You're friend... Cable Television

[Randy & Betty in Pa]

Yes remember back when you only could get three television channels using either the antenna on the roof or the rabbit ears? When you think back it seems to me there was always something worth watching on...I mean WOR TV in New York had the "Million Dollar Movie", featuring movies like Gunga Din, or "The Day the Earth Stood Still" four times a day... and you know at that, the quality of the movies was usually good enough that it wasn't so horrible to watch a movie multiple times in a week... Or the Saturday morning programing of the 1950's & 60's... Featuring such classics as "Circus Boy", "Sea Hunt", "I led three lives", "Rin tin tin". "Whirly Birds", "Lassie" and lest us not forget "The many loves of Dobbie Gillis".
Now with todays advanced technology of cable television I recieve about 100 channels and you know with such selection (and additional cost) I often wonder why there is nothing on? I mean 0f the hundred channels 9 are reiligious programming.... 72 are infomercials, then of course are a few that have no purpose to live such as MTV and VHR.... I guess if your under 14 and enjoy rapp or hip hop the music channels offer something...There are at times some pluses.... The History Channel, The Learning Channel, The Sci -fi channel, The Animal Channel, Nova, and some PBS stations...But all in all when it comes right down to it I still get three channels that usually offer movies... It just seems the quality of the movies has suffered so much over the years...
Janis thank you for making me get a DVD player to watch Club Cafe....Between that and the VCR sometimes Life can be salvaged...

Incidently if you get the Sci-Fi Channel... take a look at the remakes of the "Doctor Who" series... Its shows some promise of being ok... Where's Sci-Fi Mystery Theatre 3000 when ya need it???

Best to all

R... From Pa

[Denise]

..and remember when you actually had to get up off the couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel??!!!

..and you actually watched one whole show all the way thru???
( my husband is a channel surfer ....aaaaaaaccccccccckkkkkkkk.... drives me nuts! :eek: )

..yup... 3 channels...it was quite nice ...
Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights...Leave it to Beaver...Lassie...

I haven't told ANYONE yet.... but I just received the entire Gidget (Sally Field) series on DVD :o

[AceOn6]

For me, the proliferation seems to have diluted the talent so that much is mediocre at best. With little competition, Sid Caesar could keep 4 insanely talented writers. With little competition, Sullivan could pick the best of everything. With little competition, Hallmark had its pick of the best writers of the generation. Same for Twilight Zone.

I stick with mostly with sports, PBS, Bravo and TLC. I don't care for crime or legal shows, so there's not much on mainstream TV to catch my attention.

[Oak Kitten]

I watch PBS mostly. BBC News, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NOVA, etc. I used to be a Law and Order addict, but have kicked that habit. Only other shows I watch with any regularity are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Oak

[hoops]

yes i remember the days of 3 channels and only one that really came in clear. i remember also "watching" the american hockey team defeat the ussr in the olympics on a black and white tv with a blown tube so there was one line of light across the center of the screen we had more than one of those tv's... does anyone remeber the days when if the tv...radio, etc, broke, you had it fixed??? as far as cable tv goes i could live with it or without it, it would just changehow much news i have to deal with escaping... I can't stand to watch the news... it scares me. not the truth of it, but the opinion of it

[Dee]

I clearly recall when we had a black & white television, with an antenna on top of a pole outside my parent’s bedroom window. When we wanted to “tune-in” one of 5 channels, someone always had to go out and turn the pole by hand as whoever was watching the TV would yell to be heard outside – no left, no right – until that’s it. Oy. How I envied families that had automatic tuners indoors. Especially in Winter.

Eventually cable TV came to town and a colour set to our house. I remember the first colour show we watched was The Young and the Restless (a soap opera for those of you overseas.)

I subscribe now to basic cable, and a handful of specialty channels like A&E and Discovery channel. Years ago I tried out Digital Cable with a zillion channels, until I realized there was nothing worth paying that much money for on it.

Like Hoops, TV news is something I try to avoid. I prefer to choose what goes into my mind and get my news online usually – from what I consider reliable sources.

Mainly I like to watch shows that teach me something, but for zoning out time I will also watch funny or zany ones like The Simpsons or Everybody Loves Raymond – usually in reruns. For drama, I consider Law & Order well written, produced and acted.

Reality shows I can’t comprehend. Competition shows I find dull and snoring. No offense to anyone who enjoys them, but sports, American Idol, Canadian Idol ... zzzzz.

[Eva]

..and remember when you actually had to get up off the couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel??!!!

Yes, I do!
And (mom, dad, brother & me) none of us felt like doing it because the one that stands up to change the channel was also the one who got to get drinks and snacks for everyone. Because "you're standing anyway". So we sat through a show which none of us liked just to avoid being the one to stand up. Untill someone really couldn't stand it anymore or untill someone had to pee. Usually my dad gave in first. :D

Eva

[sister rose]

lol, Eva...that sounds exactly like my family!!!!

When my kids were little, though, my son would take the remote to the bathroom with him so his younger sister couldn't change the channel while he was gone. It was years before she found out you could change it without the remote (he wasn't about to tell her). :rolleyes:

[Denise]

Do you all remember that once-a-year anticipation of seeing the Wizard of Oz on TV?
We made such a big deal of it...all got in our pj's, got out the snacks and drinks....
It was such a wonderful "family" night!

[sister rose]

oooh...yes! That was so much fun! :D I never really cared much about television, but, that was one night that we always planned out days ahead of time..;)

[Eva]

The Wizard of Oz movie with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson made me hate that story forever. Horrible movie... Sorry, no special memories there. But we did have special Sundays though. If we weren't going anywhere I could watch "The programme with the mouse" (childrensprogramme) and "Star Trek". Yes, the one and only original ones with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and all my other favourit characters. How I loved childrensprogrammes and everything sci-fi. My mom made me tomatosoup and I could watch television while I used the coffeetable as my dinnertable. Usually I was not allowed to do that because we ate together by the dinnertable. But on Sundays, the rules were different.

Eva

[AceOn6]

But on Sundays, the rules were different.

Same here, half a world away. Sunday night was pizza night. My father would get one pizza to feed the four of us and we'd eat it in the living room while watching TV. I got to watch almost all of Ed Sullivan before bedtime.

Eva, the Wizard of Oz telecast was ALWAYS a big deal. It only came on once a year and was "must see TV"

[Melba]

I watch PBS mostly. BBC News, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NOVA, etc. I used to be a Law and Order addict, but have kicked that habit. Only other shows I watch with any regularity are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Oak
Oh my....that sounds familiar. My mom watches mostly PBS as well. They do have some very good programming. I too, remember the days of the ole antenna and having 3 really good channels and 2 more that came in so-so. My mom still has an antenna...lives outside of town and cable has not come her way. She probably wouldn't get cable anyhow. Why do that when her current channel selection is free and she is happy with it? In fact she had the antenna extended several years ago and bought a new rotary box for it and really it does pull in some clear channels. The only thing wishes she had is CNN and C-SPAN...loves the newsy stuff.

[Chet]

Janis thank you for making me get a DVD player to watch Club Cafe....Between that and the VCR sometimes Life can be salvaged...
VCR? You still have VCR? :D

[gisli]

"Bottom Of The Sea" and U.F.O. was my favorite then of course Star Trek, the original series with Kirk, The Saint with Roger Moore and The Flintstones

Wonder if any of the new space shows are any good like Stargate, Farscape, Babylon 5 etc?