[quote name=\'chuckwooleryfan\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 09:44 AM\'] I just got finished reading Steve Beverly's "All in the Game" column. And you know what? He brings up an excellent point. The sad truth about television executives is that they make these business decisions to please the advertisers. As hard as that may be to swallow, they are the prime target. Not us, the diehard fans of this genre. [/quote]
I can't say I'm a favorite of many in this group, and I risk further alienation by saying this, but: I completely agree. In this day and age, viewers have no say in programming; we watch what advertsiers want us to watch. And as long as Madison Avenue worships younger viewers and treats viewers 50 and over as if they have already died, the idea of an all-game show channel has gone the way of the DuMont network. In a more prosperous economy, a new classic-based game show channel could succeed, but because of the times we live in, that concept just won't work anymore.
Believe it or not, the only reason my mom got a cable box is so she can get better reception on QVC. Nowadays, she doesn't watch that channel anymore. Now, if it wasn't for ESPN and the fact that my cable company is also my internet provider, I'd part ways with them and live with broadcast TV. I'd love to get Boomerang and Nick GAS, but those two digital-tier-only channels alone are not worth an extra $40 a month, and I fear by the time I do get them, the shows I wanted to see be off the lineup for good. By the time I got Cartoon Network, all of the classics save for Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones were relegated to Boomerang. When I first heard about Noggin, a network half-owned by what was then Children's Television Workshop, I dreamed of seeing The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, and Square One TV again. Those dreams were dashed when Viacom bought out Sesame Workshop's share and turned it into a 24-hour Nick Jr. By the time I talked my sister, who has a dish, into sending up GSN tapes, the Dark Period had already come and gone, and since then, The $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids were the only Bob Stewart shows that ever had a regular place on the lineup. When GSN finally came to my house in December 2000, Tic Tac Dough was gone, the B&W Sunday block was only one hour, and the only watchable original, Hollywood Showdown, was already on another channel (PAX). I regret that my Card Sharks and Blockbusters collections and episode guides will never be complete, but I should be thankful just to see them again at all. But every authority figure you talk to will say the past is past and it's time to move on. In another time and place, all of these shows that I grew up with, that we grew up with, may come up again, but as long as Madison Avenue thumbs its collective nose at small niche groups like us, in the words of Don Henley, "those days are gone forever, I should just let them go".
