Network Decay

[EdwardKnoxII]

Many cable channels are created to fulfill a specific programming niche. The Golf Channel shows golf, The History Channel shows history programs, and so on. Some channels, however, are not as wedded to their original concept as others. Meddling Executives look at the Demographics to whom their channel appeals, and decide that, hey, since the people watching their Speculative Fiction channel are mostly 18- to 31-year-old males, and Professional Wrestling is hot among that demographic, surely no one would mind if we started showing Professional Wrestling! (*cough cough* Sy Fy *cough*)

The fans of the original programming will mind, of course, but the channel tends to keep going regardless. This may show up with only a couple of odd programs in the schedule, but far too often, given enough time, a channel will have pretty much abandoned its original concept. Whether or not the former invariably leads to the latter is a subject for debate.

Part of the cause seems to be the fact that the channel is originally created to air shows that are "in the vault" of the company that creates the channels, but soon, the channel's own executives discover that original programming nets them more money, and the new stuff slowly displaces the old. Reality Shows, as a genre where the cost to produce is especially low, are common here. This may result in a new "vault" channel, which slowly undergoes the same process. (Nicktoons Network from Nickelodeon, for example.)

Note that one way to tell if this is happening is if the name of the network is hidden behind an acronym. For example, The Nashville Network referred to itself more and more as TNN (it eventually even changed what it stood for to "The National Network") before becoming Spike TV; similarly, you'd hardly know that TLC was ever called The Learning Channel.

Some changes can be chalked up to the changing landscape of TV. As the number of channels goes up, networks re-align themselves to try and hold some of their market. That, or the parent companies who might own seven or more cable channels each shuffle stuff for "synergy" or to reduce redundancy. Competition with new media is prevalent as well, as classic reruns give way to DVD box sets, music video channels give way to You Tube and iPods, and info-dumping all-text channels give way to the data display in a digital cable box or some new-fangled webernet site. But most of the time, it's just good old-fashioned selling out for ratings — whether it works or not.

Also, be forewarned that this page can be pretty depressing. Music video channels that don't play music videos, fine arts channels deciding reality shows are better business...it isn't pretty.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay

 

[Big Green]

One show epitomizes the entire point of that article:

Ice Road Truckers on The History Channel

Such an awful show on a once great network.

 

[Czech]

This exists, yeah. I thought this was going to be about the Big 3 going down the shitter, since technically cable channels aren't really networks even if it's in their name, but this is worth discussing as well.

That whole block of Discovery/TLC/HGTV/Food/Bravo/A&E/History has blended into an indistinguishable morass of vaguely defined "lifestyle programming" and pop documentaries. About 80% of each channel's schedule could easily be on one of the other channels, and if not for identifications in the corner of the screen, I'd be none the wiser. It's a valid complaint in some respects, but on the other hand, even if A&E and the Learning Channel had stayed true to their roots, I probably wouldn't find time to watch them anyway.

As for MTV "getting away from music videos," people have been pissing and moaning about that for at least fifteen years now. "MTV needs to show music videos!" has been such a tired-ass Gen-X rallying cry for so long that we've all taken it as received wisdom; yes, they should show more music videos. Have we forgotten that music videos generally combine both the worst of music and video? If you think about it, MTV never stopped showing poorly directed, overindulgent, overwrought, self-aggrandizing schlock. They just renamed it "Cribs."

 

[Slayer]

The absence of music videos on MTV is a null point anyway as the emergence of Youtube now allows us to access nearly any music video, past and present, largely any time we want (unless the video copyright owner brought the hammer down on Youtube, in which case you go to Dailymotion)

 

[Slayer]

The other amusing thing is that, even if MTV somehow reverted back played nothing but music videos, they'd be playing all the new popular songs and digging back maybe 2-3 years at the most, so all the relatively crotchety old-timers who complain about the absence of videos wouldn't even be in the current target audience to begin with

 

[Big Green]

The absence of music videos on MTV is a null point anyway as the emergence of Youtube now allows us to access nearly any music video, past and present, largely any time we want (unless the video copyright owner brought the hammer down on Youtube, in which case you go to Dailymotion)

In the case of YouTube, a lot of labels are uploading their entire video library on it so there's no threat of it ever being taken down.

The music industry has largely moved away from music videos on TV and probably now expects everyone to watch music videos online.

 

[Gary]

Cartoon Network now shows reality televison. I'm only mentioning this because it's amusing to see broken man children complain about it online.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

The other amusing thing is that, even if MTV somehow reverted back played nothing but music videos, they'd be playing all the new popular songs and digging back maybe 2-3 years at the most, so all the relatively crotchety old-timers who complain about the absence of videos wouldn't even be in the current target audience to begin with

You, my friend, are missing MTV AM. They show shit from all times from early Madonna to early Snoop Dogg to anything. It is some pretty solid shit.

 

[BUTT]

And nobody enjoys early Madonna and Snoop more than Slayer.

 

[Big Green]

And nobody enjoys early Madonna and Snoop more than Slayer.

Who doesn't like this?


YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Snoop Dogg - Who Am I? (What's My Name?)

 

[Slayer]

And nobody enjoys early Madonna and Snoop more than Slayer.

Hah!

Snoop I can take or leave (I was gradually phasing out of rap at the time he started hitting big), but I have zero shame in admitting I still enjoy a fair bit of Madonna's work from my youth/adolescence. As for MTV AM, I'd never heard of it, and as I haven't had cable for almost a year now that doesn't mean much to me anyway

I've been going to TVTropes for almost two years now and have seen that article a couple times, but it wasn't until today I noticed the glaring absence of The WorldWide Leader in that article. While not a case of complete decay as they still feature a fair bit of sports programming and sporting news, they have plenty of marks against them

- Various reality programs (a general tumor on television this decade, as noted by several portions of that article)

- High promotion of various fringe/questionable sports and total non-sports (bowling, billiards, poker). While these were originally relegated to The Deuce (hence the style of jokes such as "The Ocho" from Dodge Ball) and the main channel still showed the big sports, there have been times where real sports were thrown on the secondary networks while items like poker would get the main channel airtime.

- General evolution of the network believing it's bigger than the product on which it was based, very similar to MTV, which makes sense due to their flat out admission a couple years ago that they're patterning their programing after MTV

Anything else to consider (without completely turning this into that other thread)?

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

GSN minus Shandi Finnessey = loss.

(Yes, I'm just repeating myself from the TCM1982 version of this thread on TOTSM).

Seriously though, too much "Al Borland Presents Family Feud" and not enough "WWF vs. WBF Family Feud" going on with GSN these days.

 

[Gary]

Seriously though, too much "Al Borland Presents Family Feud" and not enough "WWF vs. WBF Family Feud" going on with GSN these days.

I don't think so Venk.

 

[EdwardKnoxII]

Hey I liked Al Borland as host. Granted he's nowhere near as good as John O'Hurley but, he was miles ahead of Louie Anderson. Anderson started off good but, then just quit giving a shit and you could tell. Anderson looked like all he wanted to do was go home and eat about 5 or 6 pizzas.

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

Good one Floydster.

Don't misunderstand, he's fine, but I'm into watching old shows, not newer stuff (the exceptions, so far, being when Lingo and Playmania were on).

An inversion of this trope is "Much More Retro", which airs 24 hours of music videos (I believe on a 12 hour cycle) with no blocks dedicated to original programming or nonsense like that. I love it.

 

[Gary]

Hey I liked Al Borland as host. Granted he's nowhere near as good as John O'Hurley but, he was miles ahead of Louie Anderson. Anderson started off good but, then just quit giving a shit and you could tell. Anderson looked like all he wanted to do was go home and eat about 5 or 6 pizzas.

Or proposition a man.

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

At one point, they even showed reruns of Night Court and News Radio!

Worst complaint ever (though in context - that the shows got bumped from A&E to Biography - it makes sense).

"SyFy" (pronounced the same way though it looks like it could be pronounced like Sihfee)

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

 

[Byron The Bulb]

I've been going to TVTropes for almost two years now and have seen that article a couple times, but it wasn't until today I noticed the glaring absence of The WorldWide Leader in that article. While not a case of complete decay as they still feature a fair bit of sports programming and sporting news, they have plenty of marks against them

- Various reality programs (a general tumor on television this decade, as noted by several portions of that article)

- High promotion of various fringe/questionable sports and total non-sports (bowling, billiards, poker). While these were originally relegated to The Deuce (hence the style of jokes such as "The Ocho" from Dodge Ball) and the main channel still showed the big sports, there have been times where real sports were thrown on the secondary networks while items like poker would get the main channel airtime.

- General evolution of the network believing it's bigger than the product on which it was based, very similar to MTV, which makes sense due to their flat out admission a couple years ago that they're patterning their programing after MTV

Anything else to consider (without completely turning this into that other thread)?

I think ESPN Classic is a better candidate. They went from playing, like, actual classic sporting events to showing shit like the World Series of Poker and Stump the Schwab and fucking Arli$$.

 

[Gary]

VH1 Classic is alright, though they also have "That Metal Show." I know Slayer has seen it (and probably doesn't mind it) but I find it harder to watch. It's essentially an unending midlife crisis that airs every week on TV. These three guys hanging out with their heroes is okay, but the fact that they still try to be cool ("I love Slipknot!") is sad.

VH1 is just depressing though-an unending parade of the worst humanity has to offer.

 

[Slayer]

VH1 Classic is alright, though they also have "That Metal Show." I know Slayer has seen it (and probably doesn't mind it)

I remembered us discussing this the other day but then I realized I had TMS confused with "Metal Mania", the general metal video show on VH1C. I've never seen TMS since it only came on last year, since the time I've been without cable

I think ESPN Classic is a better candidate. They went from playing, like, actual classic sporting events to showing shit like the World Series of Poker and Stump the Schwab and fucking Arli$$.

A good point. I only had ESPN Classic way back earlier this decade before it moved to the extra tier of channels I didn't want to pay for, so for awhile I only knew of its decay from people at TSM talking about its descent. In the last few years some hotels I stay at for work do have it though and now I've seen it. My theory was that ESPN didn't want to keep paying money for the rights to various old games/events anymore, so they flooded it with all their own programming (though that still doesn't explain Arliss)

I think what was additionally insulting, in addition to the aforementioned shows, was the last couple of times I flipped on the station and there would be actual college football on... but they were uncompelling and not-noteworthy September games from just last year.

 

[Czech]

- General evolution of the network believing it's bigger than the product on which it was based, very similar to MTV, which makes sense due to their flat out admission a couple years ago that they're patterning their programing after MTV

Anything else to consider (without completely turning this into that other thread)?

"All I wanna do is race, Daddy."
"Roll the dice, take a chance."

 

[Smues]

"We're here with Don Everest, known as 'The Matador,' for his ability to lure the young bulls into the ring and cut them down."

 

[Slayer]

"You sure about this, Pete?"
"Just place the bet."

 

[Jingus]

Another one that deserves mention is G4. The obvious example is the gradual castration of X-Play over the years, but the entire programming schedule now is just odd. It used to be an unabashedly nerdy collection of geek-based shows, and now it's... hell, I dunno what to even call it. It's like they took a whole lot of SpikeTV and a little bit of Adult Swim and then, uh, whatever you'd call a network that shows endless reruns of stuff like Cheaters or Cops that are usually reserved for something more along the lines of WGN at two in the morning. Like Czech was talking about A&E and the like (ah, I miss the days of Evening at the Improv) they widened their target audience to the point where they've completely destroyed their original fanbase.

 

[Gary]

I never really cared about G4, but that's probably because I wasn't wild about Video Games anymore when it came along.

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

G4 Canada hasn't gone the route of showing Cops... yet. I guess a lot of folks here were pissed when G4 took over Tech TV and such shows as "Call for Help" got turfed (which actually is still on the channel, so, I forget what people were getting riled up... maybe it's rerun only) but it's AOTS this, X-Plat that, EP/Reviews on the Run thrown in... still pretty nerdy. They air shows from Adult Swim too... but they also air a show called "Mantracker" which doesn't quite seem to fit the theme.

 

[AntiLeaf33]

G4 Canada hasn't gone the route of showing Cops... yet. I guess a lot of folks here were pissed when G4 took over Tech TV and such shows as "Call for Help" got turfed (which actually is still on the channel, so, I forget what people were getting riled up... maybe it's rerun only) but it's AOTS this, X-Plat that, EP/Reviews on the Run thrown in... still pretty nerdy. They air shows from Adult Swim too... but they also air a show called "Mantracker" which doesn't quite seem to fit the theme.

They have Mantracker, Angry Planet, and Which way to... all on G4 now. Not sure how the hell they managed to find their way onto a tech channel considering the only tech from these shows are the cameras they use to fail said shows

 

[DrVenkman PhD]

One of the things about Canadian cable television that both hurt and helped was the regulations that forced channels to air shows that ONLY matched what they applied to the CRTC to air, so in general your G4s and such would have to honour that. The flip side is, and this is just the example off the top of my head, you have situations where CBC decides to air afternoon repeats of 22 Minutes or Air Farce on CBC Newsworld. Though both shows are news heavy in their comedic satire, they didn't fit the definition of "news programming" and were promptly removed from the station.

I assume these rules have been loosened (or have large loopholes) since the 90s judging on how often Teletoon airs a live action movie or G4 can air the above mentioned shows.

 

[treble]

If we're going to talk about Canadian cable stations, we need to start with Showcase.

They started showing (uncensored) movies that you usually wouldn't see anywhere else (mostly European stuff, but not exclusively) almost every night. Then, they were bought by Canwest and decided to go to more mainstream movies and shows. Occasionally, they'll show a decent movie, but that's off-set by how often they'll show something like Beerfest or Scary Movie 4.

 

[Czech]

Not network decay per se, but you know what really made me mad? Back in April or May, the Music Choice channels on digital cable were shuffled around and revamped. They got rid of my favorite Big Band & Swing channel and merged it with Singers & Standards to form "Singers & Swing." Now it's half and half, and I think they were much better off separate. Just the other day, I had it on, and in between Tommy Dorsey and Oscar Peterson, they played a Renee "Pigface" Olstead cover of "Someone to Watch Over Me." This would not have happened to me if the channels had been kept separate. Those three minutes of Renee Olstead could've and should've been three minutes of Count Basie or Glenn Miller or even Buddy Rich. I can understand dropping bluegrass and opera from the lineup, but when one of the emptied slots becomes "Toddler Tunes" which as best I can tell is 24 fucking hours a day of Raffi, you can't tell me a big band channel is redundant. Suck my dick, Music Choice.