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

[chessiegal]

I record MTM in case I'm not home when it's on, which will be the case today. I also record Frasier on Cozi. My husband has tired of it, so I watch the recordings when he's not around.

[Tom Holmberg]

Tonight (Sat.) on ZLiving Mystery Science Theatre 3000. (Hopefully this will become a regular.)

[Tom Holmberg]

Zliving ran the final episode of "Route 66."  I had forgotten that they actually wrote a conclusion to the series (unfortunately Buz had left by then), which I think was fairly unique for that era.  Tod gets married (to Barbara Eden, no less) and Linc returns to obscurity (and fistfights) in Texas. 

[Tom Holmberg]

Besides mini "The Saint" and "Route 66" marathons over the weekend, I notices that late Sun./early Mon. ZLiving will be running two episodes of "The Red Skelton Show"

[DXD526]

Upcoming weekend binges on Decades - for 8/31-9/1, Peter Gunn; for 9/7-8, Bob (Bob Newhart's somewhat forgotten series from the early 90s); for 9/14-15, The Big Valley; and for 9/21-22, Mannix. It's interesting that they run so many marathons of shows that aren't on their regular schedule. 

[chessiegal]

Oh, just rub it in for those of us that had Decades taken away. Yes, I'm still bitter.

[ratgirlagogo]

Peter Gunn and Mannix still run Monday through Friday on MeTV.  The Big Valley runs on Saturdays on MeTV.  Bob - now that I would like to see again since to be honest I barely remember it.

[Tom Holmberg]

I assumed ZLiving would be showing later (possibly color era) episodes of the "Red Skelton Hour", but instead they were showing episodes from the first season from 1951 of the half-hour show.  It was interesting to hear jokes about Pres. Truman! Hopefully they'll show more. 

[Tom Holmberg]

George Maharis, "Route 66", doing the original "Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood" schtick on "Hullabaloo"

[opus]

METV is adding The Flintstones at the end of September

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/metv-grabs-the-flintstones

[Cobb Salad]

12 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I assumed ZLiving would be showing later (possibly color era) episodes of the "Red Skelton Hour", but instead they were showing episodes from the first season from 1951 of the half-hour show.  It was interesting to hear jokes about Pres. Truman! Hopefully they'll show more. 

Mnet is showing 2 episodes tonight.   There were jokes about Senator McCarthy and Marilyn Monroe.  Then there’s an episode of Secret Agent (precursor to the Prisoner), a show I’ve never seen and only heard of.  I’ll be checking it out.  

[Tom Holmberg]

11 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

Then there’s an episode of Secret Agent (precursor to the Prisoner), a show I’ve never seen and only heard of.

"Secret Agent" is a great show (known as "Danger Man" in Britain). The show ran in the U.S. on CBS.

[Tom Holmberg]

ZLiving ran a MST3K episode of a Arch Hall Jr. movie, then a few days later they had another Arch Hall Jr. movie. (Trust me, that was way too much Arch Hall Jr.) I was struck by the similarity of Arch Hall Jr. to Val Kilmer's character in "Top Secret."  I wonder that was intentional or just coincidence? 

[Was-MArsenault]

On 8/12/2019 at 8:44 PM, Cobb Salad said:

Mnet is showing 2 episodes tonight.   There were jokes about Senator McCarthy and Marilyn Monroe.  Then there’s an episode of Secret Agent (precursor to the Prisoner), a show I’ve never seen and only heard of.  I’ll be checking it out.  

It's actually called Folk TV on Mnet now.

[Tom Holmberg]

Supposedly ZLiving will be showing the final two episode of "Route 66" tonight, the final episode actually puts an end to the show's premise. I say supposedly because more and more frequently the cable guide lists the wrong episodes.  I don't know if this is just AT&T or if ZLiving provides the wrong info.

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Supposedly ZLiving will be showing the final two episode of "Route 66" tonight, the final episode actually puts an end to the show's premise. I say supposedly because more and more frequently the cable guide lists the wrong episodes.  I don't know if this is just AT&T or if ZLiving provides the wrong info.

The Verizon Channel guide shows the 1st part of the last episode at 12 midnight then the 2nd part a few hours later in the early morning so I suspect it is the information ZLiving sends.

[friendperidot]

I cannot seem to find a better place to put my question. I love Hill Street Blues on Saturday nights on H&I. On some thread somewhere someone said they thought it was stale and hopelessly out of date. I find that so many stories are still very relevant today. Yes, some of the characters are extremely stereotypical today, but the acting was good, the writing was good. 

But I have a question, in the early years, near the beginning of almost every show, Belker brings in a tall, bald black man into the station and handcuffs him to a chair. The man always gives nonsense answers to routine questions, like his name, and he always unabashedly listens in as Belker talks to his mother and frequently chuckles which always gets a growl from Mick. Who is that man? I enjoy watching him more and more every week. But since the character changes his name every week, I can't find him in credits.

[roseha]

I hope this won't be too off topic but I am just mentioning something that I wrote more about over in the Music section - I was doing a channel scan on August 1st and found that my TV was picking up some new to me sub-channels from WJLP, who broadcast METV in the NYC/New Jersey area.  One is a local Oldies station, WKHG, which broadcasts over 1410 AM here, and their programming is amazing, with a heavy emphasis on 60s and 50s hits, including some one hit wonders that I didn't ever expect to hear in the NYC area again after the prime years of WCBS-FM ended. Anyway, I put more details in the Music/Radio thread, but I do think it would definitely appeal to people on this thread, if any of you can pick it up.

[Tom Holmberg]

11 hours ago, roseha said:

I was doing a channel scan on August 1st and found that my TV was picking up some new to me sub-channels from WJLP, who broadcast METV in the NYC/New Jersey area.  One is a local Oldies station, WKHG, which broadcasts over 1410 AM here, and their programming is amazing, with a heavy emphasis on 60s and 50s hits, including some one hit wonders that I didn't ever expect to hear in the NYC area again after the prime years of WCBS-FM ended.

I would guess its the same as METV FM which plays in Chicago.

 

I have to give ZLiving credit for showing the oddest, most obscure movies (what UHF channels used to show back in the day).  Over the weekend they ran an obscure spaghetti western, "Hate Thy Neighbor", by the director of the Ringo Starr spaghetti western "Blindman" (or Zatoichi goes west). Last weekend they showed the Arch Hall, Jr. spy movie "Nasty Rabbit" (sort of an unfunny "Top Secret").

[chessiegal]

Well dang, FETV has stopped showing MTM! Is nothing sacred? Anyone know where else I can find it?

[Cobb Salad]

On 8/25/2019 at 12:07 AM, friendperidot said:

But I have a question, in the early years, near the beginning of almost every show, Belker brings in a tall, bald black man into the station and handcuffs him to a chair. The man always gives nonsense answers to routine questions, like his name, and he always unabashedly listens in as Belker talks to his mother and frequently chuckles which always gets a growl from Mick. Who is that man? I enjoy watching him more and more every week. But since the character changes his name every week, I can't find him in credits.

Have you looked up the show on IMDB.com?  He might be listed in the credits in the episode details in the show profile.  

[opus]

4 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Well dang, FETV has stopped showing MTM! Is nothing sacred? Anyone know where else I can find it?

The Sundance Channel has it, although I'm not sure how consistently. For example, the next time I see it on my cable guide for them isn't til Sept. 6.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, opus said:

lThe Sundance Channel has it, although I'm not sure how consistently. For example, the next time I see it on my cable guide for them isn't til Sept. 6.

Thanks. We have Amazon Prime and I think I can catch it there. My DVR is set to record any episode, so I'll see it if it shows up elsewhere.

[roseha]

11 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I would guess its the same as METV FM which plays in Chicago.

Interesting thought.  It did occur to me after the fact that the station is clearly saving money by not employing any DJs to identify the songs and such.  Not exactly like "the old days" but at least the music is!

[ratgirlagogo]

21 hours ago, roseha said:

I hope this won't be too off topic but I am just mentioning something that I wrote more about over in the Music section - I was doing a channel scan on August 1st and found that my TV was picking up some new to me sub-channels from WJLP, who broadcast METV in the NYC/New Jersey area.  One is a local Oldies station, WKHG, which broadcasts over 1410 AM here, and their programming is amazing, with a heavy emphasis on 60s and 50s hits, including some one hit wonders that I didn't ever expect to hear in the NYC area again after the prime years of WCBS-FM ended. Anyway, I put more details in the Music/Radio thread, but I do think it would definitely appeal to people on this thread, if any of you can pick it up.

12 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I would guess its the same as METV FM which plays in Chicago.

Is this different from MeTVMusic which you can listen to through their website or app?

[roseha]

3 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

Is this different from MeTVMusic which you can listen to through their website or app?

I just played both at once, and yes, they are playing different songs altogether.  WKHG at 1410 AM (WJLP 33-14) plays mainly 60s and 50s - I heard Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Fats Domino I think just today, as well as a lot of famous and less famous 60s artists , and little of the 70s, whereas the METV music seems to have a 60s-70s mix.  Interesting.

Just now, roseha said:

Edited August 27, 2019 by roseha

[Tom Holmberg]

18 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Well dang, FETV has stopped showing MTM!

I like "Wild Wild West" but MTM and "Dick van Dyke Show" should not be that to find, these are among the top, if not the top, shows of all time.

[Cobb Salad]

2 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

I like "Wild Wild West" but MTM and "Dick van Dyke Show" should not be that to find, these are among the top, if not the top, shows of all time.

Agreed.  Checking through the FETV schedule, they show a lot of Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers episodes throughout the day.  They could have taken an hour from those blocks for Wild Wild West instead of taking away MTM.  

[chessiegal]

I got Netflix to watch the Gilmore Girls revival and have kept it because I put my stepdaughter, who doesn't have cable on it, so she can watch shows for herself and kids. I don't remember why we got Amazon Prime, maybe to watch the Marvelous Mrs. Maisely, but I got out the tv remote yesterday to see what shows I can get on those 2 platforms.

The DVR is set to record MTM shows, so if it turns up on another channel, I'll catch it.

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, Cobb Salad said:

Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers episodes throughout the day.

Plus "Lone Ranger", "Roy Rogers" (not to mention "Gunsmoke") are on multiple channels, MTM is not.

[chessiegal]

Do you think FETV lost the rights to air  MTM/it was costing too much? I guess it wouldn't do any good to complain.

[Cobb Salad]

28 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Do you think FETV lost the rights to air  MTM/it was costing too much? I guess it wouldn't do any good to complain.

I’ve wondered that as well.  Also, it’s around the time of year when programming changes on some of these channels.  

The only place I’m aware of that’s airing MTM is Decades, which should be coming back for some of us soon.   I haven’t seen anything in my area (NY-NJ broadcast area) with details like the availability date, etc.  

[chessiegal]

I'm not getting Decades back. Yes, I'm still bitter.

[HyeChaps]

I think Decades is coming back to NY in November. 

[Inquisitionist]

On 8/24/2019 at 11:07 PM, friendperidot said:

But I have a question, in the early years, near the beginning of almost every show, Belker brings in a tall, bald black man into the station and handcuffs him to a chair. The man always gives nonsense answers to routine questions, like his name, and he always unabashedly listens in as Belker talks to his mother and frequently chuckles which always gets a growl from Mick. Who is that man? I enjoy watching him more and more every week. But since the character changes his name every week, I can't find him in credits.

I think that might be Nick Savage, who appeared as "Pickpocket" in about 12 episodes.  There isn't a profile photo at his IMDb page, but there are a few photos from HSB from which you can identify him.

[Tom Holmberg]

Starting Sat., at 4 am (all times CT) ZLiving will start showing "The Prisoner."  They will also be showing  "The Red Skelton Show" early Sun. at 4 am and early Mon. at 12 and 1 am.  This week they had a Fred Williamson marathon of movies including "Warriors of the Wasteland" a Eurotrash Italian ripoff of "Mad Max" set in the far-distant future time of 2019 A.D.

[friendperidot]

1 hour ago, Inquisitionist said:

On 8/24/2019 at 11:07 PM, friendperidot said:

But I have a question, in the early years, near the beginning of almost every show, Belker brings in a tall, bald black man into the station and handcuffs him to a chair. The man always gives nonsense answers to routine questions, like his name, and he always unabashedly listens in as Belker talks to his mother and frequently chuckles which always gets a growl from Mick. Who is that man? I enjoy watching him more and more every week. But since the character changes his name every week, I can't find him in credits.

Read more  

I think that might be Nick Savage, who appeared as "Pickpocket" in about 12 episodes.  There isn't a profile photo at his IMDb page, but there are a few photos from HSB from which you can identify him.

thank you! That's who I wanted to know about. He's such a delight with his reactions to Belker.

[Vixenstud]

On 8/12/2019 at 5:00 PM, opus said:

METV is adding The Flintstones at the end of September

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/metv-grabs-the-flintstones

Pissed, 'cause naturally it'll be on while I'm coming home from work!

[chessiegal]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 5:36 PM, opus said:

The Sundance Channel has it, although I'm not sure how consistently. For example, the next time I see it on my cable guide for them isn't til Sept. 6.

Thanks Opus. I found it and my DVR was not set to record. It is now!

[Tom Holmberg]

R.I.P., Valerie Harper has passed away after a long bout with cancer.  Best known as "Rhoda" from "MTM Show" and her own spinoff "Rhoda", also her series "Valerie."

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

R.I.P., Valerie Harper has passed away after a long bout with cancer.  Best known as "Rhoda" from "MTM Show" and her own spinoff "Rhoda", also her series "Valerie."

MeTV will have a tribute on Sunday, September 8 from 5 - 7 pm ET with episodes from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda.  

[Tom Holmberg]

6 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

MeTV will have a tribute on Sunday, September 8 from 5 - 7 pm ET with episodes from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda.

Too bad they don't have any "Valerie" episodes. I haven't seen that for a long time.

[Cobb Salad]

24 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Too bad they don't have any "Valerie" episodes. I haven't seen that for a long time.

I think they’re being aired on Antenna TV tomorrow?  I don’t recall where I saw this and their site doesn’t reflect this. 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Cobb Salad

[wknt3]

30 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

I think they’re being aired on Antenna TV tomorrow?  I don’t recall where I saw this and their site doesn’t reflect this. 

1-10pm tomorrow (Sunday) according to their social media -


Antenna TV honors Valerie Harper this Sunday from 1-10p ET with a special marathon of Valerie (aka The Hogan Family). Thanks for the memories, Ms. Harper.

[shapeshifter]

23 hours ago, wknt3 said:

1-10pm tomorrow (Sunday) according to their social media -


Antenna TV honors Valerie Harper this Sunday from 1-10p ET with a special marathon of Valerie (aka The Hogan Family). Thanks for the memories, Ms. Harper.

Yes, it is, even thought the TitanTV doesn't reflect the programming change.
But now, as someone who was given 6 months to live 3 years ago, I will honor VH by going to the beach. 

[WendyCR72]

On 9/1/2019 at 5:55 PM, shapeshifter said:

Yes, it is, even thought the TitanTV doesn't reflect the programming change.
But now, as someone who was given 6 months to live 3 years ago, I will honor VH by going to the beach. 

Wow, keep kicking ass, @shapeshifter!

[bmoore4026]

Other than The Flintstones on MeTV, is anything else coming to that channel?  I remember seeing something on their Wikipedia page that someone cruelly added The Jetsons, Animaniacs, and Tiny Toon Adventures, but this was quickly taken down.  I for one am all for Animaniacs to replace Saved by the Bell on Sundays.  There's only so much of that jackass Zach one can take and the more exposure people have to Slappy Squirrel, the better.

The downside is the cost of all this, if it were true.  It would mean infomercials on a channel that has had classic TV 24/7.

[Cobb Salad]

On 9/2/2019 at 7:54 PM, bmoore4026 said:

Other than The Flintstones on MeTV, is anything else coming to that channel?  

I haven’t seen anything else advertised, it seems their promotions are heavy on The Flintstones coming and no other new programs.  

Edited September 4, 2019 by Cobb Salad
Correct they’re to their

[Maverick]

They've added Barnaby Jones at 4am.  The rest of the changes look like moving/dropping shows. 

[Was-MArsenault]

Mnet is now showing the 1991 Tarzan show.

It's on Saturdays from 12-2 PM.