Why does premium cable suck now?

[JohnL]

We get the standard pay channels, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Movie Channel, Starz etc, plus we have about 4-5 PPV channels. Unfortunately, there never seems to be anything on anymore, except crap. I don't mean the good crap either.

I've been waiting to see Below, Darkness Falls, The Ring, Final Destination II etc. None of these are on. What IS on PPV? I-Spy, The Tuxcedo, Sweet Home Alabama, 8 Mile...

We used to have around 7 PPV channels that would show a variety of movies during the day, now we have 4-5 channels that each show the same movie all day long. So during a week, you have maybe 5-6 different movies.

I almost never find anything obscure on any of the 'regular' premium channels, most of the movies I've been wanting to see turn up on SciFi or some other channel, chopped to shreds.

Renting movies costs too much and in the past I just had to wait and they'd show up on the premium channels. Now they seem to be more interested in showing stuff that's 10 years old...

[Dolph Lundgren]

Do you have the Action channel, John?  Sometimes they've got some good stuff at night.  That is, if you like action, of course.  Otherwise, I'd agree with you.  Sci-Fi is one of the good channels left, and, like you said, most of the movies are chopped.  Otherwise, the pickings are definitely slim.

Nick

[Brother Ragnarok]

And I'm p**sed because my local satellite provider just dropped Sci-Fi from the standard package, so I have to pay another 10 bucks a month if I want it back.  Luckily I still have Cartoon Network, Discovery, and TLC, which are the only other channels I ever watch anyway.  

Brother R

[Scott0]

TCM plays all their movies uncut, and unedited, and without commercials. Unfortunately they show a lot of worthless 40's and 50's C-R-A-P. On right now is "Calling All Husbands" a boring adaptation of some stage play. You really gotta be patient if you want to get something interesting.... or just have an enormous stock of movies you haven't seen yet to keep you constantly occupied. That's what I have. I've got about 40 waiting to be seen, and that's gonna take me a while, so I don't have any room to complain about boring movies.

Scottie

[Ash]

What makes me mad is those bastards dropped MTV X!!

I loved that channel!

[Brother Ragnarok]

Not only did they drop it, they cancelled it for MTV Jams.  Metal good.  Rap f**kING BAD!!!  GRRRRR.

Brother R

[The Burgomaster]

I haven't paid for HBO, Showtime or any other movie channels for several years. However, I do get all of the other channels.

I find that about 75% of my time in front of the TV is spent watching DVDs. The other 25% is spent watching sports or an occasional documentary on the Discovery Channel or something.

I am similar to Scott0 in that I have about 30 - 40 DVDs that I haven't even watched yet, including several volumes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, several volumes of THE AVENGERS, a few episodes of THE PRISONER, plus CUBE 2, most of the STAR TREK boxed set (I have only watched STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and WRATH OF KHAN so far), MANIAC, ASYLUM OF SATAN, DISCO GODFATHER and a bunch of others. I find this to be much more enjoyable than waiting for something to show up on HBO.

[raj]

I don't bother with HBO, etc. either.  There usually is only one or two movies on them that I'd want to watch, and renting the movies themselves is cheaper.  I've got no interest in watching the Sopranos, or Mike Tyson's latest bit of self destruction.

Some evenings I work late, others I'm working out and when I am home, it's History/Discovery (now I get Discovery Wings waa hoo!)/TLC or Sci-Fi or Cartoon.  Or else I'm watching baseball.  Or else a DVD.  Funny thing is, I stopped watching the networks a long time ago (except for the Simpsons).  Don't miss those channels either.

[systemcr4sh]

MoviePix shows some pretty good movies. I've caught some gooddies on there, Suburban Commando, Gladiator Cop, Pandimonium, The Gate. Oh yeah by goodies I meant baddies :P

[AndyC]

Funny, since I've gotten satellite, none of the channels seem all that great. A lot of them seem to get watered down from their original ideas.

I was really looking forward to having Scream, but I've seen relatively little horror on it. They've got anything that can even remotely fit into horror, thriller or suspense. You're as likely to see reruns of Twin Peaks as you are to see a good horror movie.

Space (Canadian equivalent of Sci-Fi) seems to be more interested in running a bunch of boring series than in showing decent movies and classic shows. Aside from an occasional rerun of original Trek, I seldom watch it.

Teletoon used to be great. Back when it came on, I got it free for a while and loved it, from the classic toons to the late-night anime. Now, it seems to be mostly a bunch of crap I've never heard of.

Same with the Food Network. I used to be able to watch that for an evening. Now, unless you're into Emeril, there's not much that really stands out.

Deja View and TV Land aren't bad, as long as you know when the good shows are on.

Drive-In Classics has a decent lineup of movies.

All in all, it's amazing how often I sit down to a long list of channels and find nothing that catches my interest.

[JohnL]

>Do you have the Action channel, John?

Nope.

>All in all, it's amazing how often I sit down to a long list of channels and find
>nothing that catches my interest.

I know what you mean. Years ago, it used to be that each month there would be a whole slew of stuff you'd never seen before, some that you'd heard of and a lot that you hadn't. I can remember looking through the guide each month and finding lots of stuff that sounded good. Now it's more like;

Crap
Crap
Old crap
Seen it
Crap
Old crap
Old crap
Seen it
Crap

[Andrew]

I watch TV on such a rare basis that it is sad.  Now, putting in a movie and sitting down for an evening is something different.  That I do all that time.

[Fearless Freep]

I'm with Andrew.  The only thing I watch with any regularity is some cartoons and some baseball.  

If I want to watch a movie, I rent it.

[Susan]

When did AMC start putting commercials in during movies? I was trying to watch "Rosemary's baby" the other day and kept getting interrupted with them. I don't seem to remember that, they were sort of like TCM.

Premium cable does suck, they tend to play the most recent film over and over and over. I keep wondering why HBO doesn't play older movies that I know they have rights to show, but it's always the same stuff, repetatively.

Btw, I loathe commercials, and I expect these movie stations will start putting them in..i keep waiting for that day. I never thought i'd see them in theaters but there they are advertising shower heads and cars. The last movie I went to I actually wrote down the trailer and previews I saw.

5 Trailers

But about 5 NBC commercials advertising their most popular shows. Then a promo for the Eagles on tour. Then several promos for upcoming album releases. A nestea commercial followed by a powerade commercial. Oh and how can I forget the cingular wireless commercial.

[Ash]

Sci-Fi is getting terrible for commercials.  

There's a set of 6-8 of them pretty much every 10 minutes.

Even worse, they constantly replay the same ones over & over again all day everyday.



Post Edited (04-30-03 21:07)