Something about traditional live tv I miss

[Lance Uppercut]

I love streaming, but watching some old shows on YouTube reminding me of something I’ve missed:

Specific themed blocks where they have bumper programming during the commercials and credits and between shows.

Most people think of tgif, but I was watching some tnbc shows and man it feels so much more like a living product when they have small bits with the actors talking about something, answering viewers questions, or hanging out at some cast party. Especially when they interact with the cast of other shows. You’re not just watching some show in a vacuum.

What memories do you have special blocks of tv with a host or interstitial programming?

For me

Tgif
Fox kids
- I love the holiday viewer countdown for most popular show that they’d actually play in the morning since nobody had school even if it was like a Thursday at 10 am. I think they even did it on a Sunday once
Tnbc
Must see tv Thursday
Snick (Saturday Nickelodeon)
- I don’t know if they still do it, but for me it was during the era of All that, Are you afraid of the dark, Alex Mak

Also, I remember watching Rugrats on Saturday evenings, like 7:00 but that wasn’t Snick right?

[DSR]

I wanna say my local Fox affiliate had hosts for the Saturday morning cartoon block. I vaguely recall them doing filmed bits at the local zoo. Otherwise, yeah, I enjoyed Snick and TGIF. It's also part of the reason why I miss stuff like USA Up All Night. The movies they showed were corny as hell, but having Gilbert Gottfried do comedy bits between commercial breaks made it a much better experience.

[Dave the Dave]

Nickelodeon always had live Halloween specials going on during marathons of Halloween episodes. It always felt special as a 90s kid

[DoubleDare]

Yea, I never could get into this binge the same show all day, I rarely ever watch more than 2 eps in a row.
I much rather watch an ep of different shows in a row like the old days.

[DSR]

Oct 2, 2021 15:05:21 GMT -5 DoubleDare said:

Yea, I never could get into this binge the same show all day, I rarely ever watch more than 2 eps in a row.
I much rather watch an ep of different shows in a row like the old days.

I did used to enjoy when Nick At Nite would do "Block Party Summer" where every night was a 3-hour block of a different show: Munster Monday, etc. But they promoted it like it was an actual event, and it was just during the summer, when I was out of school and could stay up later.

[Deleted]

When you watch stuff on demand, you can still have a theme. Hell, you can pretend you're hosting it too even if you're home alone.

[DoubleDare]

Oct 2, 2021 16:25:55 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

When you watch stuff on demand, you can still have a theme. Hell, you can pretend you're hosting it too even if you're home alone.

I do too, just gotta hope between some apps.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Oct 2, 2021 15:05:21 GMT -5 DoubleDare said:

Yea, I never could get into this binge the same show all day, I rarely ever watch more than 2 eps in a row.
I much rather watch an ep of different shows in a row like the old days.

It really depends on the show for me, comedies I can generally binge watch but dramas I tend to do 2-3 episodes tops and let it absorb. At least for first viewing.


EDIT: Binge watched one of the Netflix Marvel shows one night and had to rewatch it later because I didn’t retain like 1/2 of it

[Deleted]

When I was a kid, we had an antenna and only got around 3 channels (I grew up in an extremely rural area). People think I'm crazy when I say that I miss the way TV was back then, but I watched so much stuff that I wouldn't pay attention to know. Sure, this was out of necessity, but it was also fun in a weird way. I also missed the awesome blocks our local channels got. We had one really weird local channel that would show a wrestling block late Friday night and then Saturday was horror. They would show Tales From the Crypt at midnight, a horror movie after that, and then end with Forever Knight. Things like that were really special and made you really look forward to seeing it. Yes, you can watch whatever now, but everything being so readily available kills the special part of it. It's sort of like how scrolling through a streaming service is nothing compared to the fun and excitement of going to the video store and looking for a few movies to watch.

[Limity (BLM)]

Oct 2, 2021 13:52:01 GMT -5 Dave the Dave said:

Nickelodeon always had live Halloween specials going on during marathons of Halloween episodes. It always felt special as a 90s kid

The computer generated trick or treat game?

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Oct 2, 2021 17:46:06 GMT -5 @deerock said:

When I was a kid, we had an antenna and only got around 3 channels (I grew up in an extremely rural area). People think I'm crazy when I say that I miss the way TV was back then, but I watched so much stuff that I wouldn't pay attention to know. Sure, this was out of necessity, but it was also fun in a weird way. I also missed the awesome blocks our local channels got. We had one really weird local channel that would show a wrestling block late Friday night and then Saturday was horror. They would show Tales From the Crypt at midnight, a horror movie after that, and then end with Forever Knight. Things like that were really special and made you really look forward to seeing it. Yes, you can watch whatever now, but everything being so readily available kills the special part of it. It's sort of like how scrolling through a streaming service is nothing compared to the fun and excitement of going to the video store and looking for a few movies to watch.

Random ass shit on farmer/peasant vision (whatever you referred to as the 3 channels) was the best. Local station had Prime Ticket Movie every night at midnight and that was the best!! Unfortunately that station is one of only 2-3 network channels in Canada that completely went dark in the past 30 years. I miss the Prime Ticket


EDIT: This still makes me so sad, I loved CKX

[Ultimo Gallos]

Oct 2, 2021 17:46:06 GMT -5 @deerock said:

When I was a kid, we had an antenna and only got around 3 channels (I grew up in an extremely rural area). People think I'm crazy when I say that I miss the way TV was back then, but I watched so much stuff that I wouldn't pay attention to know. Sure, this was out of necessity, but it was also fun in a weird way. I also missed the awesome blocks our local channels got. We had one really weird local channel that would show a wrestling block late Friday night and then Saturday was horror. They would show Tales From the Crypt at midnight, a horror movie after that, and then end with Forever Knight. Things like that were really special and made you really look forward to seeing it. Yes, you can watch whatever now, but everything being so readily available kills the special part of it. It's sort of like how scrolling through a streaming service is nothing compared to the fun and excitement of going to the video store and looking for a few movies to watch.

From when I was born in 74 until the tail end of 1990 there was no cable where I grew up. So we had a roof top antenna plus I added rabbit ears to my TV. Between the two I got 8 channels.

And there was similar blocks like you mentioned. Saturdays from 6pm until 11pm there was wrestling on one of the UHF channels out of Mobile. And for close to 10 years the ABC channel out of Mobile would air 2 horror movies,sometimes with a host,starting at 1030pm. Then they added Tales from the Darkside at 1030pm. So the movies started at 11pm and ran until 3am.

[Jaws the Shark]

The death, or at least sharp decline in importance, of linear TV is one of the worst things to ever happen to broadcasting and to culture. I got thinking a few months ago about how important passive consumption is, and the shared cultural experience that often came as a result of linear television, which is something I've posted about on here a few times. It's all more convenient now and we can consume pretty much anything we want and when we want to, but I'm not sure it's that healthy to only consume specifically what you want to consume.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Saturday afternoon cartoons on ITV in Edmonton had a host between the episodes of Robotech, Spiderman, Rocket Robin Hood, the anime version of Thunderbirds, Hercules, and some other shows I don't recall.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Oct 3, 2021 14:03:52 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Oct 2, 2021 17:46:06 GMT -5 @deerock said:

When I was a kid, we had an antenna and only got around 3 channels (I grew up in an extremely rural area). People think I'm crazy when I say that I miss the way TV was back then, but I watched so much stuff that I wouldn't pay attention to know. Sure, this was out of necessity, but it was also fun in a weird way. I also missed the awesome blocks our local channels got. We had one really weird local channel that would show a wrestling block late Friday night and then Saturday was horror. They would show Tales From the Crypt at midnight, a horror movie after that, and then end with Forever Knight. Things like that were really special and made you really look forward to seeing it. Yes, you can watch whatever now, but everything being so readily available kills the special part of it. It's sort of like how scrolling through a streaming service is nothing compared to the fun and excitement of going to the video store and looking for a few movies to watch.

From when I was born in 74 until the tail end of 1990 there was no cable where I grew up. So we had a roof top antenna plus I added rabbit ears to my TV. Between the two I got 8 channels.

And there was similar blocks like you mentioned. Saturdays from 6pm until 11pm there was wrestling on one of the UHF channels out of Mobile. And for close to 10 years the ABC channel out of Mobile would air 2 horror movies,sometimes with a host,starting at 1030pm. Then they added Tales from the Darkside at 1030pm. So the movies started at 11pm and ran until 3am.

My friend, who is so technologically adverse I’m convinced he’d communicate by carrier pigeon if he could, still calls all TV “CableVision” which it hasn’t been since about 1993. It’s f***ing adorable.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Oct 4, 2021 2:05:33 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Oct 3, 2021 14:03:52 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

From when I was born in 74 until the tail end of 1990 there was no cable where I grew up. So we had a roof top antenna plus I added rabbit ears to my TV. Between the two I got 8 channels.

And there was similar blocks like you mentioned. Saturdays from 6pm until 11pm there was wrestling on one of the UHF channels out of Mobile. And for close to 10 years the ABC channel out of Mobile would air 2 horror movies,sometimes with a host,starting at 1030pm. Then they added Tales from the Darkside at 1030pm. So the movies started at 11pm and ran until 3am.

My friend, who is so technologically adverse I’m convinced he’d communicate by carrier pigeon if he could, still calls all TV “CableVision” which it hasn’t been since about 1993. It’s f***ing adorable.

Sounds a bit like my father. 2 years ago I got him a Roku. And to him anything he watches using the ROKU is on "Netflix." He would see a movie he thought I might like "yea it's on Netflix". I search and nope that was on Shudder or Hulu.

But then he is also 77. Still has never learned how to use a dvd or blu ray player. But can operate the Roku somewhat decently.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Oct 4, 2021 2:09:22 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Oct 4, 2021 2:05:33 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

My friend, who is so technologically adverse I’m convinced he’d communicate by carrier pigeon if he could, still calls all TV “CableVision” which it hasn’t been since about 1993. It’s f***ing adorable.

Sounds a bit like my father. 2 years ago I got him a Roku. And to him anything he watches using the ROKU is on "Netflix." He would see a movie he thought I might like "yea it's on Netflix". I search and nope that was on Shudder or Hulu.

But then he is also 77. Still has never learned how to use a dvd or blu ray player. But can operate the Roku somewhat decently.

He basically got forced into having to text because he got a girls phone number, so she’s gonna text. So he will, under rare circumstances, known only to him, return a text but he’s a phone call guy. Want his attention? Gotta call. I used to tell him, the only time the phone rings it’s you or my grandparents and even that’s not true anymore. Because of COVID-19, we taught one set of grandparents how to FaceTime and the other, I’m not their close contact, so they don’t call when they accidentally push the input button on the remote and can’t fix it anymore.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Oct 4, 2021 2:16:50 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Oct 4, 2021 2:09:22 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Sounds a bit like my father. 2 years ago I got him a Roku. And to him anything he watches using the ROKU is on "Netflix." He would see a movie he thought I might like "yea it's on Netflix". I search and nope that was on Shudder or Hulu.

But then he is also 77. Still has never learned how to use a dvd or blu ray player. But can operate the Roku somewhat decently.

He basically got forced into having to text because he got a girls phone number, so she’s gonna text. So he will, under rare circumstances, known only to him, return a text but he’s a phone call guy. Want his attention? Gotta call. I used to tell him, the only time the phone rings it’s you or my grandparents and even that’s not true anymore. Because of COVID-19, we taught one set of grandparents how to FaceTime and the other, I’m not their close contact, so they don’t call when they accidentally push the input button on the remote and can’t fix it anymore.

Pretty much everybody that knows me knows call me do not text me. Rather spend less than 2 minutes answering the phone than 5 minutes trying to type out a reply to a text.

But I got an old ass flip phone. No internet on it. When my old one died early this year I went to Verizon to get a new phone. The lady working there had to dig in the back for close to 15 minutes to find the one non-smart phone they had. I could have got a cheap smartphone for 75 bucks. My new flip phone cost me close to 200 bucks.

[fw91]

I still prefer live tv, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia. I just like flicking channels.

[Triangle Lancer]

I actually LIKE the game I play "watch it or miss it".
If the show was that important to see, I'd either make the time to see it or find a way to record it to watch later.