Note to AMCTV--Play the movies and shut up.

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Kevinpreston3

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Joined
Apr 28, 2005
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One of my favorite channels used to be AMCTV. A few years back, this channel was just an outstanding place to go to see old great movies. It still is, sometimes. However, for every "Shane" that is on, they play "Dr. Giggles" or "Harlem Nights". In fact, they play some of the most unclassic films you can imagine.

I was enjoying a sensory overload yesterday of some of my favorite films that were on back to back..."An Affair to Remember", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", the original "Scrooge" etc.

Then of course, there's gotta be some "Original AMCTV Programming", this in the form of "20: Entertainment Weekly's Holiday Movies". This was supposed to be about some of the most warmhearted holiday movies.

The show is hosted by the HILARIOUS French Stewart, the guy from "Third Rock from the Sun", but this time without the HILARIOUS squinting routine. Stewart is having--isn't this original--difficulties hanging his outdoor Christmas lights. He goes on and on about how terrible Christmas is, what a drag it is to be with family. Then he literally curses at the Christmas lights. What a warm idea.

The show goes on to showcase Christmas favorites. This includes Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story". Bob Clark got his name from directing such time-honored favorites such as "Porky's", "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" and "Rhinestone". How within the past few years "A Christmas Story" has become a warm holiday favorite escapes me. Does Darrin McGavin cursing about Christmas through 1/2 the movie and the once-funny but give me a break scene of the kid getting his tongue stuck to the flagpole just scream Merry Christmas? This was a mildly amusing film, seen once.

Then they roll out grumpy old Richard Donner, director of "Scrooged" with Bill Murray. Donner had on his holiday face, which basically meant he was not sneering. Donner mentioned that he liked the fantasy of movies, because people are terrible in real life.

Feeling jolly yet?

The whole show played like 'yeah, we know Christmas sucks, so let's just make fun of it'. Personally, I don't find the humor.

I am going to drop a note to AMCTV, let them know how I feel. I think they should keep playing old movies, classic ones like their name conveys, and leave the "original programs" to others who obviously can do it alot better. I can do without "Movies That Shook the World", French Stewart in anything, and those two obnoxious characters on "Sunday Morning Shootout".

Thoughts from my friends here?
 
I miss everything about the old AMC channel. Although Jon Stewart once referred to it as "The All 'Afffair to Remember Channel.'" It used to show many old Fox movies, which now can be seen on Foxmo. My favorite was "How Gay is our Fanfare."
 
Why I rarely watch AMC:

1. Unlike Turner Classic Movies, they don't show films in widescreen format, which makes me crazy. Even Fox Movie Channel is showing more films in their intended, widescreen format.

2. Commercials.

3. Maybe there are only two reasons why I rarely watch AMC...
 
Stay with us at TCM

AMC really sucks!
Lesto and I (Brent-Aucoin) work for TCM.
We are the best! (our network that is)
Hope you all can catch out network in your neck of the woods.
Forget about the old AMC. It is gone forever! It really was not all that great back when. The prints of the films they would air were horrible. Now they are insulting. You are not watching the whole movie. It is cut to fit the COMMERCIALS that they are showing. Not to mention the stupid hosts!
Welcome to TCM.
Go to TurnerClassicMovies.com , and let us know what you want to see!
Brent
 
If you want to see the movies as the way they were intened-rent or buy the DVD of the movie you want to see-NO COMMERCIALS!You can pause the show when you wish to get to the kitchen for "consessions" or to the bathroom.Also you can choose if you want to see the movie as widescreen or standard.I wish the movie dubbing studios would throw away the standard or 4x3 apeture-people are buying widescreen sets!!
 
TCM

I love Turner Classic Movies - it's one of the few cable channels I actually watch. They have respect for the movies they show.

I, for one, am excited by the proposal that we would be able to pick and choose what channels we want. No more shopping networks, religious TV, or cable news!
 
As I type this, "Dark Passage" is playing on TCM. I really like TCM and Fox Movie Channel (where I saw and taped "Myra Breckinridge").

AMC was cool when it was "American Movie Classics," but now it's "American Movie Channel...TV for movie people." Read: Lowest common denominator, or people who think "Lethal Weapon 3" is the peak of cinematic entertainment.
 
Brent.....

As unbelievable as it sounds, I DO have TCM! Unfortunately, it is channel 160, so you have to have Adelphia's digital channel box to get it, as our TVs only go up to 125 channel for cable.

The upside is that the living room TV with the DVR DOES have this setup, the others don't and I don't want to rent more boxes. However, I am going to go dig around I may have another floating around.
 
TCM is great! That's where I saw the original "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (totally different from the new movie with same title). AMC I got tired of a long time ago, primarily when they stopped showing the classics.

And as for the second topic kinda addressed kevinpreston3, I don't know where some of this humbug attitude comes from nowadays.
 
I used to see a lot of rare movies on amc and enjoyed it a lot but when they commercialized it, Well anyway WENN was the only amc created show that I liked. I live in a rural comunity and our cable has been so bad after several years of complaining, another cable company offwered to move in. Well our old company decided it was time to shape up. they installed new lines throughout town. Hooray. Well then the bill goes up. Then everybody is switching to digital and everything here looks like stop motion animation unless of course it stops altogether! Analog might get blurry at times but you could at least keep up with what was going on but now!
 
I h8 AMC!

Why? Too damn many commercials! The other night Dennis tuned in "To Kill a Mockingbird" which is a fine old movie. When I realized that it was on AMC, I shut the damned thing off! At the beginning, they show nice chunks of the movie with a few commercial breaks. As the plot thickens and you are drawn into the story, they torment you with a commercial break every five minutes or so.

I would much rather wait for a movie to be on TCM where I can watch the whole movie with no interruptions.

I would not mind SOME commercials, but there are too many on AMC.

You picked a good day to get me started on this as I just wrote an email to NBC News about how they should just call it NBC Nightly Commercials with news bits by Brian Williams. I am slightly more annoyed when the cable channels have so many commercials as we are PAYING for the privledge. Another channel thats gotten really bad is the Hilter channel, oops I mean History Channel, which breaks every 10 minutes for 5 minutes of commercials. I really enjoy some of thier shows but cannot stand all those breaks.

I really should listen to Lawrence/Maytagbear and just throw the effing TV off the Pali.
 
Oh, and

I saw the first few minutes of the aforementioned Christmas special and I thought it was crap too and shut it off.

TV is still a vast wasteland. I was whining to Martha that our crummy regular cable has about 75 channels of nothing to watch. Her and Mark have digital cable and she assured me that it too is 900 channels of nothing to watch. I am often tempted to ask our landlord to cut the cable and simply reduce our rent, but the gal in the mainhouse would lose her flickering blue babysitter and then she may actually have to RAISE her children. MEOW! May I have a dish of cream?

David
 
I gave up cable a couple of years ago. I found that my TV antenna gets all three (or four) major networks with better picture quality than I was getting over the landline. I couldn't see spending $50+ per month to watch the same commercials I could see for free. I never took the plunge into the "premium" selections like HBO, Showtime, etc, but since I was going back to college with a double load, I figured I didn't have time to watch all that stuff anyway.

I do miss the History Channel, the Comedy Channel, and maybe a couple others. But nothing I can't live without. I figure I'm saving at least $600/year by not doing cable or satellite. That money I can spend selectively on DVD's of movies I really want to see. Or not.

I find I keep the TV on for background noise and something to rest my eyes on from time to time when working on the computer (did this when I had cable, too). Once in a while something comes along that's worth watching seriously, but more often than not it's a throw away pastime.

Thank God for PBS.
 
Here's a shot of the centrally located (in my laundry closet!) TV broadcast distribution panel I built. It basically connects two rooftop antennas to a switch that allows one to select due west, due south, or combine output from antennas.

I thought I posted this already but since I can't find it I figure I must have mistakenly exited the website before the final posting...
 
cable/satellite

The thing I really enjoy on cable/satellite is that now there is much more room for "niche" programming that the major networks just don't have the time for. I really like watching shows like "Modern Marvels", "Extreme Engineering", "Biography". Watched a show the other night about how Saks 5th Avenue, Macy's, and Neiman Marcus come up with their holiday window decorations everyyear. Was quite interesting.
 
Yes, I can't really knock the variety and quality of programming available on cable/satellite... but I noticed more and more re-runs on History Channel, and a big decline in content on Discovery Channel. That, along with AMC cramming commercials into its movies, as well as the morons appearing on Fox News, made me feel that the investment just wasn't paying off.

I might someday get a satellite dish... although I'm kind of waiting to see if "ala carte" subscriptions will ever materialize. I wouldn't mind paying a few bucks a month for four or five favorite non-broadcast stations, but $55 for junk like Home Shopping Network is a bit much.
 
When I was a kid (in the 60s), I was told that in the future we would have cable tv. There would be a monthly charge, but no commercials. It didn't work out that way, did it? In fact, even the channel-guide channel has commercials.

Wait until satellite radio catches on -- it will have commercials too.

Ken D.
 
We have the crappiest cable service here. It has changed hands so many times that the formats are all scewed up. Depending on where you live, you have a different decoder box, and the picture is crap no matter where you live.

It started out as Continental Cable, and it was pretty good then. They were a nice local company, and when the digital cable system came about, started to upgrade to the Scientific Atlanta system within 1-3 miles around the central office. The plan was to upgrade the system in stages starting at the central office and working outwords. They ran out of money though, and Media One bought them out just as they had finished the neighborhoods within 3 miles or so. Media one started using the Motorola system as they pushed farther and farther away from the central office to about 5-8 miles away or so. The customers on the original Scientific Atlanta system remained on that system even though they used S.A. equipment. AT&T then bought them out and they obviously used Lucent Technology boxes. They too, however never upgraded the older neighborhoods using the other two formats. Finally, AT&T got bought out by Comcast...or as we call it com-crap, and they went to the Jerrold system and completed the rest of the coverage area. They too, didn't upgrade the older systems leaving 4 different formats depending on where you live!

With each upgrade, the bill gets bigger. It's up to $55 a month for "basic" service which consists of about 75 channels of grainy, fuzzy analog pictures. For an additional $15 a month, you can have blocky, jumpy, broken up digital cable pictures, and a stupid converter box on top of every TV. Still, none of it's high-defninition either!

I feel really sorry for the people that were swindled into their "high speed internet access". The more people that sign on, the slower it gets. For the people that are on it, it gets a sluggish as a dialup in the evenings, and it's always doing down and simply not working. $40 a month for a flakey, slow internet service? Sorry, I'll keep my reliable DSL for $15 a month!

For me, I'm like Sudsmaster. I like my rooftop antenna. I put together a system very simliar to what he is using. My shop is a blonder-tongue dealer, and I picked up some of their pro-grade components for the house. A weird name for a company that sells CATV distribution components. I've got 3 TV antennas on the same mast pointed at the individual towers for the local channels (3 stations are on the same tower). They all run through a signal combiner, and then a distribution amp, and then to jacks in the wall of all the rooms. The picture is DVD quality!

For the cable networks, I use Dish network. It's pretty cheap in comparason...about $40 a month, and it's all digital with a really nice picture!
 
Ken,

I remember the same hoopla in the 60's about how cable would bring everyone commercial free TV. What a joke.

Cybr,

Have you tried getting digital broadcast TV signals yet? Our local PBS stations have gone digital - one even has already dropped it analog signal and gone completely digiatl (it lost its analog tower lease). I've been looking for a good, inexpensive digital broadcast tuner, with radio-controlled remote, so I can change the channel from anywhere in the home. So far, no such luck. I could cobble together something with a gizmo that Radio Shack sells, which converts infrared remote to radio remote, but I'm still looking for a good tuner. RS has one for $90 but they are all sold out and "discontinued". The next step up, from what I've seen on the internet, is $200 or more.

I find that my antenna are not directional enough to get the best picture when the two are combined. There is a bit of ghosting that occurs on some channels (5 is the worst at the moment). They come in crystal clear when only one antenna is used. And of course the reception will vary somewhat with the weather. But it's much sharper than the old analog cable was/is.
 
HDTV broadcasting-Since I do work in the broadcast sector--some points on the new digital broadcasts-Most of the digital channels are in the UHF band.the low band analog channel assignments are being given "back" to the FCC.(Analog channels #'s 2-5)and the higher band VHF are still going to be used for digital.The broadcasters would love to stay on the VHF channels.VHF transmitters are more efficient and cost less to buy and run.also they have to run less power to cover the same area.And in markets where digital was first tried--Raleigh NC,Wash DC,NYC.If the listener is too close to the transmitter site-the receiver is "Overwhelmed" with signal and won't work.And these is a "Plateu" effect with the digital--If too far away it cuts out suddenly.The analog broadcast may still be useable.And more complications-broadcasters have to decide or determine --can they install the digital UHF broadcast antenna on the same tower as their analog antenna is on?Is there enough room in the transmitter building top accomidate the digital transmitter?and is there enough AC power going to the building to run both transmitters?In the transistion period we are in broadcasters are faced with running their analog transmitters(until the analog cutoff date--midnight on april 7,2009)and the digital one at the same time.This sure adds to their power bills!After the analog cutoff date--the digital transmitter is used.The broadcaster "turns in" his old analog channel.The FCC will use them for other services.Then the other thought-all of those analog TV's and transmitters suddenly become USELESS!!!Esp the transmitters.Pity the broadcaster that bought a new one during the "transistion" period.Other stations are "nursing" their old rigs to last thru it.At least rhe analog TV's could have a new lease-you can use the digital tuner to display the HD programs on the older set-of course it won't be HD.The converter-tuner has to convert the digital broadcast to a analog signal the older TV can display.
 
Tolivac,

What's the typical realistic broadcast distance (unimpeded) for digital TV signals?

I live about 25 miles from the Mt. Sutro multi-station TV transmission tower in San Francisco. Analog comes in really well with a rooftop antenna, with minimal ghosting and no snow. Can I expect to get good digital reception as well? I'd be willing to upgrade my rooftop antenna if necessary, but I suspect the current one will be just fine (even though it's probably over 30 years old, it's a well made one. I upgraded it to RG6 a while back...)
 
The "range" of the Digital signal-just like any other-depends on terrian,weather conditions-and the orientation of the listeners receiver with respect to the transmitters antenna.Broadcast TV,FM,and medium wave AM face the problems of not causing interference to neighboring broadcasters on the same frequencies-therefore many of the transmitter antenna systems are Directional-they will put out a strong signal in one or more directions-but weak or even non-existent to an area the broadcaster has to "protect".Your present antenna should work if it can receive UHF band broadcasts.Does the UHF analog broadcasts come in OK with your present antenna?If so it should work for digital.A good thing to do is contact the stations in your area--ask them the channel # their digital broadcasts are being run on.(Usually UHF,but could be "Hi-Band VHF-ch#7-13)Then ask them the direction you will need to point your antenna.The digital transmitter could be at a different site than the analog one.From material I have read about Mt Sutro site in the past-wouldn't be surprized if the digital signals could be broadcast from there.when you call the stations they can tell you their digital channels,and the directions you need to point your antenna.Another thing-You can look up the stations website on your computer-that can give you the information you need to receive their digital broadcasts.If you call them on the phone for info-try to talk to their engineering department.They could give you the best information.
 
Thanks, Tolivac.

I get UHF stations just fine on my antennae. So it should be no problem getting the major HDTV broadcast stations.

Do you have any suggestions for a broadcast HDTV tuner? Please note my preference would be for one with a radio-remote, and also one that can output coax NTSC broadcast signals for redistribution to three or more other sets (I'll use Channel 3 for that, and the radio remote to change the HDTV channel from anywehre in the home).

I'm sure the digital transmitters will be on the Sutro tower. That tower caused a lot of grief for SF residents, but I'm sufficiently far enough away, and with a relatively clear shot, to get very good reception.
 
sudsmaster:Glad that your antenna works on UHF-that means it should work for HDTV.For tuners-the technology on them changes rapidly--Samsung makes them-the unit they make provides outputs for HDTV-Component video,and standard analog video(analog via RCA "phono" type connector"I don't know of any tuner that "downconverts" the digital broadcast to a ch#3 NSTC signal.sounds like you would like to display the HDTV broadcasts on an older tv or one that doesn't have a video input.For what you need-you may want to visit a store that carries and caters to folks putting in home theater systems.They may be able to help.Do you want a seperate program to be displayed on each of three TV's-With whats out there today you would need three tuners-one for each TV-and a "modulator" to convert the analog video output of the tuner to a modulated Ch#3 signal for the display TV.If the TV does have a video input-would be better and easier to connect to that.No modulator required.At one time components such as VCR's Laser disc players and early DVD players had "modulated Ch3,or 4 outputs so they could be played thru TV's that didn't have a video input.I am not sure but Radio Shack may still have "modulators"You would have to find a knowlegeable salesman at the store in your neighborhood and ask.The remotes for most video components are the standard Infra-Red type.An RF remote and its interface is an option.Beleive RCA makes them.Again this is a specialized item.Stores such as Best Buy,Circuit City don't carry such specialized components. you would need to see a dealer that specializes in Home Theater or Hi-Fi for these.Lots of Luck!!
 
Cable Channels get renamed

TV Channels are just as bad as radio stations. The same stuff over and over.

Discovery = The Mythbusters Channel
TVLand = The Good Times Channel (Formerly the Three's Company Channel)
Nick = The Spongebob Channel
Boomerang = The Tom & Jerry Channel (that's not a bad thing)
MTV = The Real World Channel (formerly the Beavis & Butthead channel, not a bad thing)
TLC used to be called "The Guts Channel" because they always showed operations... YUK! Now it's Discovery Health.

Thank God for movies and TV shows on DVD. My Sony upconversion DVD player make an awesome picture on my HDTV.
 

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