So I was watching TheAndy 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.
The Cougar is in the running for Worst TV Show of 2009 honors in my mind, so it's good to see that late night host Chelsea Handler feels the same way. Here she is doing a little rant about the show (some suggestive scenes and jokes included, so put your headphones on if you're at work).
I'll say this again: isn't it awful how low TV Land has gone? It's weird that I can watch a great Andy Griffith Show marathon, immediately followed by The Cougar. There's something wrong there. (Video also here if the one below doesn't work for you.)
You won't believe which show is kicking the collective ass of TV Land's The Cougar. Then again, maybe you will.The New York Times reports that reruns of (Shazam!) The Andy Griffith Show are the cable network's most watched show.
So does this mean that the former classic TV network will go back to running shows that people actually want to watch? Probably not. Sorry to break the bad news to you. Oh, and there is no Santa Claus, and if the tooth fairy does exist, she's probably a big ol' commie.
The marketing for this show has been relentless, and that's an understatement. It's easier to shake the SARS virus in a back alley chicken hut in downtown Hong Kong than it is to shake an ad for The Cougar.
One of my personal rules (number one is "thou who smelt it, dealt it") is the harder the advertising, the worse a show is bound to be. TV Land hasn't just aired a commercial for The Cougar every five seconds in between their few remaining watchable shows. They air it on other networks. They plaster ads all over the Internet. If the economy dips any lower, they'll probably start tattooing ads to people's foreheads.
TV Land just keeps drifting further and further away from what they originally were. It wouldn't surprise me if some day we see them change the name to Reality Land and all of the older comedies and dramas dragged over to Nick at Nite.
The network has announced a few new reality shows, including one that they call an "anti-makeover" show. If it's truly anti-makeover, it will be a scripted comedy, but I'm sure it's really just another damn reality program. They have also announced a third season (gah) of High School Reunion. Guess all the people in their 40s and 50s like these things, though as someone in my 40s I'd just like to say HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT, TV LAND? I DON'T WANT TO SEE MORE REALITY SHOWS AND MAKEOVER SHOWS, EVEN IF THEY ARE "ANTI."
My family often watches TV during the dinner hour. There, I've said it. I'm not proud of that fact, but there you have it. We also force the kids to take 2-hour nature walks with us every weekend, so maybe it all evens out in the end.
Our favorite channel during the dinner hour is TV Land. In our neck of the woods, Hogan's Heroes airs from 6 to 7 p.m., and The Andy Griffith Show from 7 to 8 p.m. We love both these shows, and the episodes always spark laughter and a few discussion topics. Like, how could Colonel Klink be such a dimwit, and why can't more people be like Andy Taylor?
But we might have to start watching the Discovery or History channels or - gasp! - turn the TV off altogether, because the commercials on TV Land are making us gag on our organic mac-and-cheese. I'm talking about the commercials for TV Land's reality shows, High School Reunion and The Cougar.
Cable channels used to have fairly rigid formats that followed simple formulas. Nickelodeon was the network for kids. ESPN was the network for sports. USA was the network for non-stop reruns of Wings.
Now most of them have fallen into a strange gelatinous blob of unoriginal and unrecognizable sewage. I believe the technical term is "reality shows."
The TV Land network has been slowly engulfed by this blob of mediocrity with shows like High School Reunion and The Cougar. Their latest VP hire indicates it's about to be swallowed whole by more of the same.
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.
At 8, FOX has the two-hour season finale of American Idol.
At 8, ABC has a new Scrubs, then new episodes of Better Off Ted, Lost, and The Unusuals.
TV Land just keeps drifting further and further away from what they originally were. It wouldn't surprise me if some day we see them change the name to Reality Land and all of the older comedies and dramas dragged over to Nick at Nite.
My family often watches TV during the dinner hour. There, I've said it. I'm not proud of that fact, but there you have it. We also force the kids to take 2-hour nature walks with us every weekend, so maybe it all evens out in the end. 
Cable channels used to have fairly rigid formats that followed simple formulas. Nickelodeon was the network for kids. ESPN was the network for sports. USA was the network for non-stop reruns of Wings. 
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