[quote name=\'JMFabiano\' date=\'May 4 2004, 01:18 PM\']And I think I'm accepting more and more that a haven for fans of any classic entertainment is just not feasible anymore. Not without at least a FEW things people will complain about. The GS in GSN doesn't mean "game shows" anymore, just like AMC's C is no longer for "Classics," the "M" doesn't mean Music in MTV (partially the programming, partially the lack of talent in today's so-called performers), and so forth and so on. Even the channels that still swear they're otherwise end up conforming....see: the '80s influx on TV Land (and '90s on N@N), and in radio, the no-50s format on WCBS-FM here in the NY area. [/quote]
And I remember that a late-80s issue of Spy magazine did as a sort of parody a NAN program schedule for 2001 featuring "In Living Color" and "Moonlighting."
It was inevitable--as I see time go on, I expect NAN and TVL to start airing post-1980 material. Way back when Dick Bartley started syndication, he said at the time that he expected to add 70s music year-by-year as time went on. Of course, I didn't really expect the older material to get shut out, but there will always be newer shows that can enter the pantheon of "classics." (Of course, the problem that GSN has always had to deal with is that their chosen genre entered into a state of limbo during the 90s that it's never really gotten out of, with a few exceptions that you all know about.)
As for AMC, they had no choice--either make the programming decisions that they made or have cable systems drop them for being too expensive. Need I add that TCM is still a home for old movies (and IMHO, a much better programmed and packaged home for old movies than AMC ever was) and is a great example of how you can program post-1970 films (and foreign films and silents) without offending the most loyal viewers. And since that core library is bought and paid for, they don't have to worry about the studios jacking up the license fees (and then jacking up the subscriber fees in response).