Did OTA Channels Go Down Hill?
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Can you go down hill if you’ve always sucked?
I was born in the early 80s, so I don’t the fond memories of the big time classic TV shows when OTA was the only game in town, but in my lifetime, network TV has been next to worthless. The primetime programming on OTA networks is nothing but crime of the week/crisis of the week boring procedural crap, in a wash-rinse-repeat formula.
My viewing:
ABC – NYPD Blue, ½ season of Flash Forward, Invasion, 1 ½ seasons of Designated Survivor
NBC – First few seasons of ER, Third Watch, Medical Investigations, Surface, Chuck, My Name Is Earl
CW – Reaper
WB – Absolutely Nothing
UPN – Twilight Zone reboot with Forrest Whittaker
Pax/ITV/Ion - Absolutely Nothing
PBS - Absolutely Nothing
My Network TV – After almost a decade and a half I have no idea what this is supposed to be
Most of my network TV watching was from Fox and CBS. As some one who’s seen all 697 episodes of the CSI franchise, I can honestly say I remember the details of exactly two episodes. Turn, Turn, Turn from season 9 of the original CSI, and Triple Threat from the 5th season of CSI:Miami. As someone whose seen all 84 episodes of Homeland, I do remember them all, and within 5 minutes of seeing any episode, I could name the season and give a close guess to the episode number and provide a synopsis.
These network TV shows are just so boring to me. Watch one episode of any of the ungodly amount of Law and Orders, you see them all. Watch one episode of Criminal Minds you see them all. And nothing is as bad when procedurals have a multi-episode serialized story arcs. Ie the Miniature Killer in CSI, Mr. Scratch in Criminal Minds.
I’ve logged more hours watching Cinemax original programming the past few years, then I watched on network TV over the past decade+. I watch just as many shows on DirecTVs Audience Network (Full Circle, Mr. Mercedes, Condor) as I currently do on all the networks combined (Blue Bloods, The Simpson’s, Bobs Burgers). If all OTA TV went away tomorrow, I won’t even notice until I realize that a new episode of Blue Bloods hasn’t been record in a while.
In my shot lifetime, NYPD Blue, Jericho and Blue Bloods have been the stand out network series’ and the ones that I care to watch reruns of. There is just no compelling content for me on network TV. I won’t even give that garbage a try anymore, but I will watch just about any new HBO/MAX/SHO/STZ original series for a few episodes.
It is my own belief that the 22-24 episode season is what makes the content on OTA TV shows so unspeakably terrible. Writers can't write quality material, and there is an oversaturation of episodes that are just filler so more commercial time can be sold. Don't have that problem on premium cable. Another one of my gripes is shows that jump the shark and continue on and on and don't know when it call it quits. That's why I quit watching Criminal Minds and Big Bang Theory. Those shows should have never made it past season 6 or 7.
I was born in the early 80s, so I don’t the fond memories of the big time classic TV shows when OTA was the only game in town, but in my lifetime, network TV has been next to worthless. The primetime programming on OTA networks is nothing but crime of the week/crisis of the week boring procedural crap, in a wash-rinse-repeat formula.
My viewing:
ABC – NYPD Blue, ½ season of Flash Forward, Invasion, 1 ½ seasons of Designated Survivor
NBC – First few seasons of ER, Third Watch, Medical Investigations, Surface, Chuck, My Name Is Earl
CW – Reaper
WB – Absolutely Nothing
UPN – Twilight Zone reboot with Forrest Whittaker
Pax/ITV/Ion - Absolutely Nothing
PBS - Absolutely Nothing
My Network TV – After almost a decade and a half I have no idea what this is supposed to be
Most of my network TV watching was from Fox and CBS. As some one who’s seen all 697 episodes of the CSI franchise, I can honestly say I remember the details of exactly two episodes. Turn, Turn, Turn from season 9 of the original CSI, and Triple Threat from the 5th season of CSI:Miami. As someone whose seen all 84 episodes of Homeland, I do remember them all, and within 5 minutes of seeing any episode, I could name the season and give a close guess to the episode number and provide a synopsis.
These network TV shows are just so boring to me. Watch one episode of any of the ungodly amount of Law and Orders, you see them all. Watch one episode of Criminal Minds you see them all. And nothing is as bad when procedurals have a multi-episode serialized story arcs. Ie the Miniature Killer in CSI, Mr. Scratch in Criminal Minds.
I’ve logged more hours watching Cinemax original programming the past few years, then I watched on network TV over the past decade+. I watch just as many shows on DirecTVs Audience Network (Full Circle, Mr. Mercedes, Condor) as I currently do on all the networks combined (Blue Bloods, The Simpson’s, Bobs Burgers). If all OTA TV went away tomorrow, I won’t even notice until I realize that a new episode of Blue Bloods hasn’t been record in a while.
In my shot lifetime, NYPD Blue, Jericho and Blue Bloods have been the stand out network series’ and the ones that I care to watch reruns of. There is just no compelling content for me on network TV. I won’t even give that garbage a try anymore, but I will watch just about any new HBO/MAX/SHO/STZ original series for a few episodes.
It is my own belief that the 22-24 episode season is what makes the content on OTA TV shows so unspeakably terrible. Writers can't write quality material, and there is an oversaturation of episodes that are just filler so more commercial time can be sold. Don't have that problem on premium cable. Another one of my gripes is shows that jump the shark and continue on and on and don't know when it call it quits. That's why I quit watching Criminal Minds and Big Bang Theory. Those shows should have never made it past season 6 or 7.
When The WB network came to Green Bay on June 2nd, 1999, I was so excited. Because of this, WIWB 14 (formerly WPXG-TV 14) had to air Pax TV programs when The WB signed off (In the first few years Pax took a backseat to The WB until WIWB discontinued their secondary affiliation with Pax just a few years later when The WB was carried for a full 24 hours.).
It was an exciting upgrade for the Green Bay area and Northeast Wisconsin for that small network affiliate licensed to Suring, Wisconsin, because they carried Kids' WB every Saturday Morning and Weekday Afternoon, and I was watching the Pokemon anime at the time, which started out with a first season in first-run syndication on WACY-TV UPN 32's "Wacky 32" all-day weekday afternoon/Saturday morning childrens' block, which had a secondary affiliation with Kids' WB from the beginning until 1999.
It was also the same year of the Pokemon card and video game craze. The first Pokemon Movie came to theaters later that year.
I hadn't seen an affiliation swap that good since WLUK-TV 11 switched from NBC to FOX in 1995, when FOX bought the rights to the NFL's NFC conference.
WGBA-TV 26 gained the NBC affiliation at the same time FOX moved to TV-11, WGBA started their newscast the following year, at around the same time the 100th Olympic Games was going on in Atlanta, Georgia. One of WGBA-TV NBC 26's first co-anchormen and news director was a British man named Ashley Webster who helped launch the station's news department, he is now a business journalist for FOX Business Network on cable TV.
It was an exciting upgrade for the Green Bay area and Northeast Wisconsin for that small network affiliate licensed to Suring, Wisconsin, because they carried Kids' WB every Saturday Morning and Weekday Afternoon, and I was watching the Pokemon anime at the time, which started out with a first season in first-run syndication on WACY-TV UPN 32's "Wacky 32" all-day weekday afternoon/Saturday morning childrens' block, which had a secondary affiliation with Kids' WB from the beginning until 1999.
It was also the same year of the Pokemon card and video game craze. The first Pokemon Movie came to theaters later that year.
I hadn't seen an affiliation swap that good since WLUK-TV 11 switched from NBC to FOX in 1995, when FOX bought the rights to the NFL's NFC conference.
WGBA-TV 26 gained the NBC affiliation at the same time FOX moved to TV-11, WGBA started their newscast the following year, at around the same time the 100th Olympic Games was going on in Atlanta, Georgia. One of WGBA-TV NBC 26's first co-anchormen and news director was a British man named Ashley Webster who helped launch the station's news department, he is now a business journalist for FOX Business Network on cable TV.
