Are we Spoiled? (1 Viewer)

[Statskeeper]

The ION station around here is infomercials from 11p to 5p the next day (earlier on Friday for educational programming). I need to hook up my HD OTA converter box - I think they use one of the subchannels for that programming.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Great days. TNT, in its original form, was such a great channel (the only real downsides were the commercial breaks, some time/content edits, and the general lack of letterboxing of widescreen movies), delivering for classic TV fans, movie fans and animation/cartoon fans alike. I'm kicking myself for not taping CAIN'S HUNDRED and THE TRAVELS OF JAMIE MCPHEETERS when I had the chance, however (mainly because I was taping so many movies from TNT and AMC at that time).

I could see the writing on the wall, though, when the channel started premiering "TNT Original" movies like THE WATER ENGINE, and adding sporting events (first soccer, then football). Nothing against you sports fans, or the possible merits of films like THE WATER ENGINE, but once this form of programming is added to a national network, the interesting and/or obscure stuff tends to go bye-bye fairly quickly. Ultimately, like so many other formerly-worthwhile channels, it became a clone of the USA Network (itself a once-cool channel, back in the days of NIGHT FLIGHT, COMMANDER USA'S GROOVIE MOVIES, and reruns of DRAGNET, LAND OF THE GIANTS and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR).

Sadly, even back in the glory days of TVLAND, they had a ton of shows they didn't bother to air regularly. This was evident when they had their annual "Ultimate TV Fan" contest. The winner got his/her own weekly hour slot in the TV LAND schedule (for a year) to air whatever they wanted from the channel's "vaults". I witnessed one-time broadcasts of THE MILLIONAIRE, M SQUAD, HAWAIIAN EYE, 77 SUNSET STRIP, MR. TERRIFIC, etc, this way.

A couple of other channels were notable for the vintage TV they aired, back in the day:

The Sci-Fi Channel, in the 1990s, had Boris Karloff's THRILLER, KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE, ONE STEP BEYOND (non-pd, though they did add some awful new comuter-animated opening credits to it), THE INVADERS, DARKROOM, Filmation's animated FANTASTIC VOYAGE and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, SCIENCE FICTION THEATER, LIGHTS OUT, TALES OF TOMORROW, THE IMMORTAL (1970), UFO (before the DVD release), STINGRAY (ditto), CAPTAIN SCARLET & THE MYSTERONS (ditto), H.G. WELLS' INVISIBLE MAN (ditto), etc.

Encore-Mystery in the late 1990s, was the best of all, a glimpse at what a TCM-esque presentation of classic TV could be like; though they only offered a couple of series at any given time (since they were/are mainly a movie channel), on weekday afternoons, you could see un-cut, commercial-free episodes of THE NAME OF THE GAME, MIKE HAMMER (1958-59, Darren McGavin), RICHARD DIAMOND, THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR, NIGHT GALLERY, THE AVENGERS (prior to A&E's DVD releases), THE NEW AVENGERS (ditto), PETER GUNN (ditto), THE SAINT (ditto), DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT (ditto), THE PRISONER (ditto). Plus many 70s made-for-TV movies like GARGOYLES and BIRDS OF PREY. The channel declined in quality a few years ago, scaling way back the number pre-1980s films, and ditching their TV series, with the exception of the 1980s incarnation of MIKE HAMMER with Stacy Keach, and that's long gone now, too.

Encore-Action was pretty good, for a little while, airing un-cut, commercial-free episodes of COMBAT (though time-compressed, like the subsequent DVD releases), THE GREEN HORNET, TIME TUNNEL (before its DVD release) and THE PERSUADERS (ditto). Those days are over, as well.

Encore-Westerns is the only one out of the Encore bunch that is still keeping the faith, with un-cut/commercial free episodes of THE RIFLEMAN, BAT MASTERSON, THE BIG VALLEY, THE GENE AUTRY SHOW, CIMARRON STRIP and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. In the past they've run ALIAS SMITH & JONES, THE WESTERNER, THE VIRGINIAN and GUNSMOKE (the hour-long black & white episodes), among others.

 

[Ric Easton]

I'm only about halfway thru this thread, but I had to respond to RickER's comment...

And I thought I was the only one! For some reason most Trek episodes worked really well as audio. Six Million Dollar Man, not so much (but I tried it!). And the last time I experienced the final Mary Tyler Moore episode, it was also on one of my audio cassettes (only viewed the episode once). Unfortunately, that's been gone for over 20 years.

 

[RickER]

My parents, and 2 sisters, to this day tease me about it. How could i have known i would "own" this stuff to watch when i wanted! Star Trek was like a radio play, that just happened to be on TV. I always knew what was going on just listening to it. I might not have even seen the episode. I had an aunt who would tape episodes i missed. What a fantastic aunt she was!
I tried as well with T6MDM, your right, it didnt work. Mission:Impossible was even worse but at least i always liked the music to both shows!

You can tell your wife your not alone Ric, and i will tell mine! Even if they wont belive us.

 

[Ric Easton]

Y'know, I may not have ever mentioned that fun-filled fact to my wife! Nor the fact that I would take all the music and sound effects and make my own radio dramas with me as Captain Kirk.

Years later, in college, I made a 15 minute animated movie, starring me and my dorm-mates as space travelers on a ship similar to The Enterprise (called the "Waterbury" after our dorm). It was based on a comic-strip I did for the dorm back then.

With all this going on, it still amazes me that I was able to find girls to date!

Ah, memories!

 

[Cowboy]

I totally agree about Tv Land,they put on shows that are out
on dvd and I hate what they have become.I remember taping a lot
of shows on Tv Land years ago,Cade's County,Petrocelli,Get Christy
Love,Baretta,Ironside and Switch.

 

[Tim Tucker]

Actually, this was most widespread than you think. There is a great extra on the Doctor Who: The Invasion DVD about British fans who recorded the audio of that show. And we're lucky that they did; those off-air soundtracks are the only thing surviving from the 108 missing 60s episodes.