List of Changed Channels

[MuppetSpot]

We're always complaining about channels that no longer play the kinds of programs that defined what they were as channels, so I figured for easy reference, we could use this thread to compile a list of those channels.

• A&E used to broadcast informational programs, such as BIOGRAPHY; now they mostly play country-fried reality shows (though BILLY THE EXTERMINATOR is unintentionally funny)
• Cartoon Network used to be all about great cartoons from past to present; now the cartoons they play are few and far between, and they put more focus into playing live action shows and movies.
• Disney Channel used to be just that, Disney cartoons, shows, and movies; now they keep rehashing the same kind of tweencoms over and over again.
• MTV used to be all about music (hence MUSIC Television); now, they play nothing but incredibly trashy reality shows.
• Nickelodeon used to have a great variety of all kinds of different Nicktoons, and some really entertaining live action shows; now it's all SpongeBob all the time (and rehashes of their live action shows).
• TLC has pretty much suffered the same fate as A&E, though I think their reality shows are less country-fried.
• TV Land used to be dedicated to classic television; now all they care about is their crappy original programming.
• VH1 is a similar case to MTV, but their reality shows seem to mostly be about "wives" and "husbands".

Know any others to add to the list?

Yeah I agree

 

[minor muppetz]

The ABC Family Channel has changed names and owners many times, though the original owner actually put clauses in the contract that certain changes can't occur regardless of owner, such as having to have "Family" in the title, having to dedicate 3 hours a day to The 700 Club, and having to have a day-long telethon once a year.

I can't remember the original title off-hand, I think it was the Christain Faith Family Channel, but it changed its name to just The Family Channel, and then went from Fox Family to ABC Family. Maybe it's just me but I feel like the "Family Channel" era was a bit bland with its programming, then the "Fox Family" era became a bit more kiddy, and then ABC Family has made it heavy on teen dramas (after realizing if they had the slogan "A new kind of family" they could still air anything and keep the "family" title) while also showing a lot of great nostalgiac programming like Boy Meets World, Full House, many animated Disney movies (from the Walt Disney era, the "Disney Renaissance era" (first time I actually wrote that phrase), and recent years), and especially during it's "13 days of Halloween" and "25 days of Christmas", the later even showing a lot of great old non-Christmas programming.

 

[D'Snowth]

Yeah I agree

You know, you can actually get in trouble for posting meaningless replies like that.

The ABC Family Channel has changed names and owners many times, though the original owner actually put clauses in the contract that certain changes can't occur regardless of owner, such as having to have "Family" in the title, having to dedicate 3 hours a day to The 700 Club, and having to have a day-long telethon once a year.

I can't remember the original title off-hand, I think it was the Christain Faith Family Channel, but it changed its name to just The Family Channel, and then went from Fox Family to ABC Family. Maybe it's just me but I feel like the "Family Channel" era was a bit bland with its programming, then the "Fox Family" era became a bit more kiddy, and then ABC Family has made it heavy on teen dramas (after realizing if they had the slogan "A new kind of family" they could still air anything and keep the "family" title) while also showing a lot of great nostalgiac programming like Boy Meets World, Full House, many animated Disney movies (from the Walt Disney era, the "Disney Renaissance era" (first time I actually wrote that phrase), and recent years), and especially during it's "13 days of Halloween" and "25 days of Christmas", the later even showing a lot of great old non-Christmas programming.

Actually, that reminds me of another thing too: ABC Family doesn't even play family-friendly programming anymore. I mean really, almost all the programs they air anymore are about subject matters like teenaged pregnancy, baby daddies, the antics that go on at frat houses... you seriously think kids should be subjected to shows like that?

 

[HeyButtahfly]

I know. I've been saying for years that there's nothing "family" about ABC Family. I think it's disgusting.

 

[Drtooth]

• Nickelodeon used to have a great variety of all kinds of different Nicktoons, and some really entertaining live action shows; now it's all SpongeBob all the time (and rehashes of their live action shows).

Replace Spongebob with Rugrats, and that was the network essentially in the late 90's. I don't see much of a difference on that end. The only bad thing I see is their Nick at Nite programming being full of crappy sitcoms from the 00's that no one liked in the first place.

VH1 and Disney Channel are the ones that disappointed and saddened me the most when they changed. It's like that song "You paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

My problem with Disney is, out of the three networks they have on cable, why don't they have a single channel devoted to classic Disney stuff, especially movies. I'm thrilled by the success of Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and their Marvel line up finally giving them some quality animated programming (notice I left off Fish Hooks... blech) instead of the factory conveyor belt of tween live action programming. They still produce it, but they don't shove it down everyone's throats. Still, why no Disney Classics channel?

Actually, that reminds me of another thing too: ABC Family doesn't even play family-friendly programming anymore. I mean really, almost all the programs they air anymore are about subject matters like teenaged pregnancy, baby daddies, the antics that go on at frat houses... you seriously think kids should be subjected to shows like that?

The scary thing is, there is one thing that's required contractually that even Disney (DISNEY!!) can't weasel out of kicking off the network that actually can never leave the channel ever. The 700 Club. No matter how vile the programming about teen pregnancies and crappy made for TV movies are, nothing can get rid of that horrible indoctrinating hate fest.

Seriously... Disney can go after Day Care Centers, but they're all thumbs when it comes to Louis Prima's Widow and Pat Robertson.

When the Children's Television Act was fully enforced in 1996, it required broadcast stations to carry a 3-hour minimum of educational/informational children's programming, and some programs found a new market on cable networks, while others were shelved to obscurity....

Long gone are the olden days of yore, when local Saturday morning programming was actually competitive and enjoyable, compared to nowadays when the Saturday AM timeslots are filled with "edutainment" programs aimed at reaching preschoolers.....

I hate that freaking act. Somehow it turned from "You must have a minimum of 3 hours of quality children's programming" to "Hey, throw on some low budget career/environment/pet care program that no kid in the world is dull enough to watch at 5 Am Sunday, and you can run as many Infomercials as you want!" I love that Saban came to the rescue when 4 Kids went under and does CW's Saturday Morning programming. Yeah, it's all cable reruns. But I love being able to get up and look forward to Transformers Prime and Dragon Ball Kai. Other than that, the big networks show preschool shows and VERY dull shows for VERY dull teenagers. Everyday Health?!?! That shouldn't be a show.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Nicktoons has become more of a dumping ground for failed Nick shows rather than classic cartoons, although they still show some older shows, its usually during late night marathons that run at like 1 am

 

[D'Snowth]

Come to think of it, it seems like a LOT of channels now play the good stuff late at night into the morning, when most sane people are in bed.

 

[beatnikchick300]

VH1 and Disney Channel are the ones that disappointed and saddened me the most when they changed. It's like that song "You paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

Word. Even though I loved the Disney Channel shows of the early 2000s (particularly Even Stevens and That's so Raven [and even though Kim Possible was pretty boring, I have to admit that it had pretty cool villains]), I think many of them started DC's descent into teenybopper nonsense. I'm with Dr. Tooth; they should have at least one channel devoted to older, actually Disney-like programming (I'd like to be about to see Darkwing Duck courtesy of something else other than YT videos).

As for VH1, I enjoy some of their more recent Greatest song countdowns (I was just watching their top 40 Greatest Hip-Hop songs of the '90s last night, and was pleased to see many of my favorites come up), but like TLC and A&E, too much of their programming has descended into silly reality shows (I don't mean to be mean, but I don't really care that much about celebrities' relationship woes; I liked VH1 because it helped me learn to love great music).

Speaking of which, I miss the old MTV, as well. I really wish I had been a teen instead of a wee girl in the '90s, so I could have really enjoyed (as opposed to watching it without my strict parents' knowledge) the good, actually music-based MTV (although they did a reboot of Celebrity Deathmatch in the mid-2000s, which was awesome, but I think it was scrapped because of the writers' strike in 2007. Bummer).

Nickelodeon has gotten worse, too. I'm not in the camp that everything Nick put out in the '90s was gold ( :cough: Rocket Power, :cough: CatDog, :cough: ), or that everything from this century has been god-awful (I like Penguins [though it seems to be on hiatus, at best, right now] ), but what they've been showing recently (and plan to show) is horrible, for the most part. SpongeBob should have ended after the movie, as per the wishes of its creator; it and Fairly Oddparents are both taking "beating a dead horse" to a whole new level. Also, it suffers from the same syndrome Disney Channel does; putting too much emphasis on teeny bopper nonsense and not enough on being the "first network for kids," and wacky and fun like it used to be. A lot of their shows (particularly anything created by that black hole of comedy, Dan Schneider) are more mean-spirited and nasty than funny, as well. Yeah, shows I loved from Nick (like Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life) had mean humor as well, but at least they were wacky, clever, and fun enough that it balanced out. And please don't even get me started on how they've overexposed as certain....other black hole of comedy, this one who got his start on YouTube...


...Boy, what a rant.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Come to think of it, it seems like a LOT of channels now play the good stuff late at night into the morning, when most sane people are in bed.

I guess they figure you can just DVR it. But one, not everyone has a DVR, and 2, they always show the same episodes over and over.

I've noticed that with PPG on boomerang, they show episodes in order, but cut off mid season 4 and start over again.

Nicktoons always shows the same DP episodes together it seems. Like 13 and Lucky in Love are always shown back to back (not that I'm complaining...those are my two favorite episodes because reasons)...but yeah...

I don't get this thing where they refuse to show certain episodes but show the same ones over and over. Is it to try to get people to buy the dvds or itunes episodes or something?

 

[mr3urious]

Cartoon Network used to be all about great cartoons from past to present; now the cartoons they play are few and far between, and they put more focus into playing live action shows and movies.

Cartoon Network has actually started to air mostly cartoons again since 2010-ish, and most have been critically and commercially acclaimed. Level Up has been officially cancelled, but The Incredible Crew still thrives, unfortunately (has anyone watched or even liked these shows?).

Disney Channel used to be just that, Disney cartoons, shows, and movies; now they keep rehashing the same kind of tweencoms over and over again.

I'm very glad that the Disney Channel is not promoting their tweencoms as aggressively, especially since Hannah Montana and High School Musical have faded away. Disney XD is showing a better balance between live-action and animated fare, though.

Replace Spongebob with Rugrats, and that was the network essentially in the late 90's. I don't see much of a difference on that end. The only bad thing I see is their Nick at Nite programming being full of crappy sitcoms from the 00's that no one liked in the first place.

The biggest problem with Nick today is failing to give other animated shows a chance when they don't get huge SpongeBob-level ratings right out of the gate. And not even that show was an instant hit at first.

I know. I've been saying for years that there's nothing "family" about ABC Family. I think it's disgusting.

ABC Family was meant to be a network for older audiences to begin with called XYZ (they later used that name for a programming block), but once again, Pat Robertson's contract stipulated that the word "family" stay in the name no matter who owns it, otherwise Disney would have to create a whole new network and go through all the trouble to re-negotiate with the cable companies that show it. In fact, Disney is so ashamed of The 700 Club that it removes all network branding and puts up disclaimers whenever it comes on, and for good reason!

I hate that freaking act. Somehow it turned from "You must have a minimum of 3 hours of quality children's programming" to "Hey, throw on some low budget career/environment/pet care program that no kid in the world is dull enough to watch at 5 Am Sunday, and you can run as many Infomercials as you want!"

Those loopholes need to be closed pronto! If those greedy execs want to make money, they've got to earn it the old-fashioned way by not making such cheap, low-quality programming!