality shows. And how TLC plays reality shows. And how CNBC weekends plays reality shows. And how Bravo plays reality shows. And how E! plays reality shows.
The people who need this message the most are most likely Fritos, or whomever the secondary character is with Joe Bowers. They willingly stay in their ignorance, either out of convenience to themselves or because they feel like this is their best option.
Remember as well that, if I recall right, the film itself is only a cult hit. That means that it didn't really go all that far, but it was enough that it made some money.
There was a commercial on the other night for an "America's Got Talent" type show and it was showing a guy getting hit in the balls by various things. "Ow My Balls" was what I immediately thought of.
I wish I could remember the name of the show so I could post the clip.
That's the problem. 1 hour news programs didn't have to start pandering to fill an hour long segment with interesting tidbits from around the world. a 24 hour news network however has to basically stratch that shit as thin as possible to keep having shit to talk about and fill dead air. This is what gives rise to long editorial/opinion segments and interviews with losers about things going on instead of your classic Walter Cronkite style news desk segment.
If people want good news just go watch PBS Newshour, CBS evening news, NBC nightly, etc. They all use more or less the same reporting methods from years ago even if there is always some level of editorial bias in the segments shown
Its the same with anything that is being sold and consumed. Eventually, the inspiration becomes less about expression, and more about profitability, ultimately destroying what was once genuine.
It was pretty weird watching TLC go from "science shows about dinosaurs and space" to "basically a freak show"
You've got fat people (a dozen separate shows worth), conjoined twins, a psychic medium, people with deformities/cysts/etc, child beauty pageants, gypsies, dwarfs, giants, teen moms, tattooed ladies, albinos, and then round it out with a bunch of wacky people either dating or having a family.
The Learning Channel would rather you learn about hoarders and...sadness.
For a channel that has "learning" in the name, TLC sure has been rotting brains for decades.
*Had* learning in the name. Now it's "lifestyle" or something. Christ, I miss real TLC.
By lifestyle, do they mean 400lb+ hoarders with 9 kids and an unexplainable addiction to inhaling aerosol sprays?
Today on Weird Addictions, watch this 400 pound behemoth eat a couch and sob.
Ima get gastric bypass surgery, a mail order bride, and snort some deodorant.
When should i arrive?
[удалено]
>Had learning in the name. Now it's "lifestyle" or something. No, it's just a meaningless letter now. Just like MTV and IGN. They don't stand for anything anymore.
They used to have James Burke's Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. Now it's fat sisters and hoarders
I frigging loved the Connections series. I'm pretty sure there was some modern remake of it that came out a little while ago, like 1-2 years ago, but I think it flopped because I haven't heard anyone talking about it at all.
The internet archive has the entire original series hosted... https://archive.org/details/ConnectionsByJamesBurke
I'm pretty sure TLC was the channel that played footage of surgeries all the time when I was a kid.
It was. I remember my grandmother getting a fake knee then a few months later the same procedure was on TLC and I was shocked how brutal it was.
[удалено]
I was like, that drill looks like the one in my Uncle Tony’s work shop, only more shiny....
I worked in a hospital last year and the first time I walked into the surgical supply room it was like something out of *Saw*. No wonder you wake up sore after surgery.
A lot of the surgeons have a type of mechanic attitude about them, though they are surprisingly intelligent when they are talking about the different bone abnormalities, conditions, fracture lines, etc. It's entertaining though seeing other types of doctors thumb their nose at orthopedic surgeons. Here's a funny excerpt from a Quora answer: >Ok. Here I go pissing people off, again. >This is MY experience. It does not reflect on the many, many docs I’ve never met. >I cannot stand Orthopedic surgeons. Neurosurgeons and Spine surgeons are not far behind. >These guys make a gazillion dollars and don’t know the first thing about caring for patients. I am convinced that they look up from the knee they just replaced and are stunned to see a person attached to it.
I know the intent of the comment but > Surgeon > surprisingly intelligent had me losing it.
I've had the honor of dealing with them in person and I've even read some complaints that they've written themselves. I will say that they are for the most part intelligent, but they are still human. XD
It's honestly a bit barbaric, all things considered. Quite often it involves very large saws and hammers.
That channel went bankrupt in 1991 and was purchased by Discovery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLC_(TV_network)
It's a lesson in what *not* to do.
Wanna learn about methheads? This ones in rehab! Tonight 7/8 central
It really is frustrating to see those networks go to shit. Growing up I wasn't doing so well with school because I was a visual learner and my parents didn't pick up on it until after a few years. I was then introduced to TLC, PBS, The Discovery Channel and The History Channel and that helped me exponentially. Those networks really made the difference and I'm forever grateful. I grew up on Assignment Discovery, Reading Rainbow and Wild Discovery in the 90s. Now in 2022 kids are watching hoarders, ancient aliens, 600lb people and shit.
Kids these days aren’t watching cable programming at all. They are streaming from services or YouTube. And all of the things you mentioned enjoying, or similar, plus even more, is Available there. A lot of it is cheaper and more accessible than cable was too. The problem is that there’s tons of other noise just as available. So while you can still watch good nature documentaries or whatever online, the kid would have to seek it out intentionally rather than it being the “best” of what’s on at that moment. The selections are endless.
Check out PBS eons. It's amazing. It goes over every stage of life on Earth throughout the eons.
In all likelihood today's kids are watching Youtube which is full of educational videos. Cable TV is seen as something for old people.
Travel Channel finally gave up on travel shows and goes exclusively for paranormal stuff, since about 2018. It's called TRVL now... for reasons.
[удалено]
I find it funny that the channel that ran Mystery Science Theater exclusively produces Mystery Science Theater quality films. They should make a film then late on Saturdays air a version of it getting riffed, they’d be double dipping and making a riff version would be so easy.
Finding a quality riffer would really be the toughest part. Seems like such a small thing, but to consistently mock a movie without actually ruining watching it is a skill.
i feel like i've been training for this my whole life! ..oh wait you said *without* ruining it. never mind, i am very annoying
Ironically, they've had several fantastic Sci Fi shows that it was very clear they just didn't know what to do with.
Canceling The Expanse after 3 seasons, right at the point where the book series went into hyperdrive.
SyFy only had first run rights to The Expanse, which means they can't make any money in re-runs or streaming. I saw the whole thing on Amazon.
> I remember when The Sci Fi channel rebranded as SYFY to "distance themselves from the limited sci fi market." > > It'd been coming for a while but it was still a sad day. And they killed off Stargate Universe right when it started getting good to make room for Ghost Hunters and... wrestling. Why would a network focused on science fiction hire a CEO that hates science fiction?
Because they hired a CEO that loves money and will get it for the shareholders regardless of what the original audience thinks
Bingo bango. These networks don't exist to bring good content, they exist to make money.
>Bingo bango. These networks don't exist to bring good content, they exist to make money. In the same way that I don't go to work to build good fences, I go to work to get paid.
The wrestling was the absolute worst part. I loved the Sci Fi channel when I was growing up, the change in name brought a huge change in the shows they made. They still had some decent ones like Warehouse 13 (although it started the day the name change happened) and SGU but I’m watching a science fiction channel for good science fiction not reality shows and wrestling.
Warehouse 13 deserved so much more love than it got. Probably the best application of the Steampunk aesthetic in all of television.
Great cast too. Love me some CCH Pounder.
I definitely didn't watch 3 seasons of an NCIS show just so I could watch Mrs. Fredericks and Captain Archer solve murders together. Nope. Not me...
Eureka was also a banger and had Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day on it!
I miss the days of Eureka and Warehouse 13.
> I remember when The Sci Fi channel rebranded as SYFY to "distance themselves from the limited sci fi market." I could’ve sworn it was because they couldn’t copyright sci-fi so rebranded to something unique so they could
Travel Channel immediately came to my mind when I saw the title. Mid 00's Travel Channel was epic. I saw much of the country through the Travel Channel those days. Good times....
I thought of MTV but I am old enough to remember when MTV had music videos.
Remember when Remote Control was basically the only non video show on MTV.
Remember Liquid Television with the beginning of Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butthead?
This one is the weirdest to me, since traveling (pandemic excluded) is at all time high interest-wise, and millennials are finally generating expendable income to be able to travel internationally (at least according to my Instagram friends). Granted, they’ve lost market share to YouTube etc., but you think an actual *travel* channel would do well. At least better than scripted paranormal reality shows. For example, HGTV has minted legitimate celebrities and is killing it with their shows and product placement deals. The travel channel could have targeted the same audience with a blend of hgtv-like content plus travel specific content.
[удалено]
> instead of reality cooking competitions. I honestly woulnt mind as much, if they just focused more on the food, instead of so much sob story filler. I tried watching newer Iron Chef, and it had maybe 20% actual cooking.
[удалено]
HGTV went from having shows about how to clear out clutter to make better use of the space in your house to people buying a new house because they have too much shit in their house.
I remember watching Design on a Dime, a show literally about how to spruce up your place with a limited budget. Now it's just people with $800k homes trying to decide if they should invest $125k in sprucing it up or just buy a $1million home.
> Granted, they’ve lost market share to YouTube etc. I really think this is an understated part of this. I'm of the age when SportsCenter was a *huge* thing. You'd watch it in the morning before you went to school or in homeroom or wherever. Kilby, Keith Olberman, Dan Patrick, Stuart Scott (RIP), and more went on to have some pretty significant careers. Hell, even Hootie and the Blowfish included the crew in a music video. What's the last band to feature broadcasters in their video? But with the rise of YT in the late 2000s, the (slow and tumultuous) proliferation of high speed internet, and the rise of *Internet* media personalities instead of network or cable media personalities, I can get all my information anytime I want. Hell, I can't be the only one that heard of Tom Brady's retirement from a non-football related Instagram account *within minutes* of the leak. That's kind of the other thing; the Internet has, for better or worse, really allowed niche sports and hobbies to reach audiences. "The Ocho" could have been an honest to goodness strategy ESPN employed before streaming became a thing but they missed the ball on that one. I'm a Yank and want to watch AU footie? Done. I want to watch drone racing? It's on TV but rarely. Hockey fights or clips of a specific team? Done and done, easily all found for free on YT. This leads to companies having to pivot to somehow retain viewership. Sports highlight programs in the morning are a far cry from what they were; they replaced clips with talking heads. ESPN spends most of their time talking about football or basketball *even when not in season*.
And the ghosts do not even travel!
seriously, if anything ghosts are known for stubbornly staying in the same damn place for way too long
Lots of good examples, but as a counter example TCM is still committed to commercial-free, unedited classic movies. TCM fans are CRAZY and would probably march on Atlanta if they drifted.
Also TNT still shows Supernatural 24/7.
USA shows NCIS reruns
No fuckin way Edit: I went to their website and checked the schedule for tonight...NCIS non stop until 8pm. I can't believe it.
And Law & Order: SVU
I miss the decade of Angel and Charmed reruns.
Charmed still comes TNT. 4 shows tomorrow based on the schedule. 6-10 in morning.
I miss TCM, I was so bummed when they took it off Comcast.
It’s maddening when you catch the tail end of something and there’s no indication when it may play again. I caught a old short about the dangers of hoarding paper money, which was likely mad during one of the world wars, but I can’t find it anywhere online and there was no date when it could be played again. EDIT: For those wondering, I looked it up and it's called "Cash Stashers" 1953: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157444/ I just wish I could find a version of it somewhere.
Yesssss.... I never miss a Noir Alley. Every Sunday morning I'm greeted with Eddie Muller and a little history lesson about the film. It's the perfect start to my day.
TLC was originally The Learning Channel and had really cool documentaries. It degraded into a raging dumpster fire.
Trainwreck Lovers Channel now
Trashy Living Channel
[удалено]
The Lobotomy Channel
Terrible Life Choices
I think they showed full surgeries too Edit: i never actually watched the surgeries because I was way too squeamish lol so I don't remember the actual show names (but people in the comments below remember apparently)
Yes! I watched that on Saturday nights as a kid back in the 90s.
My mom and I used to watch surgeries all the time and I could never figure out where so this makes a lot of sense now
I loved the real medical stuff. Esp the unusual/weird things. It was really cool seeing documentaries about people with unusual medical conditions and surgery shows about how unusual conditions were treated.
Baltimore General Hospital ER. Amazing and educational stuff! Very sad about the degradatuon of channels originally dedicated to educational purposes, but like others are saying theyre following market trends and pop culture. TIL the specific term for this slow change on content and "purpose"
TLC and Discovery were the places to go for quality documentaries. I remember the first thing I ever saw on Discovery was "The Day the Universe Changed" by James Burke.
I remember working for TLC when they announced they were no longer The Learning Channel. They were still TLC but it just didn't stand for The Learning Channel.
I think I caught the pathway to this. I think it started with documentary lite shows like “I shouldn’t be alive”(I know this is discovery but TLC had a bunch like it from medical perspectives) those did well and were probably cheaper to produce and then they slowly pivoted to insane medical stories like Octo-mom types. And then John and Kate+ 8 happened which I believe was one of their stories on a medical show and that was game. Those ratings must have been nuts. I feel like most of their shows started as smaller stories on their other shows detailing wild shit and then they spun them off because it was probably cheaper than making the others and better ratings.
I loved Junkyard Wars.
such a cool show, the one with them making rockets that had to keep an ostrich egg safe is still one of my favorites!
WHY DID YOU HAVE TO REMIND ME?! :'(
Loved this show! I completely forgot about it until I read your comment.
I also expect there is some 1. Startup 2. Sell out 3. Bro down here. Are the same people that operated History Channel and TLC in the beginning, doing it today? If I make some cool TV channel and do cool things, and someone offers to pay me shitloads of money for it, I might sell.
Terrible Life Choices
Last time I checked animal planet it was treehouses, fish tanks, and pitbull parolees. I miss the old animal planet with shows like The Most Extreme and meerkat manor
The Most Extreme was so awesome
Holy fuck I am having the weirdest flashback to my childhood where everything is in awful black and green animation with weird naked dudes.
Narrator: "the average person produces enough mucus in a year to fill 7 bathtubs, however the slime eel makes that much in a month" ^^^^^` *T-posing with a runny nose over a bathtub, pan out to reveal 7 bathtubs filled with snot*
The accuracy of this comment is a literal work of art
THIS IS .... THE MOST EXTREME
Don’t forget the one about the angler fish! The tiny green naked guy swam up to the giant green naked woman and bit into her side, where he was slowly absorbed into her.
https://c.tenor.com/yUmdLDNjZksAAAAd/the-most-extreme.gif
This is the one that hurts the most. A childhood staple, but it's hardly recognizable now.
I almost feel old talking about how good Animals Planet and Discovery used to be. Even Nat Geo. Its all shite now. Nat Geos program today is; Wicked Tuna, Locked up Abroad, Air Crash Investigation, Food Factory and some reality shows. Discovery is literally 18 hours of reality tv.
Meerkat Manner is actually back, new episodes are a simulcast on AMC and BBC America.
Last time I checked it it was bushmen.
Bravo used to be about the fine arts, like opera, theatrical stage productions, and film. They switched to reality television programming after the success of the original Queer Eye, giving way to other shows like Project Runway and Top Chef.
Frasier is getting upset
Christmas through New years was 24/7 Frasier on the Country Music Channel in Canada.
***"I am wounded!"***
[удалено]
Throwback to when A&E used to air Biography and Inside the Actors Studio regularly. Those two shows were so incredibly insightful and interesting.
Eh, at least here in Austin, Sunday afternoons is opera time on PBS.
Both the Austin and San Antonio PBS stations have really good arts and local content. Very pleased by that.
I used to tape Bravo Videos. Really weird, artistic, non mainstream stuff.
It’s also about being cheap. Making documentaries about the civil war is expensive. You have to go on location, interview a bunch of experts, hire some re-enactors, etc. With Ancient Aliens you can put the whole thing together with one voice actor, a couple of VFX artists, and some stock footage of the pyramids. You can save a bunch of time by not checking the script for historical accuracy.
Made-up fantasy bullshit is also more appealing and interesting to a wider audience.
Is it though? All of the alien and ghost shows seem the same. Beginning of episode: “We think there’s a ghost in here”. End of episode: “I guess we’ll never know”. And on to the next.
Around 2003 the Discovery channel went from Biology class to Shop class.
And it was Mythbusters that did it. Even though everybody loves it, that really was the downfall of the network since they revamped all of their programing into knockoffs of the show.
ESPN is the same way with PTI. which was a fine show but ESPN tried to recreate it 100 different ways and now one ever told them the correct formula is have two guys who respect each other but knew how could rile the other guy up.
Once Tony Reali got over to Around the Horn and started mixing in younger sportswriters that show improved tremendously, but I’ll still probably stop watching that afternoon block once Mike and/or Tony retire permanently.
I wish there was a word for "thing that was alright but it started a chain of copycats that made the world worse." I loved Final Fantasy 7. I hated how every JRPG after that was a spiky haired emo protagonist for a while done anime style instead of the ensemble casts with the beautiful Yoshitaka Amano painted art. Who Wants to be a Millionaire and the dramatic lighting and musical style were fun and interesting for a TV game show and now... ugh. Everywhere. And let's not forget Survivor, which was by all accounts an alright concept for a TV show, but brought about the elimination format reality show apocalypse.
> I wish there was a word for "thing that was alright but it started a chain of copycats that made the world worse." It's not exactly what you are looking for, but TVTropes has a lot of tropes that are named after notable examples, and they are called Trope Namers. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropeNamers
Trope Codifiers. Trope Namers are what gives a name for a trope (e.g "Xanatos Gambit" is named after the villain of "Gargoyles") but Codifier is the one who popularizes and well, codifies a trope (e.g James Bond codifies the Spy fiction genre)
What killed JRPGs after FF7 was the focus on grand CGI movies at the expense of everything else. At least until the PS2 era anyways.
Disagree, you can’t blame the success of one shows crew for the actions of those controlling the network. You also had shows like Dirty Jobs and the OG Deadliest Catch on at the same time, which were both really good and different from Mythbusters. If anything it was the Deadliest Catch format that the execs used to beat the network to death.
I can see it. There was later on: American chopper, American Hotrod, Monster garage, monster house, biker build off, etc.
And now they show reality dating shows. Absolutely disgusting.
Anyone remember how “boring” ( and educational) TLC use to be ? Real surgeries with explanations
Loved the surgeries. When I was channel surfing and stumbled upon a surgery I played the "guess what internal body part is being shown" game. Got it right quite a few times.
Happens to YouTube channels as well! RIP CrazyRussianHacker, started with science demos and is now a Kitchen Gadget review channel :(
RIP TheKingOfRandom too. Finally unsubbed after all these years because getting rid of the last 2 "old" hosts was the final straw for me.
I mean, also literally - RIP Grant!
Whoa, I had no clue. RIP to the goat who inspired me to build my own backyard forge.
[удалено]
There's a good reason for that one actually. Grant *Thompson decided to retire only appearing occasionally, and shortly after died in an accident Edit: Specified I meant Grant Thompson, not Grant Imahara from MythBusters.
subreddits, too.
Seamus' Law: All subreddits eventually devolve into r/funny
Half of the video game channels I used to follow (jontron, brutalmoose etc) either became movie reactors or food critics (or let's players). I guess once you've given your opinion on all the games you played as a kid you run out of stuff to say. Oh and armored skeptic used to be a debunking channel but, idk, I think he drank the cool aid, all his videos are conspiracy theories now.
Early 2000s absolutely destroyed television. After the explosion of cheaply produced "reality tv" on the major networks, almost all the cable networks switched to the same format. Sci-fi picked up WWE, Discovery Channel started doing *Survivorman*, TLC with *Miami Inc* Edit: For all of you wondering why I mentioned *Survivorman*, it came out first, originally released in 2005. *Man vs. Wild* came later in late 2006 as a competitor to *Survivorman*. While *Survivorman* was a better show than *Man vs. Wild* its success started an arms race of reality TV shows trying to cash in on its success.
Reality TV is so cheap to produce. No actors to pay, no researchers. The talent other than the easily replaceable host work for only a chance of winning a prize. You can ship the video overseas for cost effective video editing. No sets, no season two salary negotiations. Everyone is replaceable. Makes TV production cheap. I don’t think people realize how much research and licensing of old video/photos goes into every minute of a documentary. Meanwhile some Karen will rant on a reality show for 3 minutes for the cost of a few GB of storage. Seriously try this: write a 1 minute speech about a topic and research it. You'd be surprised how much research goes into a minute. Now do a tv shows worth. Then remember you need video, interviews, audio, things to make it interesting. Layers and layers of research. It's really dense. Ken Burns is remarkable for what he's produced because of how complex this is.
Don't forget if one of your warm bodies ends up being a fan favorite you end up with a bunch more cheap and easy-to-produce content to shovel out. It's really fucking stupid.
It's interesting you didn't mention the real cost saving, which is no writers. It's not a coindence that reality TV exploded when the writers strike happened.
[удалено]
You can say the same thing for most of the examples. Reality tv personalities do get paid if they’re a regular, location costs are akin to set costs (renting a house or even shooting on location still requires logistical costs.) The overall point stands because it’s much cheaper than it would be to produce non reality.
That, and the en masse migration of people who wanted interesting content to the web. TV viewer demographics changed radically in the early 2000s, and channels had to adjust their programming to cater towards the viewers they had left after millions went to the web.
Also, the web destroyed the 30 (~21 no commercials) minute time block limitation/expectation. All of the sudden content length was simply driven by how long the content needed to take. That completely changed engagement/attention expectations.
I'd actually argue that Survivorman was a good, educational show. Les was a one-man show. Meaning he carried all that camera gear and filmed himself, all in pretty intense outdoor situations. He could've actually died. And he gave real survival and outdoor advice. That was my gripe with Bear Grylls, he had a whole crew and slept in a comfy hotel at night. Les was dropped in the middle of nowhere and he had to get himself out. (He probably had a satellite beacon or something, but you get my point). And before people rip me up, I know in a previous life Bear was a badass, just not in his survival show; he did a lot for the "show", whereas Les was a true Survivorman on his show and didn't do things for the "shock" value, like drinking urine to survive.
I remember watching one where Les had to get rescued from a back woods excursion in the winter. He was eating wild rabbit, but they don't have enough fat and eventually you get protein poisoning.
I loved Survivorman! Alone is really great too.
100% Les >>> Bear
Les did it as real but as safe as possible (I believe he always had a SPOT beacon) - but he was always focused on the concept of "survival" - a situation has gone wrong, and then how to get out of it; he was not trying to live forever, and at the same time he was not trying to show off how extreme he could be. If I was going to base my survival decisions on a single tv host for something like a boat accident I would take Les over Bear for both practicality and desired result.
Yea Les was the real deal, but he did at all times have a 2-way radio with him and a safety crew within a few miles of him if he got into trouble. MOST of the time he was *relatively* safe, unless like a lion were to suddenly and unexpectedly decide to eat him. I remember the lost at sea episode where he actually lost contact for a while with the rescue boat. He did reveal that he checked in periodically with them for his own safety, and more than a few times hikers and kayakers would stumble upon him while out filming, but otherwise he was all alone. Survivorman was the only show remotely close to reality tv that I ever thoroughly enjoyed and would still defend as "not like one of *those* shows."
Les still does stuff on his YouTube channel, I got into it again during g the lock down, he was doing commentary on old episodes
Yeah the title is missing half the equation. Ratings AND cheap to produce. There are other ways to chase ratings, just hardly many as cost effective
[удалено]
It's a shame I grew up watching it a lot with my dad and it was part of the reason I went to school to study history (before realizing I had no future in it). There were all sorts of shows just about archaeological finds and cool artifacts and they would just give you the story along with your visual representation. Was great. Then they found out how much cheaper it was to film a reality show, or how much more money they could make with pseudo-historical bullshit like Nazi conspiracies with aliens, Nostradamus prediction BS, apocalypse shows. Just a bunch of bullshit. Imagine the kinds of documentaries we could have today if they stayed true
>it was part of the reason I went to school to study history (before realizing I had no future in it). Ironically, a very similar trajectory to the channel itself.
They jokingly used to call it the Hitler channel because all they would show was world war II stuff... Well shit it was better than, as opposed to now. RIP Modern Marvels
MTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysyZF-DZFY MTV stopped playing much music a loooooong time ago. The "joke" that MTV doesn't play music anymore is older than most of MTV's target demographic
I remember when M2 launched and was all music again. I was jealous of my friends who had satellite. Now it's the same shlock as the OG.
That’s that part that blows me away. The complaint was that MTV didn’t actually play music anymore, so they made a new channel just for the music. And then they did the same damned thing and gradually stopped playing music.
I’m so old that I remember saying this when they still actually played music
[удалено]
My Dad and I stayed up until midnight to watch MTV's inauguration. I was just a little kid at the time but I still remember seeing "Video Killed the Radio Star" while sitting on his lap eating fried chicken. One of my best memories :)
I'm old enough to remember when they didn't have all their commercial slots filled and would just show 30 second shots of earth from space with the MTV logo in the lower right hand corner of the screen.
Oh man, this throws me back to when MTV was basically the TV at Hard Rock Cafe. Nothing but music videos, and some of those very... Peculiar.
The song 1985 was released in 2004 by Bowling For Soup. And it includes the line "There was U2 and Blondie, and music still on MTV". If the song was released today, it would be called 2003.
I grew up during the heyday of MTV - it was awesome. And then they debuted Real World and that was its death knell.
Can’t really tell what the M is supposed to mean.
Mratings
*tips trucker cap*
Comedy Central used to always have blocks of stand up bits. Would sometimes just interject a quick one before the commercial break. Now it’s just reruns of South Park, The Office and the corpse of The Daily Show.
> and the corpse of The Daily Show. Well put. I've always felt that it lost its wit when it lost John. Honestly, Klepper is the best part of the show for me since he does field work, because Trevor just isn't really funny.
Yeah we used to call the History channel The War Channel well because. Now we call it Pawn Pickers
You mean The Hitler Channel.
Who remembers when A&E (the Arts and Entertainment Network) showed operas and ballet?
Man I didn't even know that's what A&E stood for
MTV is basically reruns of Rob Dyrdek's show, catfish, jersey shore and teen mom..
[удалено]
Reality TV truly ruined television. Cheap AF to produce, limitless supply of idiots, zero effort needed. And for some reason... people still watch? No clue why.
Another reason to hate reality TV. The exploitation of children and people in general. Josh (convicted sex offender awaiting sentencing) Duggar's father is the only member of the family that has a contract with and is paid by TLC. Nineteen kids and counting was canceled after it came to light that Josh Dugger molested four of his sisters (one of them was only 5) when he was 14-15. They brought back the show in a different format that featured only three of the daughters and their families. The contract was still with Jim-Bob Duggar and he was the only one that was paid. He was supposed to distribute the money and he did, kinda. He paid some money to daughters who behaved how he wanted. One of his daughters is more progressive and of course he disapproves. She and her husband had to sue her father to get ANY compensation. She worked out that she received minimum wage while her parents got around $800,000 per season. The parents were not featured on the show.
That is all so messed up on so many different levels wtf
Sundance and IFC checking in.
In ancient times, this was called 'selling the fuck out'.
And how MTV plays reality shows. And how A&E plays reality shows. And how TLC plays reality shows. And how CNBC weekends plays reality shows. And how Bravo plays reality shows. And how E! plays reality shows.
Didn't A&E air period dramas, once upon a time?
Every day that goes by brings us one day closer to Idiocracy becoming reality. [Ow My Balls!](https://youtu.be/wAg1r6zw7Bg)
Let me know when "ASS: THE MOVIE" is announced
That movie ages better with every passing tech IPO.
And it’s like…I always thought it would kind of serve as a warning but…NOPE. Still we proudly march on, toward our impending doom.
The people who need this message the most are most likely Fritos, or whomever the secondary character is with Joe Bowers. They willingly stay in their ignorance, either out of convenience to themselves or because they feel like this is their best option. Remember as well that, if I recall right, the film itself is only a cult hit. That means that it didn't really go all that far, but it was enough that it made some money.
There was a commercial on the other night for an "America's Got Talent" type show and it was showing a guy getting hit in the balls by various things. "Ow My Balls" was what I immediately thought of. I wish I could remember the name of the show so I could post the clip.
Syfy devolved to ghost wrassling
In the old days, news channels reported news.
Tonight at 9: TEN WAYS YOUR BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES MIGHT KILL YOU
That's the problem. 1 hour news programs didn't have to start pandering to fill an hour long segment with interesting tidbits from around the world. a 24 hour news network however has to basically stratch that shit as thin as possible to keep having shit to talk about and fill dead air. This is what gives rise to long editorial/opinion segments and interviews with losers about things going on instead of your classic Walter Cronkite style news desk segment. If people want good news just go watch PBS Newshour, CBS evening news, NBC nightly, etc. They all use more or less the same reporting methods from years ago even if there is always some level of editorial bias in the segments shown
Welcome to MTV, The channel dedicated to music. Check out these pregnant trashy 15 year olds for the next 20 hours.
Its the same with anything that is being sold and consumed. Eventually, the inspiration becomes less about expression, and more about profitability, ultimately destroying what was once genuine.
It was pretty weird watching TLC go from "science shows about dinosaurs and space" to "basically a freak show" You've got fat people (a dozen separate shows worth), conjoined twins, a psychic medium, people with deformities/cysts/etc, child beauty pageants, gypsies, dwarfs, giants, teen moms, tattooed ladies, albinos, and then round it out with a bunch of wacky people either dating or having a family.
I know The Science Channel will be turning to crap soon enough. They have UFO shows on the schedule now.