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

[GHScorpiosRule]

GHSR, there is one lonely little entry on TV Guide Online listing Remington Steele as airing on October 4th at 3:00 p.m. But that's all. Is it correct? Time will tell, I guess!

 

This is me making a *rasberry* like Koba from Rise of the Planet of the Apes at my television screen.  If MeTV is going to continue showing clips of Laura and Mr. Steele, then they should bloody well air the show!  Then again the network as been wonky lately...airing Hogan's Heroes when I am expecting to see Perry Mason--that's what my dvr says what was recorded, or seeing M*A*S*H* when I'm expecting to sit down and watch The Andy Griffith Show! BLEAH!

[editorgrrl]

Help.....

What channel is Odd Couple airing on? I've searched the schedules of Antenna, Cozi, and Me TV and can't find it?

I can't find The Odd Couple airing anywhere for the next two weeks.

[opus]

I can't find The Odd Couple airing anywhere for the next two weeks.

 

I  show Sunday, 10ET, ME-TV, M​yrna's Debut.

[roseha]

I checked over at Titantv.com and METV is indeed showing The Odd Couple at 10 PM Eastern Sundays the next two weeks, so hopefully it stays on for awhile.   I see that The Fugitive and Mission Impossible just popped up on Decades, as well as an episode of Perry Mason.  I was wondering when they were going to show Perry, since it was on CBS all those years.

Edited September 22, 2015 by roseha

[auntjess]

I didn't think that the Donna Reed Show was that popular, but it's always on.
And I can see MASH and Lucy a lot of places.
 

[auntjess]

Tomorrow, Friday 9/25, TCM (Turner Classic Movies),  has a lineup of early drama series, like Philco Theater, and GE Theater.
I think it starts at 8pm ET.
 

[ratgirlagogo]

TCM's running the TV stuff because James Dean is in all of them.  Why today I'm not sure - not his birthday or his death anniversary.

[Cobb Salad]

The description on the TCM site mentions its 5 days before the 60th anniversary of his death, looks like they don't want to displace the guest programming segments on the actual anniversary.

[giovannif7]

Damn, I just checked my DVR for the Antenna TV listings, and it shows My Mother The Car and It's About Time scheduled for tomorrow morning from 10 AM to Noon. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

[retrowatcher]

Me-Tv's fall line-up for 2015 is a disgrace! It's all comedies nearly everywhere except Saturdays! They got rid of "Spies who love me" and "Catch me if you can". Worse still, they keep re-running to death Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Rifleman, Rockford Files and Daniel Boone! These shows need to be put away for a couple of years and bring back Combat, 12 O'clock High, the Fugitive, Streets of San Francisco and Twilight Zone. Right now, Cozi-Tv  has a superior line-up of shows and they rotate them faster than Me-tv does I suggest contacting Me-Tv and letting them know how you feel about their programming.

[roamyn]

I'd like to see some 'Flipper', 'Big Ben', or 'Here Comes the Brides'.

Something a little more obscure.

[Cobb Salad]

Here Comes the Brides was on either Antenna it THIS tv until recently, now I can't find it.

I'd like to see some more obscure shows too, some of these shows are shown on multiple channels at different times of the day/week (TV Land, AMC, INSP), it's tiring.

[Maverick]

 I hate all the comedies on MeTV.  Their schedule definitely sucks right now, especially on evenings and Sundays.   

 

 COZI is a bit better at the moment, but they're really pushing Baywatch right now which, just ugh, no.

[auntjess]

I was thinking of Hot L Baltimore.

 

[roseha]

I kind of agree about MeTV,  unfortunately.  I l used to love the station, but now if it didn't have Perry Mason (which they don't even show in prime time) I might even forget about recording it.  They are showing so many over-exposed sitcoms at night, and the same ones on the weekends.  I would love for them to bring back The Fugitive, and show the original Star Trek more than once a week.  I kind of think they are resting on their laurels at the moment.

[WendyCR72]

Sounds like many of these so-called retro stations are slowly falling victim to what other cable channels have done: Moved away from their "brand". I don't have COZI, so I have no idea if it ever showed really classic shows, but Baywatch - even 20+ years old now (sad but true!) - well, it doesn't seem to "fit" on such a channel.

 

But if shows that are being shown elsewhere are on these channels while obscure shows are not, there is but one reason as to why:

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

And that, alas, is what it all boils down to. If people will watch, it means revenue. And screw the brand. Just ask MTV. Or VH1. Or The History Channel. Or TLC. Or...

[GHScorpiosRule]

I don't know.

 

Sure, I'm upset that they took Remington Steele off their schedule and replaced it with Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley on Sundays, where the latter also airs during the week, but I love those two shows as well, as I grew up watching them.

 

And I just love seeing Ron Howard as wee in The Andy Griffith Show, only to see him as a teen/college boy an hour or so later in Happy Days.

 

I LOVE the theme song to Laverne & Shirley and though I'm a chronic fast forwarder in the opening credits, this one I don't, because I find myself singing along.

 

I get my Perry which airs in the morning and late night, but since I dvr it anyway, watch them in chunks over the weekend.

 

Cozi still airs the '70s classics for me--Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angels along with the '80s shows as well; Well, I haven't really seen the current schedule, so I don't know what show Baywatch replaced. Magnum?  We still have Murder, She Wrote, Miami Vice.

 

I guess because I have the dvds to Remington, I'm not that bummed. But bummed enough to email MeTV only to get the standard automated reply. I'm sure it will return.

 

What is bothering me more is that I we only got to see part one of Matlock's pilot, before it jumped to the middle of season 4! And the first three seasons are my favorite! Plus, the first episode after the pilot, which technically, is the third episode, featured Dick Van Dyke as "The Judge" who was the killer (it's not a spoiler, you know it within the first five minutes!), before his show, Diagnosis Murder aired, and hee! to have Griffith appear as Matlock after Matlock went off the air, on that show, as grumpy Ben. Plus, I really enjoyed the small bits of Don Knotts in the early years, and MUCH, MUCH prefer Tyler to the incompetent, bumbling, always getting caught/the crap beat out of him Conrad!

 

And I really wish some channel other than that atrocious Up would air Judging Amy, because in addition to the bleeping, it doesn't air ALL the episodes because those are too "controversial" or not "puuuuuuure" enough. Which then begs the question: Why'd they pick it UP?!!! *sniff* Yes, I'm upset because Tim Daly starred in the last episode of Season 4 and I wanted to see him with his sister, Tyne Daly, dammit! Oooh, alliteration! And I can't find any free epis online! And I'm not in a position to get the show on dvds!

[Cobb Salad]

Just discovered H&I on my channel lineup today, I'm not sure when it was added. They've got some shows that don't air elsewhere as far as I know - Mannix, The Commish, Hunter, Combat!, 12 O'clock High. Haven't seen Mannix in ages.

I finally got Me TV here and while I'm happy being able to see Emergency! during the week and Superman, Batman and Star Trek over the weekend, their nightly lineup leaves much to be desired IMO.

[pandora spocks]

Right now, Cozi-Tv  has a superior line-up of shows and they rotate them faster than Me-tv does

 

I get Cozi-TV through Dish Network.  I don't know if it's a Bible Belt thing (I live in TN) but on Saturdays and Sundays most of the day is devoted to Christian worship or reruns of Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger.  Do other Dish Network subscribers have the same problem?

[WendyCR72]

I live in the Albany, NY area, and we got jack in terms of subchannels as of late. WTEN ABC's third subchannel, 10-3, which used to air RTV before Live Well Network took over, is now gone completely.

 

I do get Me-TV as a subchannel of WNYT, the NBC affiliate, on 13-2. WRGB, the CBS affiliate, still has This TV on 6-2. And the CW has just added a second subchannel for GRIT TV on 15-2.

 

Other than that? <Crickets>

[Cobb Salad]

I get Cozi-TV through Dish Network.  I don't know if it's a Bible Belt thing (I live in TN) but on Saturdays and Sundays most of the day is devoted to Christian worship or reruns of Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger.  Do other Dish Network subscribers have the same problem?

I'm in Central NJ and have Comcast. During the weekend Cozi here shows Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, kids programming, movies, and the Dick Van Dyke show. No Christian worship programming.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I'm in Central NJ and have Comcast. During the weekend Cozi here shows Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, kids programming, movies, and the Dick Van Dyke show. No Christian worship programming.

I'm in NYC and have Time Warner and this pretty much describes what we get too.  Not a problem for  me anyway since I'm particularly fond of Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy and Lassie.  Encore Westerns shows fewer and fewer of the B-Westerns from the 30's and 40's and I'm grateful that COZI at least has Hopalong.  

[mmecorday]

God bless COZI TV for showing "The Munsters" when I get home from work. I grew up watching it in reruns and it still makes me chuckle!

 

I still like MeTV. I just hope that the network doesn't take a page from the TVLand playbook and start airing original programming. I need my nostalgia, dammit!

 

The Decade channel aired reruns of "Celebrity Bowling" from the 70s a few weeks ago. The announcer said, "Stay tuned. Your favorite episode might be coming up." It's sad to think that someone has a favorite episode of "Celebrity Bowling."

[Cobb Salad]

The Decade channel aired reruns of "Celebrityith Bowling" from the 70s a few weeks ago. The announcer said, "Stay tuned. Your favorite episode might be coming up." It's sad to think that someone has a favorite episode of "Celebrity Bowling."

Lol!

Maybe an episode with a favorite celebrity from back then?

[opus]

Lol!

Maybe an episode with a favorite celebrity from back then?

Yeah, "Stay tuned. Your favorite celebrity might be coming up" is probably a better promo.

[Matt K]

I saw some Adams Family a few weeks ago and it's surprising how well that show holds up (and it was well before my time, I grew up with the movies and cartoon).

Edited October 22, 2015 by Matt K

[ratgirlagogo]

The Addams Family is classic TV on every possible level.  

[opus]

I saw some Adams Family a few weeks ago

 

Who's showing the Addams Family?

[roseha]

Not to get too technical (or local) but does anyone else see Time Warner in NYC showing METV in a shrunken squarish (I guess 4:3) size surrounded by 4 black borders?  None of my other channels look like this, and neither does METV coming in over my antenna.  Very odd. Not to get too OT, but my over the air reception of ME comes and goes a lot, even though I live in Manhattan, close to their broadcast tower.   It's working for the moment though, I just have to do a lot of fiddling with the antenna wire and keep it away from the power cables on the TV etc.

Edited October 23, 2015 by roseha

[ratgirlagogo]

Huh. No.  We have Time Warner too (we're in Queens) and we don't have this problem.  In fact we have fewer problems in the last six months, maybe a year or so with MeTV, which used to come in weirdly stretched or cut off - now it looks like all the other stations.

[shapeshifter]

Not to get too technical (or local) but does anyone else see Time Warner in NYC showing METV in a shrunken squarish (I guess 4:3) size surrounded by 4 black borders? None of my other channels look like this, and neither does METV coming in over my antenna. Very odd. Not to get too OT, but my over the air reception of ME comes and goes a lot, even though I live in Manhattan, close to their broadcast tower. It's working for the moment though, I just have to do a lot of fiddling with the antenna wire and keep it away from the power cables on the TV etc.

I view over-the-air TV 30 miles north of Chicago using a Mohu antenna. I am just close enough to the city of origin of a lot of retro broadcasting to get addicted to the content, heh. Sometimes during stormy weather I have to move my antenna from one window to another and/or rescan for channels. Large trees and buildings (especially new ones--maybe an issue where you are) are also a factor.

About the "letter box" view: I'm out of state now with family, but I seem to recall being able to change that for at least some stations using the TV's settings. Also, I get a lot of retro TV stations at more than one access point/channel number, and sometimes the same station will appear full screen on one channel and not on another. For instance, I watch NYPD Blue on 26.4, but there's also a version of the broadcast (I think letterbox--I'd have to check when I get back) at 20.4 and I think sometimes at 22.4. So, my main point is that you might want to do a completed auto-scan for stations and then manually surf through them to find the best quality broadcast.

ETA: Since Time Warner means (to me) that you have cable, this would probably mean trying an over-the-air antenna too. This should be as simple as plugging it in and then selecting "input" on your TV remote and choosing the antenna for you to try/use it. You should then be able to switch back to cable input at any time.

Sometimes during weather I have to move the antenna to one window to catch ION and another to catch My50 Chicago--I think that's ME TV? It has old Bones episodes, The Closer, and, during weekday mid-mornings, old L&O SVU.

Edited October 23, 2015 by shapeshifter

[WendyCR72]

Sometimes during weather I have to move the antenna to one window to catch ION and another to catch My50 Chicago--I think that's ME TV?

 

No, that's a MyNetwork affiliate. As you say, it shows old "Bones", "Closer", "L&O: SVU", and "L&O: CI" (that is what airs early afternoons here, not SVU, at 1 ET; maybe it depends on the affiliate? Oops, I saw you said mornings. Sorry!), among some titles.

[roseha]

 

Also, I get a lot of retro TV stations at more than one access point/channel number, and sometimes the same station will appear full screen on one channel and not on another.

 

 

Thanks shapeshifter, the strange thing is that I think the two METVs I'm seeing (one on cable, one over the air) are both coming from the new New Jersey affiliate, not the earlier  Connecticut one that no one in NYC could pick up with an antenna.  The history of this station in our area has been weird, first no reception, then the "political" wrangling when it debuted on Channel 3, leading to complaints by Channel 3 in Hartford Connecticut (!), now I'm not sure what's happening.  However if I can get my antenna to behave it seems best to watch it that way right now.  However, I could play with the cable settings and see if that helps.

[editorgrrl]

Thanks shapeshifter, the strange thing is that I think the two METVs I'm seeing (one on cable, one over the air) are both coming from the new New Jersey affiliate, not the earlier Connecticut one that no one in NYC could pick up with an antenna.

On October 11, 2015, WZME (channel 42 in Connecticut) switched from Me-TV to H&I (Heroes & Icons). The New York affiliate of Me-TV is WJLP (channel 3 in New Jersey).

Edited October 24, 2015 by editorgrrl

[roseha]

Thanks editorgrrl.

 

I think it's actually happening because Time Warner is broadcasting the station in SD.  With my Tivo/cablecard, I don't get all the stations in HD/widescreen since I got rid of the tuning adapter (long story -- it runs hot and doesn't always work).   However, they usually have an alternate station where I can tune in the station in HD/widescreen.  But not this one apparently.

I'll have to stick to over the air for MeTV I guess.

[Milz]

We got H&I in the DC Metro area. I came across it as a flipped through the channels last night after Masterpiece on PBS. To my utter surprise and delight, I saw the opening credits of Hill Street Blues (I loved that show when I was kid. I used to stay up on thursday nights to watch it. Must See TV, indeed!)

[ratgirlagogo]

How great is it that Halloween is on Saturday this year - so that Svengoolie is going to be showing the 1931 Frankenstein on Halloween itself?  

 

On the other hand I was so excited when my cable grid was displaying the Spanish Dracula for last week's show, when as it turned out it was the original Lugosi Dracula - both great of course, but I would really have been curious to see what kind of fun Sven would have had with the Spanish language version.

Edited October 29, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[roseha]

How great is it that Halloween is on Saturday this year - so that Svengoolie is going to be showing the 1931 Frankenstein on Halloween itself?  

 

On the other hand I was so excited when my cable grid was displaying the Spanish Dracula for last week's show, when as it turned out it was the original Lugosi Dracula - both great of course, but I would really have been curious to see what kind of fun Sven would have had with the Spanish language version.

 

It's interesting to read (though I haven't seen either Dracula, not being a horror fan) about all the major differences between the two versions according to everything I've read.  The excellent board Nitrateville has an interesting thread on the subject.

Edited October 30, 2015 by roseha

[Collinwood]

Calling all fembot fans, and you know who you are. Tomorrow Cozi will be showing four Bionic Woman episodes featuring the fembots.

[Milz]

DC and Baltimore got Comet TV, a sci-fi network. Mr. Milz and I saw part of Moonraker (Roger Moore James Bond with special guest appearance by Jaws. I know it's cheesy, but my fav part of the movie is when Jaws bites through the support cable of the cable car.)

[Cobb Salad]

I checked Comet TV's website and didn't find an affiliate for NY/NJ, hope that changes.

I am wondering with all of these digital sub channels and more sprouting up if it's worth keeping cable anymore.

[cincivic]

Not sure the station name (maybe antenna tv) but it was channel 20-3 in southwest Ohio. This weekend it went to Buzzr tv. No warning or anything. It played Barney Miller, The Jefferson's, All in the Family, Doogie, Three's Company, and my favorite, Maude. I like the old game shows but it would have been nice to get a warning. Plus, the guide still has the sitcoms listed so I have to check online to see Buzzr's schedule.

[opus]

Not sure the station name (maybe antenna tv) It played Barney Miller, The Jefferson's, All in the Family, Doogie, Three's Company, and my favorite, Maude.

Yeah that's the AntennaTv lineup.

[HyeChaps]

Last night I happened upon Mayberry R.F.D.  OMG I hadn't remembered how very, very boring it was.  They built a whole episode on Sam's difficulty growing string beans on his farm and Millie's success in growing them in her back yard.

[magicdog]

 

I get Cozi-TV through Dish Network.

 

I have Dish, but Cozi seems to be partnered with FE-TV which has both logos on screen.  Other shows ME-TV et al show or used to show have turned up on Family Net/Rural channels.  FE-TV has been showing Adam 12 repeats on weekday mornings (9:00am & 9:30am PST) followed by Simon & Simon.  I also seem to see a lot of religious programming on it which seems out of place to me.

 

The Monkees have turned up on IFC of all places!  They run marathons on weekend mornings.

 

Caught a promo for Bionic Woman on ME - Lindsay Wagner was in it and looking great!  I don't know if it's genetics, surgery, clean living or a combination, but she looks like she's aged beyond gracefully.

[auntjess]

I see MeTV now has My Three Sons on, at 6AM.

[CMH1981]

 

Last night I happened upon Mayberry R.F.D.  OMG I hadn't remembered how very, very boring it was.  They built a whole episode on Sam's difficulty growing string beans on his farm and Millie's success in growing them in her back yard.

 

Yeah, I've made it through one cycle of RFD on MeTv, and we are almost done w/ the last season again.  It is such a boring show, and it is so dated as well, whereas TAGS has never seemed dated to me, even after Don Knotts left.

 

I've only decided to stick it out through another cycle of the show b/c I figure this will be the last time I will ever want to see the show again.

Edited November 8, 2015 by CMH1981

[opus]

Some January premieres

 

-Antenna has Johnny Carson, Mork and Mindy, and Dear John coming

-Cozi has the A-Team

[Milz]

Get Tv used to show only movies, but it's now showing The Judy Garland Show and The Merv Griffin Show.

[roseha]

Some January premieres

 

-Antenna has Johnny Carson, Mork and Mindy, and Dear John coming

-Cozi has the A-Team

 

Has there been any indication whether they will show all of the Carson shows as filmed?  There always seems to be a tendency to cut musical numbers due to copyright reasons.