Retro TV Channels: ”The Good Old Days of Television”

[Minivanessa]

8 minutes ago, auntjess said:

Thanks.  It's Comcast in my area, and I have U-verse.
I don't know how to do those decimal point channels, 12.2.  That may only work without cable.

Yep. The 12.1 (or 12-2) are over the air channels. I have my bedroom TV connected to an indoor antenna, and my living room TV is attached not only to cable but to antenna too. I live in a upstairs condo, in an area with a lot of over the air (OTA) channels, and I get those OTA channels with lovely HD reception. 

You can check your area's lineup of OTA channels by address at https://www.antennaweb.org/. My indoor antenna is a flat one, like this: http://amzn.to/2dIQguc The AntennaWeb site has info on antennas. Obviously it's not one size fits all. I gave up cable TV for a couple of years and having the OTA channels plus what I could stream via my Roku was pretty much all the TV I needed. Two years ago I succumbed and got cable again, and now I'm beginning to wonder if it's really been worth it. Although I do watch a lot of the cable channels.

[annzeepark914]

I Married Joan.  Now that's going back.  I think it was a couple years ago I was scrolling through the channels and came upon that show. Wow.  It was a trip back into my childhood. Loved the theme song. Haven't seen any old Topper shows but I remember enjoying it as a little kid.  I remember watching I Love Lucy but not really liking it all that much.  All her shenanigans made me worry about her (for the time, in each episode, when Ricky would find out whatever she did) and that was not fun for a kid.

[auntjess]

We didn't watch Lucy at home.
My father wouldn't put an antenna on the roof, so we only got NBC and DuMont channels.  But I probably watched things most people never heard of.
Here's wikipedia, with prime time schedules back then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952–53_United_States_network_television_schedule
 

Edited October 3, 2016 by auntjess

[annzeepark914]

What show was "Albert" on? or was his name "Alfred"?  He recently died.  My sister and I adored him for all of his sweet dorkiness.  Private Secretary?  Meet Millie?  I just looked at that schedule and it was fascinating seeing all those old shows.  I grew up 60 miles out of NYC so we got all their stations thank goodness.  One channel had movies on The Early Show, The Late Show, and The Late Late Show (I never stayed up for that one!)  Even though TV back then was limited compared to today, there were some quality programs with good writing.

[auntjess]

I remember Ethel and Albert, a couple, he (Alan Bunce) died in 1965.
Can't think of who Albert would be, who recently died.  Post if you remember it.

[Mumbles]

Holey moley. I was just watching a Sonny and Cher rerun on GetTv. (It was all over the place, but had surpisingly sharp satire of Love Story, but I digress....)

At the end of the show, Sonny and Cher were doing their goodbyes and Chastity had come out and was as cute as a button and Cher was talking to her about school and her friends, and Cher starts to tell a story, "Chastity came into my room a few days ago and told me she didn't want to be a girl anymore...." Chastity laughed and covered Cher's mouth.  But wow, Chas/Chastity knew at such an early age!

[auntjess]

Wow.
I watched reruns of this some years ago, and it must have been an early one, because Cher had bad teeth, and in later ones she doesn't.
That's something I also notice on early game shows, the adult contestants, especially woman, often didn't have braces and such growing up, and their mouths look different from shows of today.

[Mumbles]

Like many of you, I experience "I can't believe I loved this show so much when I was a kid" syndrome with Sonny and Cher. But sometimes it can be very sharp. And their opening shtick was always funny. Cher had great comic timing and some great jokes:

Cher: I called your mother to tell her to expect the pitter-patter of little feet.

Sonny: Oh Cher! You...you're?...

Cher: You're staying over at her house tonight.

**

Cher: Let's have a dinner party tonight.

Sonny: That's great! We can have some fruits, and some nuts...

Cher: Who said anything about inviting your family? (Okay not entirely PC.)

[Silver Raven]

I was watching an episode of "Wanted: Dead or Alive" on Me-TV and almost choked when Josh Randall tied up his horse in front of a house that had a black jockey out front.  Not something a TV show would do these days.

[annzeepark914]

On 10/2/2016 at 11:14 PM, auntjess said:

I remember Ethel and Albert, a couple, he (Alan Bunce) died in 1965.
Can't think of who Albert would be, who recently died.  Post if you remember it.

Marvin Kaplan was the actor who played Alfred.  Marvin recently passed away.  He had a real NYC accent.  I can't remember what that show was about but I do remember we liked watching it.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044276/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Wow-that's something about Chastity telling her mom as a very young child that she no longer wanted to be a girl.  Those kids know early on. Cher probably thought it was a typical little kid-cute remark and had no idea that her little daughter really meant it.

[auntjess]

I see Meet Millie was on CBS during the years we didn't  get CBS, so  I have no memory of it.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 10/2/2016 at 11:14 PM, auntjess said:

 

I remember Ethel and Albert, a couple, he (Alan Bunce) died in 1965.

 

Wow, I have never seen this, but would love to, since I am a great admirer of the radio version of it ( and its later iteration, The Couple Next Door).  It doesn't seem to have ever been available on home video - did you watch it in the original run or was it in syndication at some point? 

Edited October 5, 2016 by ratgirlagogo

[auntjess]

I watched it when it was on originally.

There are some shows, and some bits of shows, on youtube.
One of them says it was air live, so very few survive.

[Albino]

On 10/4/2016 at 11:18 AM, Mumbles said:

Like many of you, I experience "I can't believe I loved this show so much when I was a kid" syndrome with Sonny and Cher. But sometimes it can be very sharp. And their opening shtick was always funny. Cher had great comic timing and some great jokes:

Cher: I called your mother to tell her to expect the pitter-patter of little feet.

Sonny: Oh Cher! You...you're?...

Cher: You're staying over at her house tonight.

**

Cher: Let's have a dinner party tonight.

Sonny: That's great! We can have some fruits, and some nuts...

Cher: Who said anything about inviting your family? (Okay not entirely PC.)

One of my very favorite lines from the show (paraphrased because I can remember exactly what Sonny said):

Sonny:  Wow.  I just got back from a vacation and feel great.  I have energy, I feel like I could run 10 miles.  Really...I feel like a new man!

Cher:  Me too.

[auntjess]

Who else remembers The Vise, or Mark Saber?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046659/?ref_=adv_li_tt
I seem to remember he had one arm, but that may have been just the character.
 

[bmasters9]

On 10/1/2016 at 3:45 AM, friendperidot said:

I hope this has been long enough since my last post so I'm not double posting. I really hate the tv show on H&I, Kung Fu. The writing was terrible, the acting was terrible, I didn't watch this show when it was on and since it's frequently too much trouble to get up and change channels, I leave it on, but I hope to get the remote problem fixed in the next few days and I won't be back for this show. I'd rather watch cooking shows! Actually, as soon as the remote problem is fixed, I'm getting Netflix turned back on.

No kidding! I've seen the lot DVD release of that 1972-75 ABC Western/adventure series w/David Carradine at the Wal-Mart in Simpsonville recently, but have so far forbore from it because I wasn't sure whether it would be entertaining enough to justify the purchase. I wasn't going to spend the money if it would end up being wasted.

[ennui]

On 10/3/2016 at 7:57 PM, Mumbles said:

Sonny and Cher rerun on GetTv.

Last night, they showed the premiere episode of the Johnny Cash Show. Johnny, June Carter, Roy Clark, Steve Martin, Tanya Tucker as a teen, Jim Varney ... I squee'd, I confess. Will watch next week.

[Mumbles]

I caught the middle-end of Johnny Cash, a glorious rendition of "I'll Fly Away" backed by a gospel choir.

They also had a Merv Griffin rerun at 11. I had vague recollections of Merv (or maybe Merv parodies on SnL) as an obsequious bootlicker so I didn't stick around. I did note that one of the guests was a doctor who was to discuss birth control. I wonder if that could even happen now on daytime TV without some constituency losing their shit about it. 

[ennui]

I watched Merv every afternoon when I got home from school. I preferred him over Mike Douglas.

You should have watched, the interview with Jimmy Carter was interesting.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, ennui said:

I watched Merv every afternoon when I got home from school. I preferred him over Mike Douglas.

My Mom loved Mike Douglas...we never watched Merv at our house.

[roseha]

I watched both Mike and Merv, I watched a ton of talk shows in the old days.

I do remember one amusing moment when Orson Welles was on Merv's show and he casually commented "I never drink wine" - and suddenly gasped because he was making a series of commercials at the time intoning "We will sell no wine before its time". 

[auntjess]

I'd see them occasionally.
On the Aspire channel, I see they're showing episodes of Julia, with Diahann Carroll.  That's another one I watched at the time, but have no interest in revisitng.

[ennui]

On 11/1/2016 at 9:13 PM, roseha said:

I watched both Mike and Merv, I watched a ton of talk shows in the old days.

I do remember one amusing moment when Orson Welles was on Merv's show and he casually commented "I never drink wine" - and suddenly gasped because he was making a series of commercials at the time intoning "We will sell no wine before its time". 

That comment got him fired. 

"The blunt coda to the tale is that Welles was sacked by Paul Masson not long after, for having declared on a US chat show that he never drank Paul Masson’s wine."

[MulletorHater]

All I can say is thank goodness for Antenna TV where I can watch reruns of I Dream of Jeannie while dressing for work in the morning.  The "news" and infotainment shows would have had me snatching myself bald and needing a wig otherwise.  Plus, it's always a thrill to see Larry Hagman, who was my first TV crush when I was growing up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Spooktacular" on Halloween Day with marathon episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Between Antenna TV and MeTV, I've been able to stay sane.  These channels are what Nick at Nite and TV Land used to be!

[Lola16]

On 11/3/2016 at 4:16 PM, auntjess said:

I'd see them occasionally.
On the Aspire channel, I see they're showing episodes of Julia, with Diahann Carroll.  That's another one I watched at the time, but have no interest in revisitng.

Julia was before my time but I enjoyed watching them on Aspire. Once. Not something I can watch multiple repeats of like I can with Bob Newhart or Barney Miller.

Also enjoying Room 222 on Aspire.  Interesting to hear about the generation conflict and how we seem to go through it every 20 years without fail.

[bmoore4026]

Don't know if this goes here, but our cable provider took away my Grit TV and I am not happy.  Got someone channel called Charge in it's place.  Apparently it's where all the movies too shitty for TCM go.

[Jaded]

8 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

Don't know if this goes here, but our cable provider took away my Grit TV and I am not happy.  Got someone channel called Charge in it's place.  Apparently it's where all the movies too shitty for TCM go.

Sorry you lost a decent channel and got that as a replacement. I was googling and all the articles about it came out in the middle of last month so they got it on air quick. It's a channel from Sinclair and MGM. The content looks awful. There's a live stream on their site too which makes me think it's not costing them much to air whatever content they do have.

http://watchcharge.com/

[bmoore4026]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

Sorry you lost a decent channel and got that as a replacement. I was googling and all the articles about it came out in the middle of last month so they got it on air quick. It's a channel from Sinclair and MGM. The content looks awful. There's a live stream on their site too which makes me think it's not costing them much to air whatever content they do have.

http://watchcharge.com/

Oh, this just makes me even more pissed!

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, bmoore4026 said:

Don't know if this goes here, but our cable provider took away my Grit TV and I am not happy.  Got someone channel called Charge in it's place.  Apparently it's where all the movies too shitty for TCM go.

If you have more than one TV, you could disconnect one from cable and put a regular antenna on it to get Grit and some other over-the-air channels you may be missing. I have a Mohu leaf antenna in my window that I bought quite a few years ago, but they now have antennas the size of thumb drives that plug into most modern TVs. If you only have one TV, you could get a cable splitter with a switch so you can alternate between your subscription cable and your antenna cable—if that makes sense.

Edited March 1, 2017 by shapeshifter

[bmoore4026]

52 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

If you have more than one TV, you could disconnect one from cable and put a regular antenna on it to get Grit and some other over-the-air channels you may be missing. I have a Mohu leaf antenna in my window that I bought quite a few years ago, but they now have antennas the size of thumb drives that plug into most modern TVs. If you only have one TV, you could get a cable splitter with a switch so you can alternate between your subscription cable and your antenna cable—if that makes sense.

Seems too complicated.  I think I'll just complain to our cable company.

[Lola16]

We just lost Heroes & Icons and got some religious channel instead. Oy vey!

[Jaded]

I'm glad I get H&I through Uverse.

[WendyCR72]

We only get H&I here OTA, and since we have cable...yeah. So, we have never actually had it even though it's out there. Time Warner here is balking at picking it up.

[ratgirlagogo]

I sympathize with being pissed about losing a channel you liked - but for myself I actually would be happy to get a decent drive-in channel like Charge.  I wish we  did get Heroes and Icons and Comet (MST3K!!!).

[Lola16]

I dunno but my cable bill is now $190 a month (triple play) and I have basic + family - no movie or sports package. That's up from $140 and it's been creeping up $10 every 3 to 4 months. I think if they're going to continue to raise it, they shouldn't be removing channels! But obviously, they disagree :)

[Cobb Salad]

I'm paying close to $100 for cable only service (I'll consider a bundled package whenever Verizon offers FIOS in my area which from the looks of it in my neighborhood should be sometime this year) and my cable company recently moved 2 channels I watch once in a while to a higher tier.  No rate decrease for me, in fact, they increased that broadcast fee and some other fee in January.  I'm thinking of getting on of those leaf antennas myself - I'd miss the cable shows but there's plenty to watch on the digital sub channels.

[friendperidot]

Quote

I don't know how to do those decimal point channels, 12.2.  That may only work without cable.

Aunt Jess, I bought a new "dumb" tv at the end of last year, on the remote next to the "0" is a hyphen, that's how to do the decimal points.

[Minivanessa]

And, yes, the 12.2 or 12-2, are only for over the air channels.

[WendyCR72]

8 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

I'm paying close to $100 for cable only service (I'll consider a bundled package whenever Verizon offers FIOS in my area which from the looks of it in my neighborhood should be sometime this year) and my cable company recently moved 2 channels I watch once in a while to a higher tier.  No rate decrease for me, in fact, they increased that broadcast fee and some other fee in January.  I'm thinking of getting on of those leaf antennas myself - I'd miss the cable shows but there's plenty to watch on the digital sub channels.

Get the antenna and - if you have a Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, or Smart TV - get Sling TV! For $30 and an internet connection, you can still stream the cable channels!

[friendperidot]

Just another opinion, I disconnected Sling this week, had it for a couple of months, after a couple years of antenna, over the air tv, netflix, got a roku, love watching Youtube on my tv, also added Amazon Prime, not for the movies or tvs, but I have watched a couple of movies on it. I found Sling to be difficult to navigate and I just didn't use it. One show a week was not enough to pay $25/$30 a month. Now if Sling had Discovery, Discovery ID and Animal Planet, I might reconsider.

[Jaded]

13 hours ago, friendperidot said:

One show a week was not enough to pay $25/$30 a month. Now if Sling had Discovery, Discovery ID and Animal Planet, I might reconsider.

The Playstation Vue streaming option has all those channels in their lowest package and a few more in the one above it. They lost access to Viacom channels though.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/channels/

[friendperidot]

I don't own a playstation, have zero need for a playstation in my life. however I didn't think I had a need for Amazon's Alexa until I got a new Kindle. I'm still not too sure what to do with Alexa, so far all of our conversations have been about the weather. 

[Jaded]

19 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

I don't own a playstation, have zero need for a playstation in my life. however I didn't think I had a need for Amazon's Alexa until I got a new Kindle. I'm still not too sure what to do with Alexa, so far all of our conversations have been about the weather. 

The Playstation Vue streaming service can be streamed through these devices when watching on TV and others when mobile.....

PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles

Roku (both device and stick)

Amazon Fire TV (both device and stick)

Android TV

Shield Android TV

Apple TV

[Lisin]

30 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

I don't own a playstation, have zero need for a playstation in my life. however I didn't think I had a need for Amazon's Alexa until I got a new Kindle. I'm still not too sure what to do with Alexa, so far all of our conversations have been about the weather. 

I often ask Alexa to set timers/alarms for me or to tell me what time it is when I'm cooking and have my hands full. 

[friendperidot]

the problem with Alexa on the Kindle is that first the device has to be on, then you have to press the button and hold it until the blue line appears and it's only a one time question, have to press the button and hold every time you want to ask something, not exactly convenient for setting timers when your hands are full or when you're cooking. But it's still fun. I want to say something like, "computer, take us out of orbit." or "computer, take us to warp." 

And thanks for the information about playstation, I have a roku device, I haven't seen playstation listed but I'll look into it.

[roseha]

I watch TV, including the retro over the air channels, with a Tivo Premiere that has an outlet for antenna and one for cable.  Unfortunately I don't think the newer Tivos allow this anymore.  I mainly watch Me-TV over 33.1 in the NYC area to see Perry Mason, though they have a lot of other good older shows as well.  I'm afraid to cancel this cable because I'm currently paying about $100 with internet and cable through Spectrum, who took over from Time Warner, but I know I'm being grandfathered for now and if I drop cable I will end up with fewer channels at more cost if I come back.

I do see that Youtube is starting a streaming service with cloud DVR for something like $35 a month later this year.  I would consider that possibly, the biggest problem with services like Sling was the lack of a DVR I thought.  I'd still pay a lot though with Spectrum's charges for internet though.

[Lola16]

Oh I live for my DVR. I've been thinking of cutting my cable but the DVR is a relationship saver!

[whatsatool]

Love Bing Crosby show

On 7/21/2016 at 2:11 AM, shapeshifter said:

I'm going to hope that at least one of the other 40+ free channels I get will at least pick up the rights to air The Closer.

Love Major Case

[auntjess]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 10:03 PM, bmoore4026 said:

Seems too complicated.  I think I'll just complain to our cable company.

Complain on their Facebook page.  It's worked for me with U-verse, and other things. 

[friendperidot]

I did that with AT&T before I had to move last year. There's a "I hate ATT" FB page, who knew? Actually, my problems with my wireless did get fixed because of complaints there.