Obviously, this isn’t breaking news in the slightest, but today’s JoBlo Original may be only for the Gen-Xers and Elder Millennials. Some younger Millennials would be curious too. This is for all the people who sometimes cling to the old days — not exclusively streaming, but still find themselves channel surfing on TV. Basically, this is for the generation that grew up with certain cable channel luxuries that aren’t thought about as much anymore. Heck, it’s not even really a problem. Just a curiosity.
However, as entertainment evolved in the new century, from what I witnessed, this transition seemed to have started with MTV. The famed music network was known for airing music videos, but also provided a variety of other shows that may have been music-themed, though sometimes not (i.e., Liquid Television or Singled Out). Then, they started to double down on reality show programming. Sometimes it made sense as MTV was the voice of the current teen generation, so shows like True Life or Made could speak to people in some respects. But then came My Super Sweet 16, 17 and Pregnant, The Hills and of course, Jersey Shore. The channel evolved into mostly guilty pleasure reality TV and the music videos it was once famous for would not be played on the channel anymore.
The trend would follow for VH1, TLC, CMT and more. I realize that owners of these channels can make a lot of money off these shows, since they are cheaper to produce. But since then, other channels have also lost their identity in a number of other ways.
Basically, the idea for this Original sparked from taking back up the good ol’ practice of channel surfing and seeing a DCEU marathon playing on TruTV. I thought to myself, “TruTV? I thought it was a true crime channel or something?” However, as I continued to surf, I was seeing more and more anomalies that we just accepted since entertainment was everywhere. The Country Music Channel was playing Beverly Hills Cop. The Independent Film Channel runs non-stop blocks of Everybody Loves Raymond and Two-and-a-Half Men.
I don’t watch live TV as often as I used to with the conveniences of streaming, but it was interesting to see all these channels that originally had a specialty and they seem to be playing anything but their specialty.
IFC, for example, was once an amazing source for cinephiles. The Independent Film Channel would showcase rare underground movies or shorts that would not get any play on the other premium movie networks. However, for movie fans, this could be the only way you can catch them if they weren’t also on video. Movies like Bottle Rocket, Birdy, Let Him Have It, Once Were Warriors or Mi Vida Loca could reach an audience. Plus, the channel was uninterrupted and unedited. So, you can see movies without any censorship or commercial breaks. Funnily enough, IFC eventually started to show mainstream movies and added commercials, but seemingly could still air movies unedited. Now, if you flip on the channel, it had turned into a sitcom rerun marathon.
There are so many examples of these. It’s now more apparent than ever that the owners of these channels likely take the content that they own and just plop it on the schedule without too much rhyme or reason, but it’s not something they spent money to make and it’ll bring in an audience.
However, we also have something like TCM — The Turner Classic Movie Channel that was dedicated to playing prestigious Hollywood classics. This channel is almost like a curated museum for movie fans and it has the support of directors like Steven Spielberg, who are adamant about preserving its legacy and programming.
It’s not much of an issue when nearly everything is accessible on streaming services, but for a generation raised on TV, the days of specialty programming feels that much more special now.