Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Even Eddie Trunk doesn't know when That Metal Show's coming back only the people at VH1 Classic know and they're not talking.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Comedy Central is still on mission.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Seems like it's already been that way for quite some time. I periodically check the listings to see what I'm missing, and NOTHING makes me go "Oh my god, I gotta get cable right now!" In over 30 years I've never accepted the model of "basic" channels showing commercials AND charging you to watch them, though at least they used to be free on C-Band satellite. I'd gladly pay for a commercial-free music channel that showed nothing but music videos, concerts and music documentaries all in high quality.

I LOVED reading all the complaints on the ABC Family Channel's Facebook page last week about the excessive commercials during the Harry Potter marathon- I just got the Blu-Ray set for about what a month of cable would've cost me, and I can watch them any time I want with NO commercials.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

And with better picture quality and sound.

I wouldn't have cable if I wasn't married and didn't have a kid. I don't think my wife would make it without the HGTV or Food Networks. My kid watches Cartoon Network and Disney XD a ton.

But of the tons of channels we have, I could probably narrow it down to less than a dozen channels that all three of us watch regularly. And that is including the local channels.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Just download Vevo for your platform of choice. It isn't great, but it's better than nothing sometimes.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Ever buy a magazine or newspaper? You have to buy them AND they have commercials inside.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Agreed. If I didn't have wife and kids it wouldn't get used. I watch network shows and news, the only time I'm happy about all the channels I have is about 12 times a year when my favorite college team plays. (That's why sports is so important to keeping cable and satellite alive.)

But the kids love Nick Jr, Disney Jr, etc. They're pretty good channels too. They have very few commercials.

And the wife loves Housewives and Krisley and all that shit.

I used to love the movie channels, but Netflix got me to stop paying for all that. Meanwhile, the kids shows on Netflix are pretty shitty. So I'm probably stuck with cable for at least another 5 years.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Because divorce or kids move out? If you are lucky, both! ;)

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Cable sucks. Directv is where its at :)

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

But you're not forced to read each one before you can go on to the next page. And they don't cost a ton of money either (not as much as a regular book at least.)

I don't have to pay anything for Vevo, so I tolerate the commercials on that. (Yes, I'm paying for internet, but my ISP isn't paying Vevo anything. Cable companies have to pay for each channel they carry- but Viacom is in trouble now anyways.)

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

A few months ago, we gave up and called Dish Network to cancel our service. they immediately whacked 50% off of our monthly rate and gave us free HBO. I take that as a sign of desperation. I would cut the cable tomorrow but my wife insists we need it. Cable / telecom companies are bleeding customers right now. This problem is going to get exponentially worse very quickly for them.

Good riddance, the days of the $200/month gravy train and forced package/bundled channel pricing are coming to an end. Screw those guys.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

No I just figure that 1) in 5 years they'll be over Disney Jr and 2) streaming will improve even more and offer better child programming by then.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

The trend now seems to be scripted original programming. AMC used to air old movies, now look at them. Hell even the History channel is now airing original scripted programming.

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9301867/peak-tv

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Well, to survive nowadays, you have to air original programming. That is the only reason I have HBO, Starz, Showtime and DirectTV (for some other channels).

Only the bottom of the barrel channels still show old, edited movies all the time. Fine with me if those die out.

I like having DirectTV but I really wouldn't mind cutting the cord. Maybe once my kid becomes a teenager and doesn't care about TV anymore. And if HGTV would get a Roku subscription streaming channel for the wife.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

HBO is still showing newer movies in altered aspect ratios so for me they are only useful for their original programming.

The only thing keeping me from cutting the cord is sports. I supposed I could look into ways around the blackout restrictions for stuff like Center Ice and Extra Innings online but I'm not sure how reliable those workarounds can be.

I guess I should just do an assessment of which shows and channels I can't live without and see how many are available through streaming options.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Many of them. Really popular acts (Katy Perry, Lady Gaga) still make lavish videos like you remember from the 80s. A surprising number of indie bands make them too, although you can often tell that they're made on the cheap. Asobi Seksu's last video was pretty much just the lead singer walking around an abandoned warehouse somewhere in NYC, filmed by a dude with a Canon 5D Mark II. And I'm pretty sure most of Postiljonen's videos are just iPhone videos run through an Instagram filter. Doesn't make them any less entertaining, though.

Yeah, I used to wonder why some movies - like Smokey and the Bandit - still needed to be "edited' in this day and age. I think the original film only has a couple "shits" and many "sumbitches". But then I wondered what network would pay someone to go through all those old films and decide what was OK and what wasn't. So I figure it's just inertia keeping those butchered old movies on the air.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

I don't understand the purpose of MTV, MTV2 and VH1 today. All they do is show re-runs of TV shows throughout the whole day. They have 2 or 3 new shows like Teen Wolf, but that's about it. Palladia seems to be what MTV was in the 80's and 90's.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

MTV2 was actually started to address the concerns of MTV playing less music- but look how long that lasted. I'll be happy when Viacom goes bankrupt.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

When I got satellite a few years back, my favorite channel and my default-on one was VH1 Classic.
Shoot, sometime last year I hooked a VHS player back up and watched a video tape of random videos from MTV - and made my son watch some. Going Down to Liverpool, Funky Cold Medina, It's a Sin. Good stuff.
I greatly miss Martha Quinn's Closet Classics and Headbanger's Ball.

That said, I may be part of the problem - I actually watch "Awkward." But that's it.

Maybe the movie's already edited, and to show the unedited version would require a new licensing agreement?
My favorite was from the Blues Brothers, I think, shown on TBS about twenty years ago - "Ahyoo shucks, what 're those darn freak puddinheads doin'?" Oh yes - and "He got us gigs. He got us contracts. We got him paid [laid]. He owes us."

Anyway, a good video for a good song was an event. I'll admit when one can be exposed to new or new-to-you music instantly on Pandora, Spotify, Youtube, Facebook, etc, a music video channel is sort of outdated, but I still miss "video radio".

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

When I go to other countries, music video channels are alive and well.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

VH1 went from being one of my favorite channels to a channel that i can't tolerate even for a few minutes. Bottom barrel reality junk. At least some of their early reality shows had a vague tie to music like the Ted Nugent one or Bret Michaels.

My favorite era of Vh1 was when they were pumping out the Behind the Music series, and those fun countdowns like the top 100 hard rock artists of all time. I think Behind the Music is still around somewhat but they never cover rock bands anymore. Pantera was like the last one and that was over 10 years ago.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

Same here.

I only really watched the Behind The Music episodes.

I stopped watching VH1 shortly after they started making low budget original movies. IIRC, there were movies about Def Leppard, post-Beatles Lennon + McCartney, and some fictionalized version of a female version of "Milli Vanilli" with Kari Wuhrer.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

I hate I missed that. Sounds hilarious. :lol:

I really liked that show they did when they went around getting broken up bands/groups back together for one gig. I never missed an episode of that. You got a good combo of Behind The Music history with real, and sometimes, acidic commentary from various band members, which was awesome. Can't remember the name of the show though. The host was a little obnoxious but he got the job done.

What's crazy is if there was still a channel that played music videos all day, i would toss it on every now and then and have it playing in the background just catch up on new music and see what crazy videos they come up with nowadays. Do kids not play TV in the background anymore?

When I was a kid, MTV was always on if we weren't actually watching a movie or a TV show. If an interesting video came on, we would watch it. If a video that sucked came on or a song we didn't like, we would suffer through it and wait for the next one because you never knew what you were going to see or hear next. That was part of the fun. We would actually sit through commercials because of that. And also because the bumpers and guest artists that would sometimes show up in them were usually interesting as well.

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

It was later released on dvd under the title "Out of Sync" or "Lip Service".

Re: VH1 Cancels Top 20 Countdown and all Music programming
 

"Bands Reunited"