Old friends on old TV
I love old TV shows. Not talking about the 50s and 60s shows… I’m talking about the 80s. There is a new channel on DirecTV called “Sleuth” and it mainly shows old 80s mysteries like ‘Simon & Simon’, ‘A-Team’, ‘Miami Vice’ and ‘The Equalizer’. Today alone I got to see Edward Woodward kill Kevin Spacey with a forklift and Don Johnson gun down Ted Nugent. They’re also showing some movies like the one just starting ‘Renegades’.
The best thing about a station like this is there is next to no overhead for them. They are making money off of shows and movies that are already made. I can’t believe that the airing rights for Simon & Simon can be that high. Spike TV is going to spend a good chunk of change to produce the Blade TV series yet here is a channel selling its ad time for spaces during The Equalizer. Plus you know when you turn on the channel you’re going to get exactly what you expect. I turn on Spike and I might get Wrestling, Star Trek or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre… not really a theme there.
Plus with these old shows you get to see people before they made it big. I’ve been watching Ted Nugent on Supergroup and now I see him about 25 years younger with his shirt open to his navel and… okay, never mind, I could have lived a long time without seeing that. But besides Ted, Phil Collins and Glenn Fry were on the show and a very young Bruce Willis…
Okay, I’ll admit it… someone challenged me to write something good about television and I came up blank. I keep seeing all the “new shows” coming and all I can think of is some network execs need to keep better track of their embarrassing photos because I can see no other way shows like ‘America’s Got Talent’ make it to the air. The bar keeps getting set lower and lower and now the only thing you need to get on the air is a half-naked chick and violence.
I think the key to making TV better is to hunt down these elusive “Neilson Families” and see what they are REALLY watching. You know they have PLAYBOY TV on 24/7 but writes down ‘7th Heaven’ and ‘The Gilmore Girls’. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to tell what people are really watching? Things like that would probably keep shows like ‘Sports Night’ on the air and eliminate ‘Commander in Chief’ from ever getting there.
But I don’t see that happening any time soon… so America, get ready for another season of bad television… or do something unique and read a book, or maybe a graphic novel.
I love old TV shows. Not talking about the 50s and 60s shows… I’m talking about the 80s. There is a new channel on DirecTV called “Sleuth” and it mainly shows old 80s mysteries like ‘Simon & Simon’, ‘A-Team’, ‘Miami Vice’ and ‘The Equalizer’. Today alone I got to see Edward Woodward kill Kevin Spacey with a forklift and Don Johnson gun down Ted Nugent. They’re also showing some movies like the one just starting ‘Renegades’.
The best thing about a station like this is there is next to no overhead for them. They are making money off of shows and movies that are already made. I can’t believe that the airing rights for Simon & Simon can be that high. Spike TV is going to spend a good chunk of change to produce the Blade TV series yet here is a channel selling its ad time for spaces during The Equalizer. Plus you know when you turn on the channel you’re going to get exactly what you expect. I turn on Spike and I might get Wrestling, Star Trek or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre… not really a theme there.
Plus with these old shows you get to see people before they made it big. I’ve been watching Ted Nugent on Supergroup and now I see him about 25 years younger with his shirt open to his navel and… okay, never mind, I could have lived a long time without seeing that. But besides Ted, Phil Collins and Glenn Fry were on the show and a very young Bruce Willis…
Okay, I’ll admit it… someone challenged me to write something good about television and I came up blank. I keep seeing all the “new shows” coming and all I can think of is some network execs need to keep better track of their embarrassing photos because I can see no other way shows like ‘America’s Got Talent’ make it to the air. The bar keeps getting set lower and lower and now the only thing you need to get on the air is a half-naked chick and violence.
I think the key to making TV better is to hunt down these elusive “Neilson Families” and see what they are REALLY watching. You know they have PLAYBOY TV on 24/7 but writes down ‘7th Heaven’ and ‘The Gilmore Girls’. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to tell what people are really watching? Things like that would probably keep shows like ‘Sports Night’ on the air and eliminate ‘Commander in Chief’ from ever getting there.
But I don’t see that happening any time soon… so America, get ready for another season of bad television… or do something unique and read a book, or maybe a graphic novel.
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