Thanks, Jim. I've been wanting to say that for a long time but refrained from doing so, for some unknown reason. After reading your article, however, it rings true as day and well worth the stating. You can add the Science Channel to the list of cable channels that's running out of material, too. I don't know how many more times I can watch junkyard mechanics building one of DaVinci's army tanks or ancient Greek catapults. All of which reminds me of one of Bruce Springsteen's hits during the late Eighties, maybe the early Nineites:
"57 Channels (And Nothin' On)"
By Bruce Springsteen
Listen to the tune:
sonymusic.com
Nothing's really changed since then, apparently, except that the number of barren channels now is more like 570 than 57, and there still appears to be very little on that is worth viewing.
I find myself now given to watching PBS news hours, BBC if and when I can find it, RAI from Rome, foreign films, the silent films of the Twenties that are shown on TMC, and whatever I can pick up from Korean and Chinese cablecasts that support subtitles. And anytime I want to see what Aljezera is putting out, all I have to do is go to the local barber shop, where my main man Auktur (he prefers to be called Sam) has two satellite feeds coming down off his roof ;)
Sundance and IFC sometimes have those rare flicks you mentioned, but even there I'm now looking at some titles being recycled for the second and third times.
Ironically, about a year or so ago an excellent 24 hour news channel from Montreal (I believe it went by various call signs, the last one I recall being RNN) went off the air due to lack of funding. It had its US counterparts beat by a country mile in delivering diverse coverage without the countervailing slants one would expect from the likes of CNN, FOX and the other big broadcasters' news services.
I grew up viewing Channels 2, 4 and 7 (CBS, NBC and ABC, respectively) in NY City with an unusual sense of respect and reverence for the decorum and professionalism that each maintained. The first time that I saw one of these airing infomericials - I believe it was Ch 2 - I found myself betrayed, violated even, and the image that I had maintained of professional telecasting was forever crushed. I knew then and there that the end couldn't be too far away.
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