Top 5 Cases of Channel Drift and Decay

A common trend in television is channel drift and decay, in which a channel strays away from it's original genre and concept in order to pander to a more broad demographic, boost low ratings, or because of executive meddling and mismanagement. It became prevalent in the 2000's and 2010's and still goes on to this day due to VOD, streaming services, and the internet becoming more accessible and we now live in the age of cord cutting!
In the 2020's, there's been even more experimentation. For better or for worse, such as channel's returning to their roots or spamming the same three goddamn shows all day long. So in this video, I provide five examples plus three bonus ones of channels going downhill! Spoiler alert, nearly all of them gravitate toward reality shows.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:33 - 5: History Channel
1:56 - 4: G4/TechTV
4:01 - 3: TLC
5:14 - 2: The Weather Channel
7:04 - Mention 1: CN Real
8:00 - Mention 2: Travel Channel
8:37 - Mention 3: Boomerang
9:56 - 1: MTV (+MTV 2)
11:52 - Conclusion
12:28 - Outro

[@termitesc.aardwolf3644]

Let's not forget Animal Planet which is now mostly about hillbillies going fishing, people building treehouses and park rangers in rural Alaska.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

And don't forget the fish tanks!

[@troyjardine5850]

Let's also not forget four idiots bumbling through the woods looking for Bigfoot and lying "documentaries" about mermaids!

[@brandonpage7087]

Lmao, & don't forget that they aired Finding Bigfoot!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@char1737]

I liked the show fatal attraction about the dangers of me having exotic pets , both informative and heartbreaking , if you stream it's on Roku and so worth checking out

[@NPGLAMB]

I miss when animal planet was animals. I remember being glued to the tv watching animal cops phoenix.

[@timnoble1385]

MTV went off the rails so long ago, I forgot about them. I used to love the top 20 countdown and Headbanger’s Ball.

[@reneyibowei2019]

I wouldn't d just love to hear if a Paramount executive asked MTV to dump all of its junk in the river and start airing music again. Same thing with TLC with them moving to niche docs.

[@DoswarePictures]

A&E used to be about the arts. Now it’s just Storage Wars.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Also horrible shows about sexually harassing children, Scared Straight.

[@annabellmorrison2627]

If anything, Quiet on Set could've been on A&E! (lol, and sorry if this is a bad joke).

[@fromthehaven94]

​@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsI don't know about sexual, if you're talking about Scared Straight. The original Scared Straight (which I think was on PBS) was a documentary that involved convincted felons giving their "life lessons" to juvenile delinquents and other at-risk youth to scare them away from criminal activity. The felons being allowed to get in the kids faces, I don't think that qualifies as abuse.

[@imagographics5096]

Yeah, I'm 55 and I remember when it was Arts & Entertainment, and they used to air really highbrow stuff: symphonies, operas, Shakespeare plays, and the like. I was a teenage dork so I absolutely loved it.

[@manuelmargarin2]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsyea and Can you do Part 2 😢

[@pokevids6390]

I have another channel that went to channel drift: The Discovery Channel. Basically, the discovery channel used to air stuff about Discovery, that's the channels name, back when it launched in the 1980s, until it started air show that barley have to do with Discovery, but mostly nothing but that show titled "Naked and Afraid" which is that show they play non-stop.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

The Warner Bros Discovery merger didn't help with that sadly

[@OfficialKimIsNoob]

My parents loved naked and afraid, so did my little brother, idk why they watched it, I always found it weird, but I agree, that show should go on the nature Channel or something

[@CCJ1998]

Haven't cared about that channel ever since they cancelled Mythbusters.

[@renejustinnillo3087]

Boomerang (2024-present): ALL CLASSICS ARE COMING BACK TO YOU! Nicktoons (2024-present): FUCK THAT SLOGAN, WE'RE JUST GONNA SPAM SPONGEBOB!!! JUST BECAUSE EVERYONE THAT STILL HAS CABLE LOVED TEENNICK WHEN THAT CHANNEL SPAMMED A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF HENRY DANGER NONSTOP!!!!

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Paramount/Viacom doesn't know what the hell they are doing!

[@taejasper1343]

​@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsYou mean Nickelodeon doesn't! They're the ones pulling this shit, man!

[@Redkodiak1994]

Ikr it comes 2 show that cn kinda cares about they're fans more than nick does nicktoons needs to bring back rocko catdog angry beavers Invader zim Ren and stimpy

[@termitesc.aardwolf3644]

Just checked Boomerang's schedule and man is it limited. No 1980s Pond Puppies, no Hong Kong Phooey, no Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, no Swat Kats, no Two Stupid Dogs, etc. Just Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo, Flintstones, Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Wacky Races and Popeye and an occasional Top Cat and Taz Mania rerun. Its like somebody with the barest knowledge of cartoons scheduled it.

[@TajmirTheRandomFan]

@@termitesc.aardwolf3644 that's because none of those cartoons didn't get a remaster.

[@hobokoala2623]

My favorite ghost show moment is when they were visiting a famous French insane asylum and they clearly heard the phrase, “Get out!” That’s right, and FRENCH ghost spoke ENGLISH. Even in death, you can’t escape your Duolingo lessons.

[@brandonpage7087]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That has to be a coincidence, no way that was real

[@hobokoala2623]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews I would find out much later, that while the stars of those ghost hunter shows were sincerely reacting to phenomena, the producers were the ones banging on the pipes and making all the creepy sounds and stuff.

[@brandonpage7087]

@ArtieRaccoonReviews, it was more like manipulation by the show's producers. Something that's common in these ghost hunting shows, lol. The biggest red flag being that the "ghost" spoke English, instead of French.

[@thelonelywolf88]

I prefer Ghost Adventures, imo. I do believe in ghosts, and at least everything they encounter, they try to debunk it

[@DoswarePictures]

The CW originally started as the successor to The WB and UPN, airing the same types of shows as both networks, but as time went on, they went to a mainly female audience, dropping shows like SmackDown, and later just became a network for teen dramas and DC shows. Now with Nexstar they’re going in a completely different direction with reality shows, imports, and sports.

[@Chelaxim]

So they're more The WB then lol. I think you forgot Gilmore Girls,Supernatural,One Tree Hill and Smallville all started on The WB if you look ar it from that angle then The CW never truly changed. Now onto UPN...the best rating the channel EVER got was from America's Next Top Model...which was the number 1 show on The CW from 2006-2009.

[@wotintarnation8388]

And just now CW is going back to WWE... Sure it's the developmental NXT rather than SmackDown but still

[@DoswarePictures]

⁠@@Chelaximexcept that The CW is going away from WB style shows as Nexstar pivots away from that. They’re especially ditching DC when S&L ends.

[@DoswarePictures]

@@wotintarnation8388now all we need is some sitcoms with diverse casts. More than the Canadian imports and Connors reruns.

[@OfficialKimIsNoob]

Didn't they used to air family guy from time to time, I used to see it on that channel, since the cw for me was channel 9, and I used to see family guy on there

[@jefferyjones8399]

Court TV's rebrand to Tru TV is worth a mention

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That was more of a rebrand than channel drift, also Court TV came back in 2019

[@jefferyjones8399]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews I wasn’t away Court TV came back. I haven’t had cable in years lol

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

​@@jefferyjones8399Court TV has been an over the air antenna network when it started 🤦

[@newstarcadefan]

@@jefferyjones8399 Court TV is now OTA and is running like it was way back in the day. Court cases during the day, and true crime during the nights, holidays and weekends.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

Dabl is a recent example of this phenomenon seen outside cable TV... Dabl started out as a cooking/DIY/lifestyle channel similar to cable TV's Food Network, PBS's Create or ABC's Live Well Network (now LOCALish) and is now a channel with African-American-targeted programming, similar to Bounce TV, The365 or cable TV's BET.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Oh yeah, they want to rebrand Dabl to a free-to-air version of BET. It's the most recent example, as it happened on New Year's 2024.

[@WestleyWolf]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews and being on local its alot like watching UPN back when that was around.

[@ZeepAtomic]

That'd be like making National Geographic about humans in the city instead of animals in the wild!

[@imagographics5096]

I did some freelance graphic-design work at MTV and VH1 a while back. I asked one of the execs why they don't play videos anymore, he said it was simply a matter of ratings. After the novelty of having 24-hour music videos, the ratings plunged, which is why they started adding gameshows and later reality shows. Then of course like you said, the ability to pull up music videos online pretty much put the nail in that coffin. It's sad, but that's public taste for ya. Luckily you can find hours-long blocks of MTV broadcasts, including commercials, if you need a dose of 80s nostalgia.

[@mythicalanimate]

TLC was the known "The Learning Channel" where you can actually learn and had The Magic School Bus? I thought TLC stood for "The Lazy Channel" or even "The Lousy Channel" because it cleary shows how lazy they become to actually have viewers learn and expect people especially children to watch disgusting horrible reality shows!?

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Lol The Lazy channel

[@ZeepAtomic]

They still call it The Learning Channel, because you learn not to be like them!

[@mythicalanimate]

​@ZeepTheWocky yk that's a good point

[@DirgeHole-2866]

Lazy or Lousy Channel works for real.

[@reneyibowei2019]

Warner Bros Discovery should dump their content in the local river.

[@MatthewChenault]

As a former avid History Channel enjoyer, they had a whole host of documentaries they would air about various different eras. My personal favorites were when they aired “Civil War Stories” - a documentary show covering various topics about the American Civil War - and “Civil War Combat.” The latter is especially good as they heavily reference campaign studies in order to present an accurate account of the battles. The best example of this is the episode on the Battle of the Crater, which based itself on Marvel and Cavanaugh’s book discussing the battle; even quoting from Captain William Gordon McCabe’s account of the battle, which happens to be in the opening of the book. A few other great shows from the era were “Engineering an Empire,” “Decisive Battles” (this one used the Rome: Total War engine to simulate the large-scale conflicts), and “Sherman’s March.” They’ve *tried* to go back to this, in part, but they generally lack the thorough research of the previous documentaries in favor of a more “dramatic” portrayal. Even if they have higher budget effects, they just lack the informative analyses of the previous examples. The only one I could recommend from the newer batch is “The Men Who Built America;” the first of that set. The rest go downhill in overall informative dissertation in favor of more “drama.” Outside of those attempts, the channel has virtually nothing in common with its original run.

[@MatthewChenault]

A few other recommendations would be their documentary on Andersonville (another good documentary) and “80 Acres of Hell,” which covered Camp Douglas and the numerous atrocities committed by the Union during the war. To say they had a lot of great documentaries on the American Civil War is an understatement.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that History Channel had a whole thing for World War II back in the 2000's

[@20thCY]

I was expecting G4 to keep their FAST channel when they shutdown the cable channel the second time, but nope I guess they want to scrub everything clean of G4

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I really wish they kept G4 Select and didn't pull the plug entirely

[@i_used_adblock_to_watch_this]

And thank God for that. G4 should have been scrubbed off years ago. Nothing redeemable about that channel. I'm glad they're revival was an absolute disaster and forever tarnished their already despicable name.

[@garycrowley1745]

TNT, USA,TNT, TBS, Reelz. IFC and Sundance no longer airs independent films or programs, just old tv reruns.

[@playgroundchooser]

Well this was a great video! Here to support the algorithm. 😊

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank you!

[@NPGLAMB]

TLC- they exploit and embarrass people who have alternative lifestyles on their shows lately. It used to be educational.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

This is why I hate people

[@kentarom2de945]

The moment when I see the thumbnail without my glasses on, I firstly thought "LN" means London.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Its a parody of Cartoon Network known as Live Action Network

[@drewwisemanmusic424]

TLC stands for The Learning Channel, but really, the only thing you’re learning how to do is lose brain cells and your appetite.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

TLC, the channel obese aunts watches

[@brandonpage7087]

Yeah, TONS of brain cells were lost by anyone who tuned into "here comes honey boo boo"!!! One of the worst shows ever!!!!

[@mr.goodboi2780]

basically any Discovery owned channel lol Also your Baldi impression was really good

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank you!

[@Redkodiak1994]

XD should return to toon Disney i wish Disney Channel would at least make a classic block for the classics like house of mouse Timon and pumbaa talespin and rescue rangers etc

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Disney XD should play older shows like Recess at night

[@Redkodiak1994]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews recess was another g1

[@annabellmorrison2627]

I know that the corporations don't have the spirit to launch new networks, but I recently recreated a video if Toon Disney DID relaunch, albeit as a separate channel and could be more Boomerang-esque and air Disney TVA's older toons, and even dramatically obscure ones air as part of the regular lineup. I'd actually still want Disney XD to be on the air with Toon Disney, though of course much of it and Disney Channel's live-action content would be mixed in the schedule with the recent and currently running Disney animated shows on the lineup today.

[@Redkodiak1994]

@annamore2627 that's notta bad idea

[@97nelsn]

MTV’s PlutoTV channels airs nothing but music videos, alongside the Vevo channels. There’s even a channel called MTV Reality which airs reruns of all their reality shows under the Reality TV tab. Weirdly enough, Beavis & Butthead and Daria air on Comedy Central Animation on PlutoTV.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Comedy Central Animation is pretty good, but the problem is that they repeat the same 10 episodes over and over again and I know damn well there's more than 10 episodes

[@97nelsn]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews yup, and after a while you can predict how the episodes will air

[@nathanforester5993]

History Channel very much used to have actual historical content (and the occassionally mythical content) but now it's very much all conspiracy theorist stuff.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I miss when History Channel covered mythical content too and World War 2

[@arfriedman4577]

In 2018, history Channel had knights Templar show.

[@TajmirTheRandomFan]

Boomerang US did avoid channel drift, until... That luck later didn't last long.

[@taejasper1343]

It came back to classic series this year, bro! So stop it, man!

[@TajmirTheRandomFan]

@@taejasper1343 you stop it, do me a favor to quit and stop that!

[@NPGLAMB]

I made a rant on that years ago. They had modern shows like gumball and TTG on their schedule all day!!! Where’s the classics I grew up on 😅

[@CCJ1998]

Looks like METV is about to take over that spot .

[@thebatterymill]

G4 will come back on October 4, 2029 as that is the exact same amount of time between the first shutdown and when the revival went on air

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

You figured it out!

[@andrewclark3330]

and then jackass KZbinrs like Geeks + Gamers will demonize the channel into deletion again because of Frosk and ONLY Frosk

[@lulugamer8082]

WHY 2029?

[@andrewclark3330]

@@lulugamer8082 atleast it's not on August 12th 2036, that's when the heat death of the universe is happening. according to AI Sponge

[@CamdenBloke]

Most of these didn't drift until after I gave up cable. Add a lot of these stations I don't even know about. I'm surprised the Weather Channel changed. My parents always used to have that on in the Super 8 motel on road trips. History Channel is the only one I saw go bad. People used to complain about MTV, but when I left off watching it they were still playing TRL and mainly music content with random stuff like Beavis and Butthead, Daria or Sifil and Olly. I did see History Channel go down the tubes though.

[@TonyWilliams27]

I miss G4TV! So much fun watching the latest technology gadgets and videos games was my pastime during college! Especially, Attack of the Show!

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I really liked the web animation they featured, such as Happy Tree Friends and Code Monkeys

[@penguinbrony2415]

The fall of the Weather Channel hurts me so much, as i've loved the channel for most of my life. I would love to see more longform content on the weather, and just get rid of most of the rest of the filler (aside from Highway through Hell, I do enjoy that one).

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

We need more Storm Stories and season 3 of So You Think You'd Survive

[@penguinbrony2415]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews They did do a reboot of Storm Stories not too long ago, and there's plenty of stories that could be told that have happened since the original run ended.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

@@penguinbrony2415 I know, but it airs at graveyard slots and not during primetime

[@penguinbrony2415]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews I know, and that's a shame.

[@neighslayer768]

Remember The Nashville Network? How it was like country music and cowboy movies? Well that became TNN, the guys channel with car chases, action movies, roller derby, Extreme Championship Wrestling and Monday Night Raw for a few years. Then all that was repackaged as SPIKE, doubling down on the guys channel with Manswers and UFC and TNA wrestling. But now it's gone a total 180 as the paramount network with more reality and drama based shows.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Yes, somebody else covered that very recently so I skipped over it

[@kcthesledgestoryteller]

After Boomerang debacle, many of us get a reprieve withMeTv Toons coming in June.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank god

[@imagographics5096]

Anyone here remember 80s Nickelodeon, with shows like Livewire, You Can't Do That on Television, and The Tomorrow People? They also used to run concerts, really edgy stuff at the time for a kids' channel: I remember seeing the Police and the Cars as well as Lords of the New Church. I really miss that early 80s DIY feel that it had.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Unfortunately I wasn't alive yet

[@imagographics5096]

​@@ArtieRaccoonReviews Luckily there's all kinds of stuff on KZbin, just like with MTV.

[@newstarcadefan]

I know what you're talking about...that was when Nick was OG in experimentation with their Special Delivery block.

[@miss_anne_thropic_]

Yes I do! I watched so much of that OG Nick. Also I liked the shows “Todays Special” and “Turkey Television”. Nick At Night had classic 50s tv shows then too.

[@zerocooler7]

I watched a lot of TV when I was younger. I was born in the mid 1970s and saw many cable TV channels in their prime. I then was sad to see so many of them decline and become former shadows of themselves, if not outright unrecognizable. Reality shows became a plague on TV.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

The only good channels these days are Adult Swim, Boomerang, MeTV, FXX, and G4.

[@CubeAtlantic]

G4 & Tech TV was dead-on relaxin' & dope as a kid & teenager. Boomerang was relaxin'

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Both were top-tier TV

[@wtfsamusidk7574]

Television used to be a learning tool it has been dumbed down, Idiocracy is real

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Not to mention that over-the-air TV has so few animated shows due to the FCC hating the medium

[@nicholasharvey1232]

A&E, which is supposed to be Arts & Entertainment.

[@maxyboyo]

conclusion: reality shows ruin all TV channels

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

It managed to even get a grip on Cartoon Network at one point

[@Official_Anonymous]

Two more that come to mind are A&E and National Geographic, which are both co-owned by Disney now. A&E back in the day used to air what the channel's name actually means (Arts & Entertainment), but they abbreviated it, and here lately, it's been really random, such as Storage Wars, Bidding Wars, Neighborhood Wars, Shopping Wars, and that one dog course show, America's Top Dog, with no artsy programming remaining. Meanwhile, Nat Geo barely airs nature documentaries nowadays, with those moving to Disney+, which is a shame since that's what the channel's identity was for so long. The current programming, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Wicked Tuna, Gordon Ramsey: Uncharted, and Breaking Bobby Bones, has been made pretty obvious that now they're trying to imitate the success of their competitor, the Discovery Channel.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

The show from A&E I hated the most was Scared Straight

[@Official_Anonymous]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews Huh, I've never heard of it. And oh yeah I also forgot, A&E was trying to compete with Discovery's sister channel, the Travel Channel, with their show Ghost Hunters, compared to Travel's Ghost Adventures.

[@LegendsP137]

To be fair Boomerang was also playing the same bumpers before its current rebranding. That's just a Boomerang staple at this point lol.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

True, however I argue that the 2000-2015 toy bumpers had a lot more variety and there were nearly a hundred bumpers rather than just a dozen and they were also visually appealing. It fit that retro feel

[@randalltonbrewster]

Why not reality TV get its own separate channel if the companies wanted to do it so badly?

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

It's expensive to launch a new channel

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

Between purchasing the building to house the studios and the offices, purchasing all the equipment including the cameras, the TV monitors, satellite dishes, etc. and all the people these channels need to hire to run everything, it could cost a fortune to start a TV channel...

[@WestleyWolf]

They used to at one point. it was called FOX Reality Channel, unfortunately it didn't take off after a few years so it rebranded as Nat Geo Wild before Disney bought 21CF.

[@NelvanaFan1971]

​@@WestleyWolfBefore Fox Reality, Dish Customers between December 2003 and May 2005 had Reality TV from Chellomedia

[@KaydeGustafson]

Speaking of history channel and wwii: I had two family members known to have fought in wwii who were Clifford and Charles, Charles had a nickname called Chuck and Clifford was nicknamed Cliff, but they both passed away in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank you for your time

[@KaydeGustafson]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews oh, I forgot about Lyle who also fought in wwii and he died in 2015 at 93 years old. Sry about that

[@lhmmhl1]

TechTV had one of my earliest memories of a "viral video" when a guest supposedly broke a priceless Edison wax cylinder. Now I look back and and it seems to be fake? Anyway great video sad to see what became of legitimately great networks.

[@aesthetic-moon-wave]

I'm glad Boomerang went back to its original roots as of now, but the channel really needs a rebrand. I'm so tired of seeing the brand they have since 2015.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I have a feeling it will probably never get updated and stay in purgatory until it shuts down eventually

[@Redkodiak1994]

Same thing can be said about cartoon network they've have check it logo since 2010

[@renejustinnillo3087]

Exactly. Despite not getting the rebrand, Boomerang is still a better NickRewind channel than NickToons. What's even sad is that NickToons is now down to airing only one show, which is obviously SpongeBob. They've been doing this endless SpongeBob thing since the beginning of this month, and it seems like it's never gonna end. While I will admit that this spam is for SpongeBob's 25th Birthday, this is no excuse. Say what you want about Nick Jr and Disney XD; even with the anniversaries for PAW Patrol and Big City Greens last year at least they had other shows to air besides the aforementioned shows, especially the classic ones like Dora and Phineas.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

Don't forget the original The Nashville Network (TNN)...and interestingly Disney Channel started to drift when in the mid 90s it stopped being a pay channel.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I didn't talk about TNN/Spike TV due to AmusingLuis already talking about it in his Defunct TV Channels video

[@bradyanderson6311]

​@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsyou forgot that fact.

[@David9PM]

Disney changing was a good thing.

[@bradyanderson6311]

@@David9PM Disney ruined Fox Kids as a sampled delay of wanted hope 2001-onwards.

[@mybigfatpolishlife]

Disney didn't drift too far it still makes programming for children and families

[@michaelv3340]

The fact is, it's almost hard to find channels that haven't changed over the last twenty years. Everyone discovered that reality shows were really cheap and would still get halfway decent ratings.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Funnily enough, the only two channels that were able to bounce back were Cartoon Network and Boomerang

[@PerryWhyte]

6:21 I actually found one of the Local on the 8's music composers and bought a collection of his music that was played during the 90's.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Trammel Starks produced dozens of soundtracks for The Weather Channel and Weatherscan during the 90's and 2000's

[@TheDogs789]

Thank you so much I had no idea that someone created the weather scan thing I just went to that website new favorite site I missed it on the tv sooo much

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

You're welcome!

[@iO-Sci]

WeatherScan + Weather Channel was a tranquil and at times sci-fi TV network when I was a kid. WeatherScan과 Weather Channel은 제가 어렸을 때 조용하고 공상과학적인 네트워크였습니다 :)

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I agree, I would leave the TV on with The Weather Channel

[@MathieuLeblanc1991]

Here in Canada, our version of MTV called Much Music is pretty much just runs of the Fox animated shows and South Park

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That's basically what Adult Swim, FXX, and Comedy Central are here in the US. I actually found about FXX Canada, but it is entirely different from the US version. FXX USA is FOX Animated shows 24 hours a day, meanwhile the Canadian one is random FOX live-action shows.

[@mootbooxle]

Once an entity rebrands itself to just the acronym, it’s only a matter of time before those letters lose any semblance of their original meaning. I wonder how many people under 30 even know what the “M” in “MTV” used to stand for?

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I'm under 30 and know it stands for Music Television

[@mootbooxle]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews well I would expect YOU to know, you made this video! 😂

[@catttttttttttttttttttttt490]

i sent a comment but its not showing for some reason but basiclly i said great video, weatherscan mentioned, 10/10

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank you, I love Weatherscan! I'll make sure to check the comments filter so your previous comment is heard! KZbin's system is way too finicky

[@catttttttttttttttttttttt490]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews i think my wifi was just dumb and was to weak to actually send it

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That's probably the case, as I didn't see anything in hidden comments. You never know, because KZbin shadowbans comments sometimes

[@WestleyWolf]

There's still a few channels devoted to what the main cable channels once had, thing is even mostly Free-To-Air Subchannel networks out there have stuff that Cable once had. channels like CMC (like MTV in its prime), MeTV (alot similar to TBS/TNT Back when it was Atlanta based), Comet (Alot similar to Syfy when it was called SciFi), H&I and Charge (both of which would have stuff that TNT would air during its Turner Years). I see cable hanging on only for specific reasons, those reasons being Sports, Cable News and Premiums (HBO, Showtime Etc.) but when it comes to Animation MeTV, TBS, Boomerang, Adult Swim and i guess FXX are your best bets, even TCM still airs ACTUAL CLASSIC movies to this day!

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I'm very happy that OTA television is making a grand comeback, however they need more to offer in terms of animation. The only options are PBS Kids which is only preschool shows, FOX's Animation Domination block, MeTV's Saturday Morning Cartoons, and depending on your affiliate The CW/MyTV might play Family Guy and Bob's Burgers at the ever so convenient time of 2 AM! Sadly the FCC's outdated guidelines are rigged against the animation medium. Also one channel you forgot to mention is Defy TV, which is like History/A&E back in the early 2010's

[@gabrielortiz308]

At this point, you'd be hard-pressed to find a channel that hasn’t gone through channel drift or decay.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Cartoon Network managed to bounce back

[@garycrowley1745]

Could easily a make a 20 part of these lists

[@arfriedman4577]

In 1990s my dad used to watch a lot of ww2 and other history. The channel is different now.

[@mikematusek4233]

Sci-Fi lost it about the time it became Sy Fy.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I remember that weird phase they went through in 2009-2016 when they tried to be more of an action/drama/thriller movie channel, but sort of went back to their roots with the rebrand in 2017

[@jrm78]

MTV's fall from grace began well before the advent of streaming services and KZbin. It first started with the ur-reality show "The Real World" in the early '90s. When the suits noticed how cheap and profitable it was, they started putting out more reality shows like Road Rules and crossovers like the The Real World-Road Rules Challenge. This was the first aspect of its demise. The other contributing factor was 1996's Telecom Act which deregulated radio ownership and began the era of media monopolies in radio and tv. This led to the consolidation of radio playlists meaning that some suit in New York or Nashville could dictate what half the radio stations played all across the country. As a result, a lot of stations started playing corporate friendly music from pre-fab boy bands and pop divas like N*Sync, Backstreet Boys, and Brittney Spears to generic NuMetal such as Limp Bizkit. Where does MTV factor into this? Their show Total Request Live dominated the afternoons and only played the corporate approved crap being played on the radio at the expense of artists like Beck, Radiohead, Tupac, and Biggie Smalls. By the time TRL wound down in the mid-2000s, the damage had been done and most of the audience grew up or moved on and they retreated into the easy programming of reality telvision. Sorry for the wall of text, but the degeneration of MTV hurt to watch as someone who grew up in the '80s and '90s and saw it at its peak.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I appreciate your time and it's sad that the FCC and government always has to butt in and ruin everything

[@blueblousedesigns]

When I was little I used to watch TLC's Ready Set Learn block

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Same here, I vaguely remember it from when I was 3

[@NelvanaFan1971]

Me Too

[@daviddyer3543]

0:28 "Must eat...FOX!"

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Lol

[@ryanwilkins2233]

My mom loves TLC her and my favorite are the 90 days shows little people big world and especially out daughter.

[@ryanwilkins2233]

I love this ⭐

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@ryanwilkins2233]

​​@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsand hey SpongeBob did have a music video on MTV on video mods so this doesn't surprise me. 10:45

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

@@ryanwilkins2233 I'm well aware!

[@ryanwilkins2233]

​​@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsalso Viacom owns Nickelodeon MTV comedy Central and more so maybe the show aired there because they ran out of ideas or were saying, look we Viacom own SpongeBob so we put it on MTV and look at that we didn't get sued 😂

[@Rossturnerphoto]

I enjoyed pawn stars, and American pickers for a time, because even though neither show was directly related to history, at least they were buying and selling items, that in some cases had some historical significance. Then both shows became more about everyone’s personal lives and it got old.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

True

[@bradyanderson6311]

Drift and delay is more like it.

[@RossM3838]

Disney moved everything to Disney plus leaving the Disney channel with endless reruns of ladybug a show they buy from Korea and bluey which they buy from Australia. The irony is that the Disney channel used to make millions and now Disney plus loses millions. Disney gets the worst of both worlds

[@DjFIL007]

Oh shit, I forgot about Code Monkeys! But yes, this is a very good topic of discussion... A&E (Arts & Entertainment) being other obvious ones which drifted off topic heavily.

[@dontmindthischannel]

is it based one one of the new videos that someone made about deceased channels? (i forgot the creator's name)

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I actually came up with this idea myself, as not many people talked about The Weather Channel or G4TechTV's downfall

[@AidenRKrone]

Another channel that would fit nicely as an honorable mention is Spike TV. From what I can remember, many years ago it aired shows about police chases, car wrecks, and guns and martial arts, plus the occasional episode of _Star Trek_ and action-thriller movies from the 1990s and early 2000s. To this day, I'm still not exactly sure what Spike TV was supposed to be, other than that it was geared toward men in their 30s and 40s. Apparently in 2018 it rebranded to Paramount Network and has since gotten new shows.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Somebody else already covered that very recently in a video about defunct TV channels, so that's why I skipped it.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Also the only show surviving from Spike TV that airs on Paramount Network is Bar Rescue

[@CartoonistGamerOfficial]

10:32 there's also a second reason, the music choice channels are so godamn far down the list of cable channels that nobody will notice them. my grandma has spectrum as her cable provider and when i was little. I would scroll through the list of channels to see how many channels are on the list, from what i remember, there's like 2000 channels on that list (not really though, there was massive gaps in the channel list, probably channels that don't play anything anymore like anime network. i discovered that network through spectrum on demand.) y'know, i should make a video on obscure and lost cable channels no one knows about since im yapping about how music choice is so far down the channel list etc.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

The lost, obscure, and forgotten channels sounds like a good idea and you should go through for it!

[@crashunderride]

For Trvl Channel, it makes sense. The paranormal teams have to TRAVEL to each location. 🤣🤣🤣

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

True, but it's so dumb

[@ZorroVulpes]

I feel like KZbin channels do this as well. I've noticed that once any channel reaches about 1 million subscribers they just turn into a react/drama channel no matter what their original focus was

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Drama is so stupid, life's too short for that

[@JonathonV]

I miss TechTV, especially the “Attack of the Show” predecessor, “The Screen Savers.”

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

TechTV was a lot more secular than G4TV

[@JonathonV]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviewsI’m curious what you mean by “secular”.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

It was more informational rather than just a bunch of college kids trying to be funny and hip which was G4.

[@NelvanaFan1971]

Qubo since Paid Programming and Live Action But Hearst hasn't touched Xploration yet

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I miss Qubo, I grew up watching that when I didn't have cable at times

[@SpanishBear1994]

I remember G4 on my tv

[@daliceToons]

MTV Did Try To Return Back To Music Sometime In 2016 But The Damage Was Done As Patrick Cc: Was Once Said Removing "Music Television" From Their Tittle Was Already Bad Enough Do They Really Need To Revert Back To Music Without The "Music Television" Branding This Late In Time Nowadays MTV As A Music Channel Would Make It Become Music Choice 2.0 As Most Music Fans Said In A Few MTV Downfall Videos So All Paramount Needs Is To Put Animated Sitcoms Like Futurama & South Park From Their Comedy Central Network At The 7pm-12:30am Timeslot MTV's Reality Shows Like Ridiculousness, Catfish, Jersey Shore & Teen Mom Should Air At The Graveyard Midnight Hours So Primetime Or Night Hours Won't Have Some Much Reality Shows

[@mr-monk273]

I didn’t know that intro Music sampled the intellistar track v1 track 8 0:01

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

You figured it out!

[@char1737]

SiFi was cool they had Babylon 5 I'm not sure if it was chiller or thrillertv but it had a show horror passport where they show international horror movie. Saw my first j horror So cool !

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

If you want to watch some classic Syfy shows, I recommend watching the digital subchannel Comet. It has The Twilight Zone, Voyagers, Stargate SG-1, and much more!

[@Yrthwrym]

When I was much younger I was very frustrated by Adult Swim as their original shows were getting crowded out by reruns of Fox animated shows. Someone at AS bluntly explained that Fox shows drew much higher viewer-ship than their original content, and didn't come with the nearly infinite problems that come with getting creative weirdos to actually finish (and in some cases, even start) their projects. As for MTV, I largely agree but some emphasis should be given to the IP problem that MTV slowly realized it had. MTV didn't own the videos it showed so it was always vulnerable to copycats doing it elsewhere. They eventually realised that their own content (even terrible content) couldn't be directly copied like the music videos were. It's unfortunate, but I don't think they had a choice, their niche dissolved and they had to adapt or die.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I'm alright with FOX shows like Futurama and King of the Hill on Adult Swim, but the problem is that they air way too much. On weekdays currently, King of the Hill airs for an hour, Bob's Burgers airs for two hours, and America Dad airs for two and a half hours! Meanwhile Futurama only airs for an hour at 4 AM on weekends.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

I think The Weather Channel dodged a bullet by keeping weather as their main focus, offering locally-inserted forecasts (powered by WeatherSTAR satellite technology and generating forecasts originating from the The Weather Channel's studio in Atlanta, Georgia delivered via satellite to the cable headend of the cable company you subscribed to) at 10-minute intervals on times ending in 8 (known as the Local on the 8s). These days, the online portion of The Weather Channel, The Weather Company, is currently owned by IBM, while Entertainment Studios and Comcast/NBCUniversal own significant shares of The Weather Channel cable network.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I thought NBCUniversal no longer had any part of the channel. Also the Intellistar 2 XD/JR is still in use to this day!

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews I guess Comcast sold their share of the channel.

[@Justin-Hill-1987]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews Back when The Weather Channel started in 1982, the WeatherSTAR technology available was the WeatherSTAR I, which was later upgraded to the WeatherSTAR II and later, the WeatherSTAR III, later known as the WeatherStar 3000 when the graphics-capable WeatherStar 4000 was first introduced at the dawn of the 1990s.

[@daliceToons]

Also trvl: Picks Up Raw Travel And They Would Spam It 24/7 Not Yet

[@Finnjake10YT]

I loved watching g4 as a kid for ninja warrior it’s a shame

[@metsandjetsfan5174]

I remember G4 and Tech TV they had Games Gizmos Girls and Grub not to mention the best shows like Screen Savers (Attack of the Show) Xplay Filter and Cheat, those were the days and the network fell off

[@mootbooxle]

Shoutout to the Bully music 🎉

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That game has an amazing soundtrack

[@mootbooxle]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews One of my all time favorites!

[@d1ngotron677]

MTV: Mediocure TV

[@AlexSolander]

I wish MTV was still music and Nick aired more than SpongeBob and movies in 2024. Same goes for Comedy Central.

[@AlexSolander]

Also my mom and her sister were on MTV. They snuck into MTV Studios and were called to choose the next music video. What chads.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Nickelodeon should air reruns of Fairly OddParents like they used to, and maybe The Mighty B, Jimmy Neutron, and ChalkZone during weekend mornings again

[@AlexSolander]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews Same. Back in the golden ages of Nick in like the 2000’s and NickToons in the early 2010’s. Add some variety. Every day I watch CN because of Checkered Past and not the main channel 9 out 10 days.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

@@AlexSolander Cartoon Network has got the best schedule on US television right now! Also it's awesome how your family got on MTV!

[@AlexSolander]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews thanks! CN got Regular Show on certain weekdays! And Adventure Time and Steven Universe throughout Sunday!

[@ReinBoughShawty]

X-play was a TechTV program about console games prior to the G4 merger.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Okay.

[@james42519]

i remember when it was extended play and didn't like it when it hanged to play.

[@gabjosi2876]

The French Canadian/Quebecois versions of the history channel was called Historia (same name for the Spanish version) had at least a fews original programming from Quebec. And the channel talk about history so that’s a plus.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Is it still running or did it shut down?

[@gabjosi2876]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews It still running to this day

[@beefgravystudios]

The background music sounds like it's from Bully on the PS2

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That's because it is

[@char1737]

MTV I raised he'll to get the channel and my parents got it for me them my friends were always over because I had Cable! But my mom had a constant stream of music when she would speak on Duran Duran or any other band in Heavy rotation my friends were in awe I had the cool parents

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I wish I could have experienced being a kid in the 90's or early 2000's, I was born too late

[@Streamingstuff-qq3vw]

I remember back in the day mtv would show ren and stimpy at 7pm then beavis and butthead at 730

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I wish I was alive to see that, I was born too late

[@Chewie316]

TLC and History used to be great TV. A&E with the Bill Kurtis driven shows would keep me from enjoying summer weather they were so entertaining. So called reality shows are the culprit and it’s extremely sad. I’m of a certain age so the music from MTV is on VH1 now but that enjoyment is gone. Even the Weather Channel was perfect. It was the first channel that turned on when I got cable and I miss the jazzy forecasts. The good times we had 😢

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Cable TV is at the end of an era...

[@crotchwolf1929]

I was 5 when Cartoon Network first went on the air and quickly grew to love the old Hannah Barbara Cartons the channel re rean during its early years. Years later when I moved out on my own, I paid extra for Direct TV just to get Boomerang and that channel wound up being one of my go to channels until the classics were replaced with what was playing on the main channel. These days Boomerang has a streaming service that is loaded with classic cartoons. It's missing some of the content that was on the main channel like the Banana Splits but it's not a bad alternative.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Interesting story, I never really got to watch Boomerang when I was younger unless I was at a relative or friend's house that had the channel. Also nice to see another furry!

[@David9PM]

History still has history documentaries. The food that built America is great example.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Occasionally they do!

[@thebfg836]

Upn used to be a cool network showing Star Trek Voyager and Smackdown among other things. Now looking at it its MyTV and its mostly court and game shows.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

MyTV is purely syndicated shows, but during its first few years they had original content

[@BadWolf762]

Here are some that really pissed me off. The Nashville Network (TNN) Speed Channel The Sci Fi Channel Discovery Country Music Television (CMT)

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Somebody else already covered TNN/Spike very recently, so I skipped it

[@mclaugsc]

what about TNN? it went from grand old opry everyday to SPike TV... I guess it didn't count because of rebrand

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

Somebody else already covered that in a similar video, so I decided to skip TNN/Spike/Paramount Network. AmazingLuis is the person in question who made the defunct TV networks video.

[@daliceToons]

Atleast SpongeBob, South Park & Ren & Stimpy On MTV Is Better Than Ridiculousness On MTV Maybe SpongeBob, South Park & Ren & Stimpy Along With Beavis & Butthead Added To Lineup Can Push Ridiculousness At Graveyard Night Hours

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

They should also add Invader Zim and other Comedy Central cartoons to make an Adult Swim competitor

[@linklickz]

The hub/discovery family Me and my friends were browsing the tv app and saw it was airing reality shows from discovery

[@ZeepAtomic]

Man, how I miss Hub.. I loved watching the Littlest Pet Shop cartoon there as a kid. You can imagine the disappointment in my eyes when they made the shift to Discovery Family.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

They should revert back to The Hub

[@randalltonbrewster]

@@ZeepAtomic Littlesf Pet Stop still airs, just rarely.

[@heisensaul5538]

I'm surprised that VH1 didn't make this list.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I never really watched VH1 and went down a path similar to MTV

[@heisensaul5538]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews Yeah it really did. I was just surprised it wasn't at least mentioned

[@daliceToons]

​@@heisensaul5538Atleast It Doesn't Air Ridiculousness Non Stop

[@heisensaul5538]

@@daliceToons Ugh, it became the god damn Rob Dyrdek channel. If anything ever happened to him they'd be screwed b/c they couldn't have 23 hours of his ass on tv.

[@rocky.rocks1445]

I enjoyed the game show BrainRush that was on Cartoon Network. I'm disappointed it only got 6 episodes.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I always misremember it as BrainSurge, which was also airing around the same exact time on Nickelodeon

[@princewellidk]

​@@ArtieRaccoonReviews I love the Check It Soundtrack you put in 😊

[@DoswarePictures]

As an avid enjoyer of amusement parks I have a soft spot for this show. Unfortunately if they reboot it they can’t shoot at Knott’s because they removed Boomerang. The closest coaster wise any park has is HersheyPark in Pennsylvania.

[@NCTStudio]

2008 was when the ice started melting...

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

That's when the shift to the internet and streaming begun, but didn't go into full effect until the mid 2010's

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Two spring to mind and both came from comments on other videos: The Weather Channel is guilty of both, there are videos on here of them in situatiouns when there are literally tornadoes on the ground going into cities and instead of staying with the coverage to warn people or switching to an affiliate in that market, they, you know, go to commercial and miss coverage, while a local station goes wall to wall with no commercials in some markets, but other stations in the same market go to commercial just like TWC. THe commercials go on for far too long and they never cut back in if a situation demands it. For example if there is a tornado going into Chicago they cut to commercial, the nwS issues the highest form of warning they can for it, a tornado emergency and you would assume that, plus a tornado going into a massive city would be enough to get TWC to cut in on commercials? No. They keep on with the commercials and cut back minutes later to footage of Chicago after or while the tornado is rolling through for example, the Loop. And that is not when they are straying far from their weather coverage mission. It really hit home when two of their storm chasers were involved in a fatal (livestreamed) crash that showed them driving recklessly and slamming into someone at a high rate of speed and not even trying or having time to avoid the victim. Also, Fox is airing commercials interrupted by what they are supposed to be broadcasting. Just ask the NASCAR community about that, last weekend was one of the worst.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

The Weather Channel has very long commercial breaks, even longer than the Viacom channels. Something I've realized is that the Turner networks like TBS, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim have the shortest commercial breaks.

[@CCJ1998]

Started seeing the channel drift in the early 2000s. I cut the cord and never looked back. Though it amazes me what keeps this crap on the air every time I'm in a hotel turn the tv on maybe for a little bit channel surf say screw it and turn on my laptop for real entertainment.

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

I guess it's paying the bills at TWC XD

[@user-yi7zj3lv5t]

the travel channel only aired Ghost shows lol

[@sjmhadsock4586]

Sad when it happens

[@ArtieRaccoonReviews]

It continues to happen to this day!

[@sjmhadsock4586]

@@ArtieRaccoonReviews yep