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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 8, 2017 9:17:42 GMT
(Posted this on the Classic Film Board. For those who don't go to the CFB and might be interested, here it is.)
I'd like to see a TCM for TV. That is, a channel that treats TV programs the way TCM treats movies
Is it worth doing?
How would it work?
We've seen some channels do this sort of thing in small ways ever since the old Nick at Nite in the 80s. You also have nostalgia channels like ME. But could a channel aimed for entertainment rather than only nostalgia succeed?
It would be nice to have a place for the best live TV dramas of the '50s
Some nights could be dedicated to variety, sitcoms, westerns, cops and private eyes, documentaries, shows, etc.
And maybe behind the scenes documentaries, on things like the Warners TV factory, the rise and fall of the TV western, the Golden Age of comedy-variety, and so on.
Perhaps this channel could break away from the template of stripping/one rerun per weekday as you show every single episode of the series. Let's say you're showing a series that ran for one season and produced 30 episodes. 10 of these episodes are very good. You can show those episodes as part of a block with other, similar programs. This channel would not air programs in the standard strip 5 format. Instead it would, say, have a westerns night and show a Gunsmoke, a Have Gun Will Travel, a Rawhide, and a Wagon Train. The next night could be sketch comedy with Your Show Of Shows, Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, etc...
This idea has been rattling around my brain since the '80s, when I read in TV Guide that the CBC had an all night show where a guy played a CBC night watchman and would play stuff from the CBC archives (anybody remember that show?). The TVG article claimed that a US network (NBC I think) was considering doing the same sort of show.
I was so excited, thinking of all the great NBC stuff that would become available. Of course, that never happened... But ever since I've thought about how it might be done on cable.
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persephone
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It's a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.
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Post by persephone on May 12, 2017 12:50:11 GMT
This is a good idea. I think it could work if done correctly.
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Lynx
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Post by Lynx on May 12, 2017 14:30:06 GMT
I'm in !!! I'd even pay a $7.00 a month subscription. Multiply that with at least 500,000 Seniors households and you've got yourself a channel.
Too bad the original 3 networks never thought of that instead of putting those stupid infomercials on constantly. It's like a huge chunk of society has been totally ignored, not to mention that the young people of today have no clue as to those old shows and actors. Hey, maybe the History channel should get involved.
Get a petition, talk to Ted Turner, or someone with money to get it started....you would definitely have a following.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on May 12, 2017 18:26:28 GMT
I agree completely! I've thought about this many times. TVLand could have become the TCM of television but it went in the opposite direction.
I really wish someone would do this because there are so many TV gems out there that are nearly forgotten now.
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Post by naterdawg on Jun 10, 2017 21:25:46 GMT
It would be great to see hour-long shows that aren't shredded to ribbons for commercials. Perry Mason has all kinds of scenes cut on MeTV.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2017 16:19:32 GMT
I'm such a fan of the older movies and older TV shows, and to be honest, it galls me to see what covers the airways
today, so much reality tv and infomercials about beauty products, hair care and cooking products. Demographics much?
It's a wonderful market to tape into, and I'd love for it to be more available. As it is I get my classic TV fix
from Netflix because there's nothing out there. And when it is, as was mentioned, it's shredded for commercials.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 29, 2017 11:30:16 GMT
I'd like to see such a channel do a special week where each day they recreate a vintage TV schedule, starting with a 1950s-themed Monday and ending with a 1990s-themed Friday, using the shows which are available. They could use my schedule threads as a basis.
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Flynn
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Post by Flynn on Jul 14, 2017 2:12:12 GMT
I'd like to see such a channel do a special week where each day they recreate a vintage TV schedule, starting with a 1950s-themed Monday and ending with a 1990s-themed Friday, using the shows which are available. They could use my schedule threads as a basis. I'd even love a full representation of a specific night of TV, complete with the same commercial breaks. How awesome would it be to see something like the full NBC evening lineup from October 1974, second Tuesday of the month? (Or any night and channel.) I've also long wanted a chanel that played nothing but failed TV series, series, say, where there was a season or less of episodes. I would especially love a focus on TV series that were never picked up. Just pilots. A lot of bad stuff, but I bet there would be a few shows you'd scratch your head about as to why it was never green lit as a series. |
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jul 14, 2017 2:26:22 GMT
I'd like to see such a channel do a special week where each day they recreate a vintage TV schedule, starting with a 1950s-themed Monday and ending with a 1990s-themed Friday, using the shows which are available. They could use my schedule threads as a basis. I'd even love a full representation of a specific night of TV, complete with the same commercial breaks. How awesome would it be to see something like the full NBC evening lineup from October 1974, second Tuesday of the month? (Or any night and channel.) I've also long wanted a chanel that played nothing but failed TV series, series, say, where there was a season or less of episodes. I would especially love a focus on TV series that were never picked up. Just pilots. A lot of bad stuff, but I bet there would be a few shows you'd scratch your head about as to why it was never green lit as a series. I've viewed some "unofficial" DVD releases of pilots and some of them weren't half-bad. Often, it was fun seeing famous stars in something different. Back in the 1960s a lot of unsold pilots were shown in the summer. The networks felt this was better than re-runs, and I agree. In a few cases these unsold pilots, after getting shown on TV, were given a second chance with some re-tooling. I believe "The Dick Van Dyke Show" was an example of this. Regarding the original commercials, there's lots of copies of 1950s shows with original commercials intact (not just kinescopes of live shows, but also prints of filmed shows that were made for affiliates which couldn't broadcast the show during its original airing). 1970s shows with original ads are rare, but some do exist (the UCLA film and television archive, for example, holds various examples of this from ABC). |
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Post by telegonus on Jul 15, 2017 7:54:21 GMT
I'd love to see it, though I can understand why it may never happen. A TCM for classic television downsides: there's no critical consensus as to which TV shows are great, or even good, which ones not. What Turner had going for him was several decades of movies as an art form appreciated by critics, scholars, sociologists and others who were fascinated and charmed by the Hollywood of most of the last century.
One may not agree with the aesthetics of some of the programmers of classic films on TCM and elsewhere but overall there's more agreement than disagreement, and also a kind of near Smithsonian commitment to preserving and showing old movies that doesn't seem to be there, or not to the same extent, for television.
More downsides: a lot of what enthusiasm there is for old TV shows seems to be more nostalgic than aesthetic. Getting more than a bit pompous here? Maybe so. Yet there's more emphasis on Me and other channels on wildly popular shows that catered to the lowest common denominator viewer (to be blunt) rather than the best shows, which is why there's more Gilligan than Paladin, more QM and Aaron Spelling shows than Hitchock and Serling ones.
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