The Good Old Days: The Things We Miss In the Modern TV Era - And The Ones We Don't

[Vermicious Knid]

I miss knowing everything on the schedule when it was only 3 networks and, depending on where you lived, local stations. 

[Affogato]

On 9/3/2024 at 5:54 PM, ElleryAnne said:

My Two Dads and Perfect Strangers were always my favorite opening songs.  And Twin Peaks, for instrumental.

 

True Blood

[MissAlmond]

I miss -

HLN - when it was Headline News and rotated news/weather/sports/entertainment.

TLC - when it was The Learning Channel and featured educational content.

AMC - American Movie Classics showing uncut movies. It's why I know Nick Clooney outside of being Rosemary Clooney's brother and George Clooney's father. 

A&E - The Arts and Entertainment Channel, along with Bravo, showcasing the arts.

The History Channel being about History, even though it mainly focused on WWII. 

The Food Network being about food. The Travel Network being about travel. Is The Biography Channel still around? I used to love their historical biographies. 

Edited September 5 by MissAlmond

[Raja]

45 minutes ago, MissAlmond said:

I miss -

 Is The Biography Channel still around? I used to love their historical biographies. 

They are, they seem to mostly do celebrities as opposed to historical figures. At least in prime time when I am likely to surf the TV guide.

[tearknee]

I hate the 1990s and later trend of cameos from earlier shows.

 

As according to TFPOBA, Arnold Jackson is almost thirty and... still living with his adoptive white father? ^_^

Edited September 5 by tearknee

[Raja]

1 hour ago, tearknee said:

I hate the 1990s and later trend of cameos from earlier shows.

 

As according to TFPOBA, Arnold Jackson is almost thirty and... still living with his adoptive white father? ^_^

Of course TV was a strong advocate of launching the kids. Normally only southern and eastern European ethnic families would have adult children at the family's home. Except the Meathead of course 

[Bastet]

11 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

HLN - when it was Headline News and rotated news/weather/sports/entertainment.

I miss all the things you listed, but particularly agree with this one -- I could tune in any time and quickly get up to speed on what had happened so far that day. 

Edited September 6 by Bastet

[Blergh]

I miss the days when A&E Network stood for Arts and Entertainment and LIVED UP to that via having intellectual and somewhat high brow entertainment. Now?! As IF!

 

Same goes for the days when TLC truly lived up to having been The Learning Channel with thoughtful & insightful documentaries and instructional programming!

 

[tearknee]

TLC does teach - why J McCurdy's book title is accurate.

 

Edited September 6 by tearknee

[Palimelon]

I think I preferred most of those channels from from the mid 90s to the early 2000s.

God I feel old now.

[tearknee]

If you were born the same year as the woman who played Marcia on TBB? You would be 68 this year.

 

And If you were born the same year as Tracey Gold? 55.

[tearknee]

I don't miss Very Special Episodes ("You're blossoming, Blossom!")

 

Bystander: "What"s CPR?"

 

Cherie Johnson: [half groggy and looking at her friend Punky]: "You?"

 

[Punky Brewster punches Cherie unconcious and hurridly filtches her child sized purse and then does a Road Runner act, never having intended to genuinely help].

 

BTTF II is so adaptable..... ^_^

 

[tearknee]

When we lived in AZ, we had the Power Company of the Damned. They would cut you off as soon as they legally could. Mom was in their office once while the dispatcher and the service dude were talking about arranging a cut-off, and swore to me and my brother that those two were getting sexually aroused by the idea.

T'was a very, very weird place (both the office and

Spoiler

the Phoenix area

).

[Lugal]

On 9/5/2024 at 6:48 AM, MissAlmond said:

A&E - The Arts and Entertainment Channel, along with Bravo, showcasing the arts.

Yeah, I'm old enough to remember when A&E was still artistic and entertaining.

[chitowngirl]

TV theme songs-Mike Post and Pete Carpenter had so many that they released an album of them

[tearknee]

Pete Myers, as Mad Daddy was a nighttime hit on WJW and WHK in Cleveland, OH in 1958.

Not only was he a popular presence on Cleveland's radio dial but he also hosted record hops and live after-midnight shows dressed in a Count Dracula costume.

In July 1959 he moved to New York City and WNEW-AM, where, amazingly, he persuaded management to let him do Mad Daddy in the evening 8 to midnight time slot. That lasted just one night. WNEW-AM was buried in complaints from its non-teenage audience so Mad Daddy quickly morphed into polished DJ Pete Myers playing Standards music for the next four years at WNEW-AM.

In 1963, he moved over to Top 40 WINS and resurrected "Mad Daddy".

Working without a script, Myers’ cackling, fast-paced banter included special effects with mixed in rhymes. He was as ingenius and as spontaneous as any you will hear today.

But, after two years, WINS changed its format to all news so in 1965 he returned to WNEW-AM and was, once again, just Pete Myers and Mad Daddy was over for good.

He remained at WNEW-AM until 1968 when he took his own life at the age of just forty.

Edited September 7 by tearknee

[Irlandesa]

On 9/3/2024 at 9:53 AM, Raja said:

When TV seasons lasted half of the year and the choice of three shows everyone knew that they couldn't hide JR dying on Dallas. I can't remember if it was organic or CBS pushed "who shot JR?" into the  national obsession. 

It was both.  Marketing created the phrase predicting that the mystery would be big and people would have something to latch onto in order to discuss it.  Merch was even sold and it became a part of the election that year. 

The interest was organic but marketing was ready to help make it happen.

On 9/3/2024 at 11:23 AM, GHScorpiosRule said:

The lyrics for Family Ties were cut in syndication airings. Like, only the first two lines, and then the chorus. Boo!

I know.  I can't remember what show I was watching on streaming and I was surprised when the opening credits kept going and going. I knew they were longer back then but I had forgotten how much longer. I think the credits for the show I was watching lasted over two minutes. 

On 9/5/2024 at 9:09 PM, Blergh said:

I miss the days when A&E Network stood for Arts and Entertainment and LIVED UP to that via having intellectual and somewhat high brow entertainment. Now?! As IF!

And what about Bravo?  That used to be a high-brow channel as well.  These days, they would have just rebranded and changed the channel name.  It's amusing when these very different channels hold an old name as a reminder of what they actually used to be.

Edited September 8 by Irlandesa

[SusieQ]

On 9/4/2024 at 7:12 PM, meep.meep said:

What We do in the Shadows has a great theme song!  Lyrics and a catchy tune.

fun fact

Norma Cecilia Tanega wrote songs for Dusty Springfield and other prominent musicians. She also wrote "You're Dead", which was used as the theme song of the film What We Do in the Shadows and the TV series of the same name.

Also, They were romantic partne rs for a few years.

[MissAlmond]

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

And what about Bravo?  That used to be a high-brow channel as well.  These days, they would have just rebranded and changed the channel name.  It's amusing when these very different channels hold an old name as a reminder of what they actually used to be.

In my post, I included the program shift to Bravo along with A&E. Today, knowing how certain channel's abbreviations came about, remains the only clue of its original content and purpose. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, MissAlmond said:

In my post, I included the program shift to Bravo along with A&E.

Ha.  Before I posted I reviewed only the beginning of each line.  But still my personal favorite big change channel.

[Palimelon]

So are these we are supposed to miss or don't miss in the modern TV era?

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, tearknee said:

Just relating interesting radio stories that i know.

That should go in the Beyond TV section; here's a link to the Radio thread in that section's Music forum.

[tearknee]

Just now, Bastet said:

That should go in the Beyond TV section; here's a link to the Radio thread in that section's Music forum.

Thank you. Maybe my stories can be moved there?

[Bastet]

Just now, tearknee said:

Thank you. Maybe my stories can be moved there?

You can use the report option on those two posts, select Admin-Backend as the reason, and ask that the posts be moved (include the link to that Radio thread to make it easy for whoever handles the report).  Or you could copy and paste and post the content there yourself, then report the two here and ask that they be removed - that might be less work for the admins and thus happen faster, I am not sure.

[tearknee]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

You can use the report option on those two posts, select Admin-Backend as the reason, and ask that the posts be moved (include the link to that Radio thread to make it easy for whoever handles the report).  Or you could copy and paste and post the content there yourself, then report the two here and ask that they be removed - that might be less work for the admins and thus happen faster, I am not sure.

Thank you, again, Bastet.