Why Every Cable TV Channel LOST Their Identity

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MTV is just one of many cable TV channels that changed everything in the 21st century. In this video, I go over why channels like History, Bravo and more have abandoned their original concepts for reality TV.
Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com)
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Special thanks to Andrew Elliott (Stalli111: / stalli111 ) for editing this video!

[@severeerror52]

2003: Remember when MTV played music? 2023: Remember MTV?

[@c1ph3rpunk]

2023: remember TV?

[@surferzapper20]

It's a wonder MTV hasn't collapsed under its own hubris. No music airs on the network, the name "Music Television" was actually dropped in favor of just the initials long ago. The Real World was quietly cancelled after attempts to retool it proved cheesy & out of place; an additional, somewhat normal season was aired on Facebook Watch instead of MTV because heaven forbid something interrupt 20 straight hours of Ridiculousness. The lack of Real World or Road Rules means that the Challenge is now padded with whatever reality show cast they can find, most not even being MTV shows. Teen Mom, once somewhat groundbreaking television, has aired so long that the OG kids are teens now themselves while their moms milk fame that should have ended over a decade ago. And in spite of all this, MTV wants to believe that the VMAs, the only vestige of the premier music channel they once were, is still a relevant award show.

[@redred222]

you do know its easier to see what ever music vid you want on youtube, mtv only played the most popular vids most of the time, while youtube plays whatever your looking for

[@Bingo_the_Pug]

@@surferzapper20 FYI there are sub-channels from MTV that air nothing but old school music videos, you’re just unaware of them

[@nicholashayes5773]

And in a few years: Remember TV? I pretty watch everything on my laptop now I don't even watch TV anymore lol.

[@jinpei05]

Even Cartoon Network wasn't immune to drift. Anyone here remember their live-action and game show era?

[@drapermache]

And even now, it’s just the teen titans go! Channel. It’s very sad to see the quality go down.

[@ScootyPuffJrSux]

Not gonna lie, as a kid that Destroy Build Destroy show with Andrew WK was pretty entertaining, but obviously still weird on a channel named Cartoon Network

[@rockinrom1524]

nick as well while they still have animated shows they have more live action shows

[@bluecollarmenproductions]

@@rockinrom1524 they always have

[@jojobyte9915]

CN REAL Had me so angry

[@astrogrizzly0]

Watching cable nowadays is like visiting a museum. There are old masterpieces on display, and weird gift shops and street vendors hanging around outside

[@markloveless7715]

Great analogy

[@user-cv8qe9ru8c]

That is a a dynamite analogy my guy.

[@TrunksXV]

And who is gonna remember any of it after awhile? Muesums are mainly places where the past is remembered but unless one experienced it, the stuff on display may look neat to other folks, but won’t hold much sway anymore.

[@CookyMonzta]

Yup. VH1 and MTV2 are now on an absolutely endless rotation of reruns of the same shows over and over again. And it's pretty much the same on many other cable channels. Creativity has gone out the window. And of course, MTV1 has _completely_ become the _Ridiculousness_ Channel! 🔄

[@rbw3000]

Wow that was a good descriptor

[@mackenziemcinnis1879]

As a life long History Buff History Channel broke my heart with stuff like Pawn Stars and Ancient Aliens especially when other non historical channels were proving historical drama tv shows like Vikings could work. Heck you know when Spike TV is airing a show (Deadliest Warrior) that explores more history than anything on History Channel line up it's bad.

[@StrongStyleFiction]

They tried with a show about Templars that was pretty entertaining called Knightfall. Season 2 had a great turn by Mark Hamill as a Templar trainer.

[@vincenta8652]

I heard TLC once had educational programs

[@GodEmperorOfShorts]

@@vincenta8652 Battlebots man, Battlebots

[@jamesbrown6020]

Isn't vikings a history Channel original show?

[@bluecollarmenproductions]

Vikings is history channel….

[@mikenike4266]

So basically Cable TV has its own form of carcinization but instead of becoming crabs they all become reality TV

[@ladyeowyn42]

Bucket of Crabs would be a fun tv show

[@professorbaxtercarelessdre1075]

you just blew my mind

[@TheDCbiz]

Just very cheap to produce a massive amount of. What's odd is in the 80's it was sitcoms. Everything just became sitcoms. Now it's reality tv. Even with KZbin tons of channels are becoming livestreaming/podcasts. The path of least resistance

[@terranceramirez4816]

@@ladyeowyn42lemme guess, quirky crab fishermen in one of the Gulf Coast states? Sounds totally original and nothing like anything that has come before

[@CortexNewsService]

​@@ladyeowyn42 please don't give them ideas

[@kchishol1970]

TLC was the greatest fall to me: it went from terrific educational programming like Beakman's World, Archeology, Great Books, Medical Detectives and The Day the Universe Changed to reality TV garbage.

[@anthonywheeler2082]

I loved Paleoworld! Such an underrated show.

[@juliannehannes11]

And now they own HBO and turning HBO into TLC 2.0

[@thisshouldbeentertaining3386]

Trying to remember. But I believe TLC used to show actual autopsies.

[@dragondancer1814]

TLC’s commercial-free children’s program from 6-9 in the morning was where I introduced my kids to The Magic School Bus!

[@ericcarabetta1161]

I remember watching surgeries on TLC when I was a kid.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I remember watching a rerun of The X-Files where Scully mentions "The Learning Channel". The idea that the "Honey Boo Boo" network was once "The Learning Channel" seemed more unbelievable then all the stuff about aliens or whatever that episode was about.

[@majorramsey3k]

I want to believe.

[@Attmay]

The History Channel was just as bad when it became “all Hitler, all the time.“

[@Launchpad05]

Thank David Zaslav for that .

[@fridgeking6014]

We've truly reached the moment where nothing of value would be lost if all cable tv stopped existing.

[@xh2633]

well considering how streaming is going I don't think that's a good idea

[@seed_drill7135]

In my world it ceased to exist about eight years ago. Not because I'm "above" TV, was just hit with downward mobility and that was one way to easily save $150 a month. Haven't replaced it with streaming either.

[@Kodeb8]

adult swim!

[@timaitken2277]

wait, cable TV still exists?!

[@lynntaylor9681]

I thought that years ago. That's why I stopped getting cable in 2013. It's been ten years now and I haven't missed it. I'm happy with basic Hulu with ads and Disney+. With those I can watch the old Disney Afternoon shows I loved as a kid and Hulu has great anime. I wouldn't have watched Spy x Family and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation without it.

[@tueferbenz7492]

The most depressing thing is once-educational channels like Discovery, History, National Geographic, The Learning Channel, Animal Planet turning into reality trash & pseudo-documentaries. And a guy behind a lot of it, David Zaslav, is now infecting streaming by destroying the brand identity of premium service HBO Max - shelving or selling off its parts for tax write-offs, avoiding creator royalties, or quick cash turnaround.

[@Zanziebar]

Zaslav sounds like a villain taking out his vengeance on the world, but why?

[@sarahMuahahaha]

​@@Zanziebar I would say why, but.. .

[@LadyAstarionAncunin]

@@sarahMuahahaha 😒So, you likely don't know, and given your userpic, you were going to say some conspiracy theory.

[@RabbitWatchShop]

@@sarahMuahahahajust another antisemite. What’s new? Nothing

[@Melissa0774]

TCM is the only cable network that actually sticks with its original mission anymore. Hell, even PBS barely does that anymore, and they're not even a cable channel. Hell, KZbinrs make viewer support work for them by Patrion and stuff like that. Where do you think that idea came from originally? Yet the original can't seem to get it together, though. They've become nothing but a infomercial channel.

[@LordHaveMurcielago]

What about TV Land?

[@Attmay]

Viacom is one of the biggest offenders in this regard.

[@Attmay]

It even has a film festival named after it.

[@Melissa0774]

@@LordHaveMurcielago I don't know. I haven't watched TV land in years.

[@Elohimless]

It's HARD to believe that, Turner Classic Movies (may) STILL have an audience? P.S: I (almost) forgot TCM still exists!

[@andris_reviews]

Sci-Fi's channel drift is pretty heartbreaking honestly, it was this centralized hub for niche programs and films that you couldn't find on other networks as easily or as frequently; streaming services really did help pick up the slack on that front at least.

[@dinosoid2000]

The Syfy name was only really changed for an excuse to start showing WWE. At least their reality shows are still somewhat science fiction related. Hell professional wrestling is more real than most reality shows.

[@Kodeb8]

Sci-Fi was also the first prime time channel to have a dedicated block for anime.

[@jackofallgamesTV]

In year 1 of SYFY, the only non-SciFi related show I watched was WCG Ultimate Gamer. I guess it was predicting a future of big video game competitions. Now some high schools have video game teams. Prophecy fulfilled.

[@giladpellaeon1691]

@@Kodeb8 I remember watching Akira when they first aired it and Robotech through that block. And the Saturday morning block of anime had a great metal guitar intro with a ragged rising sun flag. Gotta admit that Adult Swim was better at getting me into anime though.

[@spongemaster]

I only really discovered the channel in the early 2010s but I just remember it as the channel with sci-fi dramas with interesting concepts that always got cancelled after one or two seasons.

[@yotsubafanfan]

I'm thankful for food network. My older sister is battling cancer and doesn't feel like watching a ton of tv because she's drifting in and out of sleep after chemo treatments. Guy Fieri's shows and other food network delights have been our go to.

[@TrueRomancer04]

I have planned road trips around opportunities to visit Triple D-certified restaurants.

[@TheNativeEngine]

He mwy be annoying to some people but he's a pretty upstanding guy.

[@traviscarver4708]

How is your sister doing? How are you doing?

[@yotsubafanfan]

@@traviscarver4708 We're both doing okay. Thanks for asking

[@traviscarver4708]

@@yotsubafanfan I’m happy to hear that. Keep plugging away and stay strong my friend.

[@Theonetruewonderfly]

Sci-Fi Channel is my favorite "study" of this. Back in the early to mid 90's, they just relied on reruns of Sci-FI TV shows and movies from the 60's the the present day. Then in the late 90's/early 2000's, they started focusing on original programming, leading to a Golden Age of shows like "Stargate", "Farscape" and "Battlestar Galactica". Then in the late 2000's/early 2010's they renamed to "SYFY" and started airing bad sci-fi movies (like Sharknado) and their original shows they broadcast stopped being grand "space operas" and instead became "police investigating paranormal stuff" type shows.

[@bradmad8346]

What about wrestling?

[@asanitheafrofuturist]

I used to watch Incredible Hulk reruns on Sci-Fi channel and that was where I watched the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors for the first

[@macuser7048]

Yeah but at least with MST3K was reacting to bad scifi movies.

[@fnjesusfreak]

@Ithecastic Yeah, I remember "Polish for Syphilis" jokes running around when the channel rebranded.

[@LadyAstarionAncunin]

I'm a pro-wrestling fan, but I knew Sci-Fi had fallen off when it started airing pro-wrestling.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

One of the main problems with a tightly-themed network is that most people are also going to watch other networks for the sake of variety (e.g., even back when MTV played music videos, most people didn't just watch them all day long). Networks tend to get greedy and think they can get a wider audience or become the only destination for viewers by diversifying their offerings, but it's easy to go from the channel that people tune into for a particular type of programming to a channel that people don't tune into at all because they have no idea what it's even trying to be anymore.

[@spankynater4242]

At bullfrog, one problem with your theory is, they’re all showing the same thing now.

[@matthewcarroll2533]

@@spankynater4242 And nearly half of all of them are owned in some form or another by one company: Disney. (a little hyperbolic but you get my drift)

[@alejandromolinac]

Ha! In Latin America in the 90’s MTV was playing music all day…. Except for a show or 2 at night…. Thought it was boring as hell….

[@CarloNassar]

I wouldn't say it's greed, just bad decision-making.

[@BeatleScorpion1]

Man, being a somewhat younger viewer, I had no idea that Bravo was initially a channel made for foreign, avant-garde, artsy media. And now I'm really sad I never got to experience that because it sounds like the exact type of channel I'd be eating up right now. 😢 I really wish there was some channel or streaming service that does something similar to what Bravo did back then, but I don't think there is or ever will be. 😔

[@fromthehaven94]

Inside the Actors Studio and a documentary series Weird Weekends, they were my favorites on that network. But then the Housewives shows drove away the latter, and ITAS were relegated to specials before moving to a different network.

[@dashopepper]

If you have a VPN, many foreign channels still do a lot of that.

[@pamelatarajcak5634]

Criterion channel (a streaming service)

[@BeatleScorpion1]

@@pamelatarajcak5634 Thank you! 😊

[@stevenlitvintchouk3131]

There is. Hang a Roku stick on your TV and stream some Roku channels via Internet and your wi-fi router. There are classsical music concerts, live theater, and many other channels. Some Roku channels are free; others you pay a modest subscription fee for. That's what I watch. I don't have cable TV anymore.

[@mattwolf7698]

Bravo's name actually makes sense now. I remember Animal Planet went into dumb reality shows too. They were still generally animal themed though. ...Excluding Treehouse Builders but I didn't want to watch a show that felt the same every episode.

[@fromthehaven94]

I was genuinely interested in what played on that channel. Primarily Inside the Actors Studio and Weird Weekends. Then an Adam Sandler movie (not Punch Drunk Love) was a sign that they were changing. Not long after I watched someone flip a table in a banquet hall, I think I had had enough of what Bravo had become. And reality shows in general.

[@CharlesWorkPPL]

I lost all respect for them when they ran that stupid mermaid mockumentary.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I also remember around this time they modified their logo so that the "M" was sideways for some reason.

[@Mayor_Of_Eureka17]

I grew up directly when MTV hit and became an avid Headbangers Ball fan as well as Remote Control. What a time to grow up.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

The irony is that by 1993, the record labels and MTV stopped promoting classic rock/melodic rock bands and started heavily pushing "alternative" bands and rap, with a sprinkling of thrash bands. But this alienated the mainstream pop audience and MTV's ratings started to suffer. So MTV started playing less and less music videos as the 90's went on. Although people back then goofed on melodic 70's and 80's rock, the reality is that it is a lot more appealing to a mainstream audience then 90's rock.

[@spankynater4242]

Remote control was awesome, and I was more of a 120 minutes fan.

[@SombraPiloto]

Ken Ober was from my hometown and we used to see him at IHOP occasionally. I also got to see the "Stud Boy" Adam Sandler do his standup routine at my sister's college in early 90s before he blew up. Such a great time to be growing up.

[@falconeshield]

By the time 2003 rolled MTV was already a joke. I'm just glad I saw the Jack Black/SMG award show live.

[@YBM2007]

@@ryanjacobson2508 This is spot on imo, the shift to alternative bands probably disconnected the average 'pop viewer' who would be open to the melodic/AOR acts. I love Alice in Chains but honestly it feels like grunge gets a little too much praise at times, it was a business shift that completely decimated what was a huge genre and market share

[@bridgecross]

In retrospect, it's funny that all the writers went on strike to get a larger share of DVD sales.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

It wasn’t just about DVD sales, it was also about money from the internet. In retrospect, the writers actually seem pretty smart for making sure they got money from online streaming basically just in time for it to take over. They didn’t actually end up getting more money from DVDs at all. The only issue the writers actually succeeded at was the internet, which was frequently considered the biggest.

[@bubbafug00gle51]

@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 Yeah, I thought the DVD statement was just off. My recollection was that the streaming rights were the main point of the strike. I also remember the WGA getting treated like idiots for making that a big issue.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

@@bubbafug00gle51 what’s pretty stupid is that South Park made fun of them for wanting internet money, despite the fact that THEY’RE contract on internet money was literally what inspired the strike.

[@macuser7048]

That strike affected everything. Comics, tv, video games, why do you think Japan took over with anime and manga? Because the writing from the west got weak.

[@kosmosXcannon]

@@macuser7048 yeah the west doesn't do long form storytelling anymore. Too much of a risk.

[@hellsapoppin9326]

How did he know Ridiculousness was playing right now 😮 he knows too much

[@mind-of-neo]

Cable TV when i was a kid was such a magical world, just like the internet. Full of variety, color, and unique things to see. I miss when every channel was completely distinct and full of character. Discovery, Travel Channel, MTV, Cartoon Network, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, History Channel, A&E.. they were ALL SO good. Bring back TV!!

[@josh021588]

Just jump on the internet Find whatever you want

[@Keznen]

@Let's take a look! Is there a TV show pirating site you know of that has every show from all of those channels for free? If not, then you're wrong.

[@LeoMidori]

@Ithecastic Yeah, this is what's worrying me. Capitalism is killing creativity in exchange for "content" to milk advertisers here on YT. I understand that this platform isn't free to run, but it'll run out of people who care to make good essays like this one eventually.

[@97nelsn]

I had the same feeling to when I was kid discovering all the different channels on cable at the time. I do the same thing but now on OTA TV sub-channels and whatever the streaming box or TV apps have. I found a channel playing indie music videos back in 2014 using a Sony Blu-Ray Player that had some streaming apps and now I have that same curiosity when I’m looking at PlutoTV or Tubi. It’s like having a set of channels different from the rest of the other channel providers and then finding more channels in the process.

[@Zanziebar]

You have to do it. Only those with true passion can stand against money hungry zombies.

[@Millennialtomb]

Sting: I want my MTV... Execs: Tough shit.

[@falconeshield]

It's wild to realise there are people who were introduced to Sting in the 2021 Game Awards Show when he sang the main Arcane song. He's everywhere all the time, but what an introduction to a legend. It's like my own with 'I'm Afraid of Americans' with David Bowie

[@TylerPerry827]

If I remember correctly, even Cartoon Network -- known for cartoons, threw everything out for a reality tv block. It was really jarring to see, and disappointing

[@TylerPerry827]

@TheGlassesPro That's amazing, I always felt those shows were a fever dream

[@falconeshield]

​@@TylerPerry827 I remember the Ben Ten vs Kim Possible live action fights and I wasn't even a stoner

[@elucidator1277]

Fortunately, they did go back to animation, since that drift crashed and burned. but yea, honestly shocking that they werent even immune to it, but the fucking food network was.

[@thedatatreader]

I was so thankful when that CEO finally left and immediately animation came back. It was like a dark curtain had been pulled away. I believe that was also the moment Toonami was able to return as well.

[@lorenzograndini2731]

In Europe Cartoon Network it's still about cartoons thankfully

[@mon_nobi]

Another interesting example would be truTV, formerly known as courtTV showing things like CCTV footage and court proceedings, started showing more shows like Americas Funniest Home Videos and Dumbest Moments Caught on Tape etc, then eventually rebranded to truTV and hit their reality tv stride with shows like Impractical Jokerz and the Carbanaro Effect.

[@professorbaxtercarelessdre1075]

i forgot about that, why did all these channels have to rebrand so hard? just carbon copies of each other at this point.

[@Xayjohns]

I do admit that I love Impractical Jokers, but I would've easily watched it on another network.

[@bruceflashback3877]

Court Tv still exists. I have it tuned to as a substation on free over the air broadcast TV right now .

[@michaelugwueke6312]

And then in the mid 2010s they became a comedy channel similar to TBS and Comedy Central

[@garycrowley1745]

Now their airing family matters and step by step.

[@themikx2939]

Cool topic to do a video on. It's interesting how popular reality tv has become over the years. I'd even argue that "reality" show popularity has bled onto the internet as well since the most trending videos are usually people vlogging their lives. Whether that it's a good thing or not is subjective but I think it's interesting to see

[@macuser7048]

The instructional videos on KZbin are also far more sincere.

[@spankynater4242]

don’t confuse popular with abundant. It’s only so prevalent because it’s cheap to produce.

[@walterlopez5054]

Man, the downward spiral of history channel is especially depressing.

[@tomc8888]

The Learning Channel is the one that both angered and broke my heart. From James Burke and even a late night offering called Universal Lecture Series to Honey Boo Boo and other dreck... F**k "reality" TV.

[@MarcoRodriguez-ci3pg]

Never knew TLC stood for the learning channel. I really would of never guessed it in a million years.😅

[@Xayjohns]

It's The Lunacy Channel now

[@CharlesWorkPPL]

Now The Learning Channel is devoted to making people dumber.

[@fromthehaven94]

The current CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, he ran TLC.

[@CharlesWorkPPL]

@@fromthehaven94 Zaslav... My arch nemesis.

[@dannyyogendra51]

I used to watch TLC religiously as a kid in the 90's. I learned so much. Now it's wall to wall garbage 😞

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Cable TV in the 1980s was a wild and mysterious place. Weird networks that you felt like only you were watching, one devoted partly to old French movies and others like it that seemed like they came from some other part of the galaxy. The Disney channel showed practically everything and anything then, including a lot of old British classic films that had nothing to do with Disney. A lot of attempts at high culture and DIY stuff all over the place. Before homogenization and corporate boredom it was a real box of chocolates. A lost land now.

[@Attmay]

OG Disney Channel was great. It was basically a proto-Turner Classic Movies for kids while also showing content that was palatable for adults. They used the old content to hook people into the new content. It worked too well because now they only want to show the new content, and most of it isn’t very good!

[@theotormon]

The good old days. Network TV really late at night used to be cool too.

[@nevskislake]

I love this topic. My dad, sister, and I used to watch the Arts & Entertainment channel all the time, when it featured BBC/PBS style content. I cannot believe what has become of some of these channels, and I get it, what percentage of viewers are actually going to tune into a channel that shows opera, or documentaries about science, history, or the arts? Let's be honest, BUT these channels went from highbrow to the lowest of the low. MTV is the one that breaks my heart the most though. My sister and I stayed up to watch the premiere, and we spent so many hours watching MTV, when we were not outside playing, reading, or playing video games. I feel like there is still a place for a proper music channel, but maybe I am the naive one. I am sure MTV execs have crunched the numbers over and over again, and Teen Mom is what the modern MTV viewer really wants to see.

[@djbloodshot]

Personally I feel A&E took the biggest slide

[@maxcady360]

I think MTV was the first one to crash and burn. I remember looking at the TV at the local gym in the mid 2000 and it had nothing but scripted reality shows.

[@EmpereurHector]

You're asking who's going to tune to arts programming. Honestly, it's not about chasing bigger audiences. It's about chasing lower costs. There are always 24 hours in a day, and if you can make a show for a fourth the budget and a third the audience of an artsy show, the choice is clear.

[@nevskislake]

@@EmpereurHector - The question you are referring to was rhetorical, thus my point about MTV choosing Teen Mom over music television.

[@mae2759]

People also forget, MTV used to be THE STANDARD for what is cool in youth culture. TRL was a staple for everyone coming home after school with the 4pm time slot. Exposed everyone to new music too.

[@Solo_Videos]

I still remember growing up with Discovery Channel documentaries and regular programming, truly fun times.

[@collegeman1988]

I read a book years ago called I Want My MTV and the network was originally bankrolled by American Express, and I can’t remember exactly why that was. It was only several years after its creation that American Express stepped away from sponsorship of the network. The final chapter of the book covers the first season of The Real World in 1992, which really signaled the end of a cable channel whose purpose was to show music videos 24 hours a day. Reality TV had its beginnings in the fledgling FOX network when the writers strike of 1988 hit and FOX was still limited to producing shows on the weekend. The writers strike meant no new shows, but a producer had an idea where they set up a show where they did ride alongs with local police. The show pretty much wrote itself, there were no actors who had contracts that paid them ever increasing amounts of money for each successive season beyond the time of the original contracts they signed, and audiences enjoyed binge watching those shows, long before the term binge watching existed, so the idea spread like wildfire to other networks and other shows.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

MTV's ratings declined in the early 90's (because a lot of early 90's rock music lacked conventional pop appeal). That's why they gradually shifted away from music videos. It's strange that MTV's critics don't often acknowledge that the record labels were failing to promote more appealing artists.

[@RageTVHTX]

Warner Communications and American Express came together to form Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Corporation aka WASEC. They were the original parent company of MTV, The Movie Channel and Nickelodeon. Viacom (who owned Showtime) purchased the networks from WASEC in 1983. This paired the 2 movie networks and over the years TMC was bastardized and is now just a digital sub channel of Showtime

[@RageTVHTX]

@@ryanjacobson2508 maybe they were never aware that was the case. That’s something only someone on the inside (the network or the industry) would know

[@Attmay]

NBC and ABC enabled it with *Real People* and *That’s Incredible,* respectively.

[@RageTVHTX]

@@Attmay huh?

[@Brownietchi]

Personally, I think that Disney XD and Freeform are prefect examples of modern-day examples of Channel Drift. Disney XD: Due to the network's sudden drift from a male-oriented Disney Channel to what is essentially, a Disney Channel 2.0. It also doesn't help that since 2021, Disney XD started to air stuff from Disney Junior (often on Saturdays). Freeform: In the mid-2000s, Freeform (then known as ABC Family) drifted from a longtime family-oriented network to a young adult-oriented network competing with Adult Swim in a way.

[@gregsells8549]

Freeform started out as the CBN Cable Network, combining family viewing with religion, and even today carries "The 700 Club" twice a day, a deal made when Pat Robertson sold what had become The Family Channel to Fox. It became Fox Family, then ABC Family when Disney took over.

[@abiodunsulaiman2297]

Bruh how is freeform competing with adult swim? Their content is completely different besides some bobs burgers reruns

[@miquon4717]

There were competing more with The CW than Adult Swim

[@fromthehaven94]

I hate that freeform is contractually obligated to air The 700 Club.

[@Redfern42]

@@fromthehaven94 It's so strange for this channel to air both the "700 Club" and "Family Guy". That's like colliding matter and antimatter!

[@JohnBainbridge0]

This got me thinking... How does MTV even still exist? In a world where every channel is reality TV - where cable is dying and channels disappear constantly - where there's really nothing to distinguish it from its competitors - how is it that MTV is still hanging on, without music? What keeps the viewers coming back to... that?

[@weird-guy]

Ridiculousness

[@TheMediaHoarder]

MTV used to be the main reason why I wanted cable- what they are now is one of the main reasons why I DON'T have cable. True that a lot of current music is crap, but I would still have more respect for them if they played bad music than crap that has nothing at all to do with music.

[@marfaxa]

@@TheMediaHoarder And have you seen the dances the kids are doing now?! With the pelvises moving all around?

[@falconeshield]

Trash viewership keeps coming

[@JoyofBooking]

​@@TheMediaHoarder KZbin is MTV now, and all these other channels combined, that's why the internet took over

[@socialaccount0000]

So many tv channels like this feel like brainrot, and I have no clue how anyone can stand to watch cable tv these days given our selection of choices

[@miquon4717]

You should do the state of Broadcast TV because now all they air are mostly SVU like procedurals and reality shows.

[@EGRJ]

Procedurals are also cheap, especially since you can recycle a lot of your material and sets.

[@tueferbenz7492]

And what would have once aired on NBC is now paid subscription to Peacock, same with CBS & Paramount+. Quality scripted is increasingly not free.

[@ssshar2176]

Broadcast tv is basically NCIS, Chicago/Law & Order and Grey’s Anatomy.

[@miquon4717]

@@ssshar2176 And all these shows have spinoffs that takes up the whole night.

[@miquon4717]

@@EGRJ And they make bank in syndication.

[@JerridFoiles]

2:13 This story might interest you. So, I was a ride share driver in Chicago pre-pandemic. I was lucky enough to take two MTV execs to O'Hare, and since that trip takes at least 20 mins (no traffic) I took the opportunity to ask that burning question: "Why is there no more music on MTV?" and they had a pretty profound answer. KZbin. Like you said it no longer makes sense to air random music videos in this era when KZbin gives you the on-demand experience. Instead of sitting around watching MTV waiting for your favorite songs, you can just search them up. As for the reality TV, at the time of Real World Chicago, the execs at the time were from Chicago. They made shows based on what they knew. The execs in my car were both from Jersey, so it should come as no surprise they encouraged me to start watching Jersey Shore. LOL

[@QuizzicalOne]

The Weather Channel is another example…it does become the Weather Channel during major weather events, but man what a downfall.

[@CoTeCiOtm]

This brought me back to when I was a kid in the 90s and my grandma would always be watching some artsy stuff on TV. Operas, classical music, ballet, documentaries on artists, theater, old films, etc. Some years ago I started wondering where all of that stuff went, I guess this answers that question rather well.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

Remember when the Hallmark channel used to be Odyssey channel and it was co-owned by the Jim Henson Company?

[@gregsells8549]

Before it was Odyssey, it was the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN), a mainline Christian response to evangelical stations like TBN and CBN.

[@Attmay]

Yes, I remember that because in addition to *The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock* and IIRC *Muppet Babies,* they also had uncut reruns of *ALF.*

[@chimerakait]

Reminds me of when discovery channel (a canadian science & documentary channel) changed from cool educational & science programs to stupid reality TV; and 7 different gold mining shows. Also History Channel was once about history... now its storage wars & aliens. 😮

[@lainiwakura1776]

I beg your pardon, but Storage Wars was A&E. History does have history related shows again though.

[@chimerakait]

​@lain iwakura back when i stopped watching cable 6 years ago ya, it was like that. Storage wars, pawn stars, Reality TV crap. i have ZERO desire to ever return. maybe by now they have some history stuff, but i don't give a shit anymore, nore do i want to argue about my personal experiences with "Um AcTuLaLiEs" on the internet when in the end it doesn't matter.

[@professorbaxtercarelessdre1075]

indeed, its so sad

[@chimerakait]

@TheGlassesPro I heard he went absolutely mental. I think I watched every single episode as a child.i remember the "Did you know that?! Now you know!" segments.

[@yunglo9394]

@@lainiwakura1776 the OP is from Canada so rights might be different. Like how until March, the Canadian “Cartoon Network” (Teletoon) will become actual Cartoon Network

[@MrChairReal]

I don't think I've watched proper TV that isn't streaming in like a year

[@TrueRomancer04]

Just a year? The last time I watched currently-being-broadcast TV was Frasier re-runs in 2009.

[@bobbysands6923]

If I wasn't Yankee fan and needed the Yes network, I would cut cable today. But I am changing my mind about that...I think I'm cutting it anyway, because there is nothing for me to watch.

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

When Reality TV started it actually wasn't that bad. I remember watching the first series of Big Brother here in the UK and I really enjoyed it... Especially the bits where they had psychologists on analgising the behaviour of the contestants. At the time I was at University studying Psychology and Sociology, so it really appealed to me. It was things like this and more importantly, the fact the people on there were just regular people. They weren't just on there to become famous, or ham it up for the cameras. It was more like a social experiment to find out how people would cope in that kind of situation. I kind of miss these types of Reality TV. There's nothing 'real' about most of the Reality TV that's on now. Also as mentioned there's just far too much of it now as well.

[@weston407]

the first season of Survivor was great - I remember everybody talking about it

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

@@weston407 as a life long survivor fan I’ve been really disappointed in recent seasons. I’m not sure quite when it started but the game became way to much about strategy and all the things that made it fun for me as a viewer to watch, the challenges, the rewards, the gorgeous locations, really fell off. I used to love the auction, the eating gross food, them winning cars. The 2 recent pandemic seasons were the worst but I kind of give them a pass considering they were taped back to back so they couldn’t learn from the first and were under very tight constraints. The episodes now are like 30+ minutes of them on the beach whispering strategies and then they go to tribal council and whisper more strategy to culminate in 1 minute of voting and someone who’s name I don’t even know yet going home. I’m so bored by half the show being close up shits of them whispering about something that’s practically meaningless. The challenges have gotten really static too, they’re very much brawn, brain and endurance with little room for surprises. It’s also pretty bad in 40+ seasons over 20+ years the prize is still only $1 million. That was a great prize in 2000 now it’s just kinda meh (which I know feels ludicrous to say about $1M, but it’s buying power is a lot less than it was 20 years ago).

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

@@weston407 sorry, that was such a dumping, but since no one talks about it like they did the first season I’ve got no one to complain too😅😅

[@JasonBoyce]

reality tv now is entirely filmed by professional actors trying to get their big break into movies

[@HonestWatchReviewsHWR]

@@JasonBoyce Yeah pretty much.

[@JohnDemetre]

Anyone else remember when Lifetime was Lifetime Medical Television - television for doctors? They showed surgeries and had physician round tables. Now there’s some drift!

[@melissaharris3389]

The dominance of cheap reality TV and channel drift both coincide with the rise of streaming services.

[@stevenlitvintchouk3131]

No. The drift began much earlier than that. Discovery Channel and Bravo were wrecked long before anyone heard of "cut the cord."

[@RunstarHomer]

It was already bad way back when Netflix was just sending DVDs in the mail

[@daviddalrymple2284]

In Canada, our MTV-equivalent (MuchMusic) stayed music-focused for a much longer time. Our equivalent of the FCC (the CRTC) strictly limited the number of cable TV licenses, and imposed strict content requirements: if you were granted a license for a music television channel, then your programming had to focus on music. The CRTC famously ordered "Ren and Stimpy" off of MuchMusic in 1993 (at the peak of the show's popularity) but it was OK to air "Beavis and Butthead", because the show had music videos. MuchMusic was allowed to have music trivia game shows, musical sitcoms (like "The Monkees") and even musical movies (like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"), but everything had to be music-related. [Oddly enough, though, Canada's "Comedy Network" wasn't licensed to air movies; they could only air programs of one hour or less (a quirk of the bidding process, I think).] Then, in the mid-late 2000s, the government loosened up those restrictions, which immediately turned Canadian cable TV into a generic soup of content.

[@michaellisinski2822]

It's interesting because as late as 2009-10 there were quite a few Canadian music artists still being broken into the Canadian market by MuchMusic. Granted, a lot of them weren't actually great, but they were genuine examples of homegrown national talent, and they had a real impact on Canadian youth culture. By, like, 2013 that was over.

[@daviddalrymple2284]

@@michaellisinski2822 And the MuchMusic of 2005-2009 or so was really buoyed by Canadian indie rock bands like Metric and Arcade Fire becoming huge international superstars. When I think of the Canadian bands that have popped into my radar in the last ten years (Hollerado, Arkells, and Dear Rouge off the top of my head) I was exposed to them all through radio or live shows, rather than on MuchMusic.

[@Hobojoe4464]

Yeah, even prestreaming alot of channles ditched thr variety of content they had including original programming for syndicated content that you can get on multiple channels. YTV used to have plenty of variety in the 90's and early 2000's but then transformed into this air the same episode of a show 3 times a day and run the 8-10 block again from midnight to 2am. They even used to air their old 90's content, aswell as other Canadian 90's 10, 15 years ago but they stopped. I remember their 20th Anniversary week celebration (yeah it was only one week) had plenty of their original content reaired but only in a 4 hour block that week. It was pretty pathetic. But that brings up the point of all this original programming that is just sitting in storage that could be uploaded to KZbin or where ever. They were doing it with alot of Cancon on a official youtube page for a few years, Student Bodies, Dark Oricle, etc but they shut that down in November and deletes the KZbin channel. I haven't had cable in a few years, I have a decent over the air set up, since why pay monthly for alot of this crappy programing when you can get it for free after the initial set up cost. I end up watching alot of Public broadcasting as they haven't changed a crazy amount in 25 years, as the others have.

[@daviddalrymple2284]

@@Hobojoe4464 That reminds me, there used to be limits on how often you could rerun the same show in a week. The upshot of that was that TV channels had to program a full 24-hour day of programming, or else sign off. So late-night TV was chock full.

[@ssshar2176]

DirecTV showed MuchMusic in the early 2000s and I always preferred it to MTV. 😢

[@stevenlitvintchouk3131]

History lesson: When cable TV was brand new in the early 1960s and trying to lure people away from over-the-air broadcast "free" TV, the sales pitch was that there would be a lot of niche channels whose content would be paid for entirely by cable subscription fees (no sponsors and no commercials). Freed of the need to chase sponsors through ratings, niche channels could cater to specialized tastes. Niche programming can only work if it can be funded through some other mechanism than paid commercials. Because sponsors want mass appeal to sell their products. That's why PBS can have niche "high-brow" programming. It doesn't have to sell commercial time to sponsors.

[@msd5808]

Yet most of cable has ads. People pay to watch commercials. It’s true of some British shows streamed on Amazon Prime too.

[@GomerJ]

Man I still remember when MTV was AFRAID to break format and mandated it’s animated shows to shoehorn in music videos which ranged from great (Beavis & Butthead riffing on videos) to a waste of time (The Brothers Grunt dancing over music videos)

[@ryanjacobson2508]

In hindsight, though, Beavis and Butthead were essentially post-modern satirizing the very thing that made up MTV-s original identity: music videos. Furthermore they often trashed a lot of 70's and 80's artists who got the channel big ratings before Alternative and rap got big.

[@Attmay]

Ironically, they kept an open mind about disco when it was a Bee Gees song.

[@Patrick3183]

Remember “Just say Julie”?

[@altrocks]

One of the biggest factors for the educational channels was the removal of government funding for education and arts programming. Their revenue stream for those shows was all but cut off by that move, so they had to find other sources or sell the network to someone that would do it after the sale. TLC, Bravo, History, Discovery, etc all depended on that government revenue to survive because advertisers didn't and still don't consider those types of shows to be worth it.

[@Attmay]

That’s because educated consumers are likely to be a bit more picky about what they consume.

[@CarloNassar]

That really sucks, given how important education is for both kids and adults.

[@MidoriNatsume]

Gee, I wonder why my mother, after buying our new house, decided to not even install TV cables.

[@bobbysands6923]

If you don't need sports that is the way to go.

[@MrLaunchpadMcquack]

Really loving these videos on the history of television. Your attention to not just the content but also the materialist reasons why changes were made really bumps these videos up in quality.

[@Launchpad05]

His TV videos are almost on par with Pop Arena's 'Nick Knacks' videos.

[@chadlewis4079]

Another factor is rotating executives, each one bringing a fresh, new, bold vision that is surely better than the last one, only to stray further the from original vision.

[@Zanziebar]

imagine the horror if restaurants were this way.

[@Batmann29]

Can you do a video on the death of cable television as a whole? I feel like streaming is so popular now but even streaming seems like it could die out one day (too many diff services, high prices, password sharing restrictions, etc). I think it would be a great topic!

[@WhiteChocolate74]

What comes after streaming do you think?

[@poorwotan]

@@WhiteChocolate74 We'll get one platform which combines all streaming services. It will be called "cable-stream" and the circle will be complete...

[@Code7Unltd]

@@WhiteChocolate74 Easy. Free ad-supported video is rising since the public is becoming tapped out. Even some of the more cash-strapped youth are hoisting up antennas. It's a mix of ad-supported streams and aerial multicasting, the latter being proven by MeTV, Dabl and Ion having an audience.

[@kaw8473]

It's insane that I'm reminiscing about how the sci-fi channel used to play X-files, b grade alien movies but occasionally played big hits like the Aliens movies. Simpler times.

[@FearTheTurle21]

It's 12:11am here in VA. Can confirm. Ridiculousness is currently on MTV right now.

[@jeffzebert4982]

There used to be so many specialized cable networks back in the early 1980's! Here are just some of these: MTV Cable Health Network - turned into Lifetime Arts - turned into A&E Nickelodeon - the channel for kids and young teens

[@shawndixon4536]

I live in Canada, and we have had a lot of those channels for a while, but we started off with MuchMusic, the Canadian counterpart of MTV. And as of about 10 years ago, Much still ran music videos at off hours, like between 3 and 6am. It was great as I worked nights and it introduced me to some amazing Canadian bands, but left me wanting the channel I grew up with in the mid 80s to mid 99s.

[@sasamichan]

I feel like this was so focused on MTV that you could almost do one network at a time in its own video. I know a lot of channels are drastically different or gone. Travel Chanel changed from exotic locations to Haunted houses and UFOs USA dropped cartoons WB changed to CW UPN is just gone ABC, NBC and CBS dropped there cartoon blocks Disney changed from paid to free Sci-Fi becoming SyFY dumped its news show and picked up low budget monster films Things like Star Trek and Star Wars have given away to Mega Snake and Sharknado. G4 and Tech TV left came back and left again after also changing the creation of HGTV and Food Network allowed cooking and home shows to go exclusively there. Even then Stapels like the Rose Bowl Parade have left HGTV Halmark has found its formula for what works and rarely strays from it The TV Guide networks not a thing, Weather Chanel is less weather like, Animal Planet tried TV shows but didn't go much with that, TV Land tried original shows and also failed with that. Multiple Networks run old nostalgic shows and even those have flipped from 50s TV to 80s TV a lot of channels I know nothing about HBO, Show and Movie show the same movies just at different times of the year VH1 was for a short time in to the same content that would move to KZbin Comedy Central moved away from the 30s and 40s classics Spike is mostly "Manly" "Edgey" stuff Tons of show genres I have not seen in ages like paining other ideas like funny videos and music videos and movie reviews, KZbin does that now. its just interesting.

[@gregsells8549]

Spike is now Paramount Network, home of "Yellowstone." Long ago it was The Nashville Network, all country music, then it went general entertainment as The National Network before becoming Spike. RIP Trio, Newsworld International/Current/Al Jazeera America, OLN/Versus/NBC Sports Network, VISN and CBS Cable.

[@TravJam317]

UPN isn't just gone. They merged with WB to create CW.

[@Mike90317]

Oh man, imagine a series about these channels and how some have kept their original or most known name but the content they air or produce has little to no relation to their identity.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

@@gregsells8549 I remember when Spike changed its name Spike Lee started complaining that they'd used HIS name without his permission.

[@BenjaminGessel]

I remember the stations I grew up with in Tacoma/University Place, WA. We had CBUT channel 2, which we generally didn’t get very well, channel 3 was the VCR channel, channel 4 was ABC (KOMO), and it had the Saturday morning cartoons, tv shows, etc., along with channel 5-NBC (KING), and channel 7-CBS (KIRO). Also, there was channel 9-PBS (educational), channel 11-KSTW : after school cartoons like He-Man, tv shows later on, channel 13-FOX (KCPQ), which had some after school cartoons as well (I think? Maybe more like Unsolved Mysteries), channel 20, the Christian channel (700 Club, etc.), and lastly channel 22, which was vaguely Nickelodeon-esque, might have been Nickelodeon… That was it, other than videos on VHS, radio, Atari computer games, etc. Later on, I became more familiar with cable stuff somewhat. By the time I was actually able to choose tv providers, etc., cable had become stupid… Now I look for stuff I never watched that came out when I was a boy, or before I was born…

[@tambor34]

This was great. I remember watching operas with my dad on Bravo. And then suddenly they were gone. Of course I am old enough to remember the Headbangers Ball on MTV too. Yes, I have quite the range in musical tastes. I know. Thanks for the memories Captain. I really appreciate this.

[@LaserGryph]

I still mourn the fate of the History channel. I watched that channel nearly non-stop. Then somewhere in 2008/9 it started to abandon the documentaries I tuned into watch. I haven't made an effort to even tune into History in over ten years.

[@oligarchytalks]

Don't forget about possibly THE most bizarre cable TV decline/transformation of them all, namely the Travel Channel, which went from broadcasts of programs like Passport To Latin America and Great Hotels to shows featuring overwhelmingly paranormal investigations and haunted sites 👻

[@throatwobblermangrove8510]

I was a teenager when MTV started. I loved it, and still have fond memories. I came to appreciate well-made music videos that often told a different story than the actual lyrics, adding to the totality of the experience. I don't remember when I noticed it had moved away from music because as I grew up and worked, I didn't watch it for several years. All of a sudden (it seems to me) there was MTV2 if you wanted music videos because MTV was filled with reality shows, which I've never been interested in. The same thing happened to Comedy Central (which was awesome in the 1990s), The Sci-Fi Channel (later Syfy as you noted), Discovery Channel and The History Channel. First they seemed to change to showing only "ancient alien" shows or something similar, then to reality shows. In the early 2000s, I was visiting a friend and we were watching TV one evening, and they were riveted by the show, Survivor. I wasn't watching much TV at the time, so I didn't know anything about it. But sitting through that as they were enthralled, I felt like Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange, bound to a chair with his eyes forced to watch. Even today, the mention of a show being a "reality show" will make me run the other way to avoid it. And I know it wasn't the topic of your video, but even documentaries have morphed. I noticed this in watching some of those "ancient aliens" shows. Several years ago, I watched a documentary created in Britain, and it hit me that American documentaries have turned into tabloid TV. At the beginning of the American one, they would start with some claim, like "Tonight we're going to find out if ancient aliens actually impregnated early humans!" They'd go through a segment, then as they got to a commercial, they'd say something like, "When we return, we'll find out what alien civilization actually fathered Genghis Khan!" Once they returned, they'd discuss a different topic before breaking for commercial again with the same type of claim as the previous one. So I'd sit through the commercials again, only to have them bait-and-switch the subject yet again. Finally, in the last couple of minutes of the show, they'd reveal that they had no evidence for the claims they'd made, but a claim made by someone who had some theory based on some obscure information that 10 different people would interpret 10 different ways. The British documentary I saw that reminded me of this was just straightforward, presenting facts (or opinions, but labeled as such) without the extreme showmanship and exaggeration of the American version. I can only hope at this point that the Brits haven't fallen down the same rabbit hole since then. All this being said, these are the reasons I have completely given up cable TV.

[@krucdfumv]

its sad to see the decline, in good history, and science channel programing, that i feel had such a great effect on my life, along with animal planet. even though they fell short in some areas they still where good to provoke thought in a young version of my self.

[@XaqNautilus]

This is why I cut the cable years ago, aside from cost. I could no longer really tell the difference between what used to be educational channels and regular entertainment networks. I realized at the time I was paying 3 figures a month for cable and there was no channel I actually wanted to subscribe to and no shows I wanted to stay up on. Reality TV is the worst content ever.

[@CarloNassar]

Would you be at least close to coming back if these TV networks went back to education and entertainment?

[@XaqNautilus]

@@CarloNassar Not really no. Over the last decade I've learned to live without TV. I can't stand the commercials anymore either, even if I can skip them with a PVR. I'm Canadian and I can't sit through a hockey game on TV anymore.

[@CarloNassar]

@@XaqNautilus Well, that's a shame, since they're the easiest ways for games, movies and shows to be known.

[@XaqNautilus]

@@CarloNassar What a stupid reason to burn $100 a month on cable.

[@CarloNassar]

@@XaqNautilus I'm not saying it _is_ a reason to pay for cable, rather I'm giving a reason why commercials are needed in the first place, TV or not. Nevertheless, I hope Cable TV can still do a lot to be more worth its heavy price. Maybe it's just me for wanting cable to stay alive and reasonable, but yeah.

[@na976]

With the writers guild striking again I can’t wait to see 7 streaming services all offering 12 new reality tv shows per year.

[@lillydee5978]

MTV and Bravo were once so essential for art, culture and information. It is depressing as hell what has become of those channels. I have always hated "Reality shows" and avoid them. It's just one reason why I cut the cord and now stream channels. So much better content.

[@miquon4717]

Travel channel used air traveling shows like hotels and theme parks now they just air ghosts adventures shows

[@palmercolson7037]

An example that I stumbled on this last weekend: CNN Headline News. It once was just a loop of current news, then a channel for sensationalist shows about crime, now it shows something called the Forensic Files and repeats of Fringe on the weekend. BBC America was originally just British shows and movies. Over the years, they have included various Star Trek shows and now repeats of Bones. They are currently showing an American movie.

[@mimoe7587]

I'm happy to say Adult Swim / Toonami stuck to their identity and honestly its the best and most unique channel today.

[@marfaxa]

Except they stole that from MTV's Liquid Television.

[@mimoe7587]

@@marfaxa They stole making Anime mainstream and reviving Family Guy from the dead and cancelation from MTV's Liquid T.V. ? Okay, then i guess its too bad MTV got defeated and killed in their own lane.

[@queencancerous5332]

​@@marfaxa to be fair, MTV doesn't even resemble what it used to be.

[@Launchpad05]

Too bad the rest of Cartoon Network sucks.

[@wanderingvagabond1634]

Airing reruns of Save by the Bell and making a few live action shows strayed a little from their formula.

[@sanguinelynx]

A&E, Bravo, History Channel, Sci-Fi, MTV and more were so good when they first started out. Each had their specialty, their content focus, and it worked. By early 2000's they lost that uniqueness and just shifted to reality. The fall started with MTV. It started shifting to top 40 style videos and shows that leaned more towards drama ad heralded reality t.v.'s takeover. Once upon a time I couldn't imagine not having cable (mainly for sci-fi) but around 2010 I dropped it. Really good synopsis Captainmidnight.

[@John_Hoover]

MTV could have dropped music videos and still stayed on theme. They could have been the channel to give us an American Idol type of show. Unplugged performances. A music competition with bands, documentaries, etc.

[@MustangAce36Kills]

Growing up during the '80s and '90s really was great; the variety during that era was amazing. I can still remember when MTV played mostly music videos, but also the more mature animation late at night. I can remember USA Network would have a cartoon block on Friday nights, even. More recently, History Channel had great shows like Dogfights and Shootout, as well as Battle and Patton 360 which were very good.

[@VHSAM]

I really like these types of Captain Midnight video. Keep up the good work dude!

[@claytonrios1]

Remember when MTV actually had music videos that people cared about? Plus the number one show was Jackass? Good times...

[@singletona082]

Even then it had largely stopped being about music and was 'reality' TV. The jaws theme started when 'Real World' started up.

[@claytonrios1]

​@@singletona082 Well at least there was something to entertain us on that channel back then. As opposed to nothing.

[@singletona082]

@@claytonrios1 This is fair. Plus Jackass does stil lfit the theme that grunge and punk and metal had of 'Fuckit we get one life. Live like there is no tomorrow motherfuckers.'

[@G-TV_TheOneManArmy]

I liked wild n out and rob&big during that time

[@L16htW4rr10r]

If my brain remember correctly, they used to have a show about fixing crappy cars and make it even cooler

[@jodiepalmer2404]

Here in Australia, some of these cable TV channels appeared on Austar (1994 - until it was bought out by Foxtel) such as MTV, Sci-FY (now SyFy), VH1, Travel Channel, Hallmark, Showtime, just to name a few back then. But now, Foxtel no longer have VH1, Hallmark, Showtime, Disney Channel and some others. But we still have MTV, SyFy, Travel Channel etc except there no longer the same when they first came out.

[@jaredgarcia8638]

I would like to blame the decline of cable Television on reality TV and the rise of streaming services, but honestly it was when people in charge started prioritizes cheap entertainment rather than quality entertainment

[@Attmay]

What do you expect when the middle class is decimated the way it has been since *Married with Children* went off the air?

[@jaredgarcia8638]

@@Attmay good point

[@DMS-pq8]

Not just cable, Look at how many reality and game shows fill up the networks prime time hours

[@TheMediaHoarder]

At least they aren't asking anyone to pay for those. I can turn them on for a few seconds, get disgusted, then switch to something on media or streaming that I actually want to see.

[@Knightmessenger]

And they dont pretend to be for a specific category either. They show soaps, game shows, sports, local and national news usually at consistent predictable times so if you like one of those, you have an idea when to tune in.

[@sleepysteev2735]

It's funny you bring up MTV Classic. I actually find myself watching MTV Classic now more than I ever watched MTV, and in fact, more than I watch most music videos online. There's something refreshing about not having to actively seek out new music videos to watch, instead having a stream of hits already curated. In a strange way, I find it kinda comforting.

[@Knightmessenger]

Besides live sports, MTV Classic is about the only channel I watch. Sometimes it's interesting to see a music playlist that isnt personalized to you. One example that sticks out is on a night channel played a bunch of De La Soul videos. It turns out a band member had just died. I have never been into rap or hip hop but it was actually educational to see a side of that genre that wasn't simply "look at how gangsta I am with all these ho's." Naked Eyes Always Something There to Remind Me also played that night and I suspect it was also included because Burt Bacharach just passed over the same weekend.

[@andresgc770]

I don't have it at my place, but I housesat for someone who has it and watched it A LOT! I really appreciated the element of surprise, too -- not knowing which video was going to be played next, but never really being disappointed because they're obviously not gonna waste time on the ones that flopped hard lol.

[@Eidlones]

And this is why I haven't had cable for like 12 years.

[@Attmay]

I never got it after I moved out of my parents’ house.

[@thumbwarriordx]

The old style reality shows that PBS and the BBC were occasionally up to are actually very good. Especially the original living history challenge type stuff the likes of Survivor took after. Putting people into an incredibly stressful situation, but not pumping up the resulting drama with stings and edits. Just show it as it is.

[@Attmay]

I call it Oprahfication.

[@franksandoval6046]

@@Attmay I have a question what is wrong with Cable tv channels ?

[@Lemmon714_]

TLC was great in the 90's and early 2000's. It had good documentaries and one of the best reality shows ever, Trauma Life in the ER.

[@chizorama]

It was the Real World season with Puck that morphed reality tv into what it became. Having an antagonist to stir the pot, & I'll admit, it got me to watch it for a hot minute. Seems as though that's the template that pushed the genre to the next level that ruined so many once good channels.

[@AnErrorOccurred]

It really says something about where cable has come and gone… Remember, back in the original days, a given cable channel had over 80%, even well over 90%, original first Ron programming. Reruns, repurposing, syndication, etc., weren’t so much of a thing back then. They really were left to their own devices for a lot, and part of it was they just wanted to get out of that and take the burden off I suppose.

[@RecMike]

When I was 10, in the mid 90s, I remember randomly landing on TLC (when it was The Learning Channel) because they were showing open heart surgery in real time. I thought that was so cool. I tuned in a couple times more over time and saw knee surgery and other non surgical things. It's unbelievable where that network went smh

[@tomc8888]

Lifetime of all channels also had a block they ran on Sunday afternoons called Lifetime Medical Television. It featured shows aimed at continuing education for physicians, with shows like Surgery Update. I remember stumbling on them showing open heart surgery once.

[@LauraKnotek]

I loved those surgery programs, since I have a background in biology.

[@Zoroasterisk]

When Sci-Fi Channel rebranded to SyFy and started airing a bunch of Wrestling, it was dead to me. I have fond memories of Sci-Fi Fridays, with Farscape, Stargate SG1, and a few other lesser-known gems like The Invisible Man. RIP

[@TrueRomancer04]

Plus Saturday afternoon re-runs of Xena, Hercules, and Buck Rogers, and the original Battlestar Gallactica.

[@breadboi3837]

Not only is it cheaper but the time it takes to edit and produce an episode of reality Tv is much less than a traditional Tv show. It's the whole CGI and expected quality that those shows have, and even if they were equal in price, it's so much faster to just film girls partying on a ship for a couple of days, compared to a whole production and crew trying to film even at a fast pace. The potential profit and time has a heavy influence.

[@mae2759]

Everything has basically become "McDonalds" now.

[@stevenlitvintchouk3131]

That's why America's Funniest Home Videos stayed on the air so long. You don't need writers and don't even need camera crews--because Americans record the videos themselves and send them in to the show. The show's production costs are near zero, consisting of renting a theater to show the videos to a studio audience. And that's all.

[@Zanziebar]

Plus the worse the cast, the "better" the show. The audience eats up how people who think they're so great are actually idiotic, uncharismatic, and lonely. I think people start out hate watching the shows to bash everything, then after years of only consuming reality tv they find them charming and honest. You are what you eat, and see apparently.

[@kazeryu4834]

The whole reason I switched to KZbin and canceled cable is because I find content like this here and not on TV

[@dominicmako4649]

I remember watching ta performance of the entire play Sweeney Todd on Bravo, and I thought that was just so cool. As I recall, MTV forced teh writers of Beavis and Butthead to always include music videos, since that was the point of the channel, and so they made a joke of it by having the characters lampoon the videos instead. One of the goals of cable was to break free of advertisers and have customers determine what they wanted to watch, but that just wasn't financially feasible, and we're seeing the same ad creep dictate youtube content now as well.

[@chrisblake4198]

Food Network's drift was more insidious in a way. They may have had competition shows before they began airing re-runs of the Japanese Iron Chef, but it was rare. That show getting huge, being franchised to a Food Network US version, etc. Led the whole network to make nearly every show competitive. Nowadays you struggle to find one that isn't. Still about food, but far less about real food you can eat or learn to make, or places to go visit with good food.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

I haven’t watched a “cable channel” in several years now.

[@maniacaldude]

Tv Tropes also calls this phenomenon "Network Decay". And speaking as someone who absolutely loathes reality TV, and has loathed it ever since it took off in the 2000s, stupid corporate shit like this is part of the reason why I've pretty much stopped watching cable TV almost entirely and have turned to other means of watching movies and shows.

[@carlcarlington7317]

I always liked tv channels that had a kind of identity. Like growing up there was a short lived tv channel called “chiller” that focused on horror content. The bumpers were amazing and it was honestly super cool to watch. Sci-fi had these weird almost psychedelic bumpers with a purple background it was super interesting. Comedy Central had some cool bumpers too.

[@WoefulMinion]

We gave up on cable quite a while ago when we couldn't get the weather on The Weather Channel, couldn't find any history on The History Channel, and couldn't watch old movies (sorry, 1970's and 1980's films are _not_ old movies) on TCM. My spouse has a chronic illness and spent a lot of time in bed, so it was pretty depressing for her to see all her favorite channels devolve into bad reality TV. 🙁

[@Attmay]

I can cut TCM slack for showing *Annie* since John Huston used a whole musical number to name-drop his contemporaries, helping keep interest in their works alive among younger generations.

[@impudentdomain]

This all reminds me of a large grocery store which opened in the city I used to live in. At first it was the greatest thing ever, it had a huge assortment of foods from around the world, a large bulk section, and a great meat market. It was always loaded with customers. Then slowly they began to put more and more shelf space into crap like clothing and other non food items, of course that meant that they had to cut back on the food choices. I know they were making a larger margin on the non food items but it did not work out. By the time they got to around 50% of the store being non food they went out of business. They had a great thing and ruined it by leaving their core business model .

[@synthoelectro]

In the 90's Mtv had a good balance with many things, but I remember around 1992 Yo Mtv Raps started taking the high ground. I'm thankful that lots of music shows were around those days but it started leaving music behind around 2007.

[@gamerman782]

A cable company in Sweden did this at the start of 2020. It used to be a channel that showed little bit of everything, like CSI, Scrubs, Simpsons, Family Guy and other shows I don't remember, and movies after 9 PM. Now it is a channel you have to pay to watch and mainly shows sports, although still have movies after 9.

[@Scuzoid_Melee]

I watched the first 2 or 3 seasons of Real World when they came out. I liked them a lot. Then never went back to a reality TV show until scrolling through Netflix and tried Terrace House. Binged all of it and kept watching it every couple of months when they'd release ~10 episodes at a time after translating it. Was a great show until the thing that happened to get it canceled happened.

[@slamrahovart9024]

Love the different content

[@hsimpson7267]

To be fair MTV in Europe is much different, it is fascinating when I lived there. Many music video channels still exist

[@clockhanded]

When I was a teenager, my goal in life was to have an apartment with one of the TVs dedicated to showing music videos 24/7.

[@kevind814]

The saddest part of reality TV is that there is apparently an endless audience for it. Also, remember when you paid for commercial-free cable? Then, you paid a monthly fee to see commercial television worse than free broadcast TV.