[RANT] Lazy Retro channels

[InMontreal]

Looking back in old TV schedules from various networks in the 90's and 2000's, go to a video store where they sell/rent TV series, or visiting tvshowsondvd.com , you find a lot of shows that has aired only one time on TV. They can be brilliant, they can suck, they can have 13 episodes or they can have 100 or 250 episodes, some TV shows are just forgotten in the vault. You can also find lots of complete pilots that has been submmited to studios but hasn't been picked up for whatever reasons.

As of right now, you have specialty channels whose licence is devoted to old shows. Problem is, they just stick to the classics, the sure values, the unforgettable series, and the syndicated reruns, most of them being comedies. None of them stand out from the rest, none of them have a concept, a rendez-vous for something special, out of the 10-15 shows they brought and air in loop for the last 5 years.

Just looking at The Futon Critic's Shows A-Z section (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch.aspx), you can find a lot of shows from the last decade which can't be seen anywhere. Examples? Just select a network (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB) and press submit.

With that in mind, you figure out that networks cancelled many shows and you end up with a lost of short and long TV series from the 80's and 90's that have been forgotten with time. Look at the schedules for TVtropolis, Dejaview, TVLand, Bravo, Space, Showcase, Action, Diva, Mystery, Comedy, Dusk, Cosmopolitan, and even CourtTV and Much.

Why are we so limited?

[GoLocal]

Just looking at The Futon Critic's Shows A-Z section (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch.aspx), you can find a lot of shows from the last decade which can't be seen anywhere. Examples? Just select a network (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, UPN, WB) and press submit.

I wouldn't mind doing so, if not for the fact that I can't because after just a few seconds, that page redirects to Futon Critic's "Breaking News" page and keeps looping back to that page every few seconds.

[Hedgie-Rover]

As of right now, you have specialty channels whose licence is devoted to old shows. Problem is, they just stick to the classics, the sure values, the unforgettable series, and the syndicated reruns, most of them being comedies. None of them stand out from the rest, none of them have a concept, a rendez-vous for something special, out of the 10-15 shows they brought and air in loop for the last 5 years.

Don't forget the old Cancon contents which they forced to air the same shows during lots of years. For this while, Teletoon Retro (The english one) did a good job to varies the genres but like the others channels, i wish they renewed more often.