So I was watching The Andy Griffith Show marathon that TV Land seems to air every other day. This isn't my complaint, as I would watch that show every day of the week (as long as they're the black and white episodes and not the color ones, but that's another rant). No, my complaint is about the commercial that ran during the marathon.The promo isn't online so I'll have to describe it. The narrator talks about how times change (with a montage of how phones have evolved over the years), how tastes change (a montage of different foods that people have eaten over the decades), and how we've changed (a montage of different hairstyles you might have had since you were a kid). The point of all this is that things change, but ... change is good! And that's why it's good that TV Land has a bunch of reality shows instead of classic TV shows, because things change and that's where viewers are now in their lives.
May I suggest that if you're life is at a point where reality shows are the norm and where reality shows are "where you are," you should be somewhere else.
This is a promo that can make a viewer sad, angry, and even sick, because it actually confirms our deepest suspicions, that TV Land is changing from a retro TV network to a reality TV network. Oh, we've had the strong clues, since they now run and hype shows like The Cougar, She's Got The Look, and High School Reunion more than The Dick Van Dyke Show for quite some time. But now the network is not only using that as a selling point, they're using it as a positive thing, as if life and the landscape of television has "finally" evolved to what it should be, a world where we can watch models argue with each other, old high school classmates learn why they used to hate each other, and groundbreaking shows that involve hidden cameras and wackiness.
It makes me wonder if the execs at TV Land think that if we haven't evolved, if we're still the same stupid, stupid people who want to watch classic sitcoms and still use a land line phone (ho-ho!), that we just aren't worthy of watching the network anymore. Oh TV viewer, you're just so stuck in the past. Don't you realize we now have shows where 40 year-old women sleep with young guys? Join us!
It's almost as if the scripted classic shows they have are just there so they can still say "hey, we do have those shows still." TV Land would probably point to their purchase of Roseanne as proof that they're not drifting away from classic shows, which pretty much tells you how they think. But you can smell the old shows going away, to be replaced by a show about senior citizens living in a house with teenagers. Watch the fun as old people try to play with a Wii! Laugh as the teens steal the seniors' high blood pressure medication! It's the episode you have to see. Thursday at 9 on TV Land!*
Fine, TV Land. Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. Continue to add more and more reality shows to your lineup and then I'll just stop watching your channel altogether and just stick with my DVDs. OK?
*Let me apologize in advance if this actually becomes a show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-04-2009 @ 5:42PM
Angie said...
This is very similar to the current Cartoon Network promo explaining why its cool for them to also include live action shows/movies. They played an extra long version of the promo before the Harry Potter movie, and I was disgusted at the obvious attempts they were making to include things that "the kids love." I'm 28 but I'm pretty sure even as a kid I would have recognized it for the obvious out of touch marketing attempt it was.
Between these two and "SyFy" I'm finding less stations I really want to watch now.
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8-04-2009 @ 5:48PM
D said...
It would seem to me the reason people watch TV Land is to escape all the reality shows not find more of them.The whole point of the network's creation was to preserve the great quality TV of the past and honor it.Now they're telling us we've "evolved" beyond it?If so then they are shooting themselves in the foot.I only watch a couple of reality shows,Survivor,Greatest Race,and none of the nonreality reality shows about fashion,food,dance,singing etc and especially housewives because they aren't about ay reality I relate to and certainly won't watch a TV Land reality show unless it's about who can outwatch others through classic TV marathons.
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8-05-2009 @ 11:00PM
Janice Lee said...
Amen amen to the tvsquad column and this comment! The network has strayed from its mission, and lost its unique identity, the very raison d'etre. They have "sold their birthright for a mess of potage," as the Jacob/Esau story would say. I hope someone else will step forward and start another network that truly serves Baby Boomers like the TVLAnd of yesteryear.
8-04-2009 @ 6:03PM
mj said...
What a load. I like to watch retro shows, because I loathe most of what is on now. Reality shows apparently are cheap to make. They are shoved down our throats. I guess I will be spending more time with my DVD's than watching TV Land, or other channels. And by the way, there are so many good old shows out there, why is it that no one shows THEM? Roseanne isn't that old. Classic shows would be so cool.
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8-04-2009 @ 6:06PM
JD said...
I've seen this ad for about three weeks now. Makes me want to throw something at the TV. For what they're screwing up with TV Land, WGN is starting to take over.
As for the TVLand people, I just raised my right arm as I would trying to hit someone and brought my left hand over to meet it as it comes up to my chest. Some would call it an Italian middlefinger!
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8-04-2009 @ 7:46PM
Nate said...
It's nice to be in a market with so many classic TV options where TV Land is treated like that senile old uncle who's suddenly getting a creepy inclination for younger cougars and hot tub scenes. In Milwaukee they now have both Retro TV and Me TV (plus WGN for a pay option), providing more than enough classic TV to keep anyone happy. If you're lucky enough to live around the south shore of Lake Michigan, you don't care what TV Land does at all, because broadcast TV is keeping you happy thanks to the magic alchemy that is the digital subchannel.
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8-04-2009 @ 8:15PM
Marsha said...
TVLand lost me years ago. I became interested with that station when I realized I could watch all my old favorite sitcoms. I fell head over heels when they added "All In The Family".
Today......well, never mind.
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8-04-2009 @ 8:28PM
Gordon Werner said...
Remember when Mtv actually showed music videos?
Remember when VH1 actually showed music videos?
Remember when A&E actually showed arts and entertainment?
Remember when SpikeTV was the Nashville Network? (was The National Network before becoming SpikeTV)
there are too many niche networks that cannot compete for viewers and the advertising ... expect to see more of it happening.
The real fault lies with all the tools who actually watch all of the garbage shows on tv.
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8-04-2009 @ 9:01PM
Scott H said...
Things like this are why TV DVDs will remain a growth industry. Until there are no more decent shows left for DVD sets. Which, at the rate things are going, should be in about 5 years.
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8-04-2009 @ 9:29PM
Mark S said...
Yet another reason to drop cable/satellite altogether and go with internet, rabbit ears, and TV shows on DVD.
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8-04-2009 @ 10:42PM
Anita said...
The thing is TVLand could do reality shows, but make them relevant to their niche i.a reality show similar to Pleasantville in which modern day teens/families try to live in the 1950s household or a 1960s themed dating show.
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8-05-2009 @ 12:16AM
Picviewer said...
Know what else changes? The channel on a tv/dvr/etc... It is truely amazing that your not forced to watch or listen to the same channel 24/7.
I don't give a crap about spike the channel for the high school could-have-beens roidheads and guess what I don't watch it. See it's that easy.
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8-05-2009 @ 12:19AM
Han Solo said...
Wanna know something funny.
We have BETTER CLASSIC tv RIGHT NOW free over the air in my town.
We have a digital tv broadcast station in our town that shows Emergency!, A-TEAM, MagnumPI, Simon&Simon, Incredible Hulk, Adam-12, Dragnet, Marcus Welby, Kojak, Rockford Files, Knight Rider, Iron Side, Alfred Hitchcock Hour.....
And that was just TONITES lineup.
Here is the network the local station is part of, RetroTV see if there is one in your area:
http://www.myretrotv.com
Screw cable tv.
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8-05-2009 @ 9:15AM
grumpiestoldman said...
All I want is a channel where I can watch My Three Sons, Taxi, Emergency, Dick Van Dyke Show....etc.
Why wouldn't that Retro TV described above be on cable?
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8-05-2009 @ 12:14PM
Wacie said...
I firmly believe there are two words that should never, ever be uttered on TV Land: "all new". Same with Cartoon Network's new real-life programming: the words "live-action" do not belong on Cartoon Network.
I suppose it is true that tastes change over time, but the point of the network is to show the old shows that have survived the test of time. If you really can't stand to watch one more episode of Green Acres, maybe you should go read a book.
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8-05-2009 @ 7:01PM
jim said...
The network is there to make money. If the old shows are not making money, they have to do somethign else or go out of business. I'm guessing more and more of the old shows can be purchased on DVD and fewer people want to watch them with commercials.
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8-06-2009 @ 1:29PM
Tony said...
Speaking of changing formats...I remember when G4 was "Tech TV" and had great tech shows with Leo Laporte, etc.. Then suddenly they were pushing "Man Show" reruns! Now the "Man Show" can be interesting too, but maybe on Spike! or another countrified network, not on one supposedly purposed for tech and gaming...
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8-06-2009 @ 3:29PM
nytheatreguy said...
I used to love love LOVE TV Land. Now it's just a joke to me. What a waste.
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8-11-2009 @ 3:02PM
Mona Russll said...
There was a time when TV Land and I had a great relationship. Most of my viewing time was spent on that station. I don't care how many times I've seen the same episode of I Love Lucy! If I didn't want to watch it, all I had to do was change channels, but that never happened. I want TV Land back the way it was.
Lucy, Andy and Beaver are my Buds!!!!!!!!
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8-11-2009 @ 2:59PM
lizabeth said...
I love this channel. I used to watch it from 9am until I fell asleep at night. But, now, since they changed the morning lineup and stuck us with Ty Pennington, instead of Archie Bunker, I stopped watching it completely. I can watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition on CMT every day. I preferred Archie Bunker, and I was waiting for the network to start airing All In The Family from the beginning.
I am done with this channel. I have purchased the Videos of all of my favorite shows from the past, and I can watch them whenever I want. I am a child of the 60's, born in the 50's, and I don't do well with change.
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