Unpopular Opinion

While this is true to an extent, I can remember the frustration of two specific things:

• overplayed re-runs of movies or tv shows. My brother and I watched the Cosby Show each day at 12:00 PM when we were homeschooled, not because we liked it but because it was on. But they often played the same episodes and never played the more obscure episodes you’d get on a streaming platform where you get to choose what you want.

• non-linear episode airings. Man…it would be so frustrating watching a Saturday morning show like Dragon Ball Z on Kids WB and then it would leave on a cliffhanger but then you got excited because they were airing another episode of Dragon Ball Z! Until you realize that they are airing a completely different episode…and the time slot you’re watching will have the next episode airing next week at this same time, with the next show’s airing that came right after would have its next episode airing in the same time slot next week. So dumb and backwards and they did that a lot. And sometimes they wouldn’t do the next episode but would restart from the beginning of the show! Or other times, they would air a football game but the next week wouldn’t show the episode you were waiting for but the episode after that one…they acted as if they aired the show last week despite it being kicked for the football airing.

All that plus the obnoxious commercials and the censorship…man I do not miss those days.

The only thing I guess I miss is the excitement my brother and I had as we would wake up super early on a Saturday morning, grab a bowl of cereal, watch the end of the early morning news so we would catch the beginning of the Saturday morning cartoons.

Now kids just flip on Netflix or whatever and the show is there any time they want, with no commercials, no Westernized censorship unless they want it, etc.

While all that was about being a kid and Saturday morning cartoons, the same still applied to the adult shows as well in similar manners.

And we had the “rabbit ears” growing up and living in a rural area. So combine all that with having to move the antenna a certain way to see what’s on this channel or put up with a crappy reception because that’s as good as it gets.

Bleh…I do not miss that either.

There is no adblock for classic TV, so it's unwatchable.

My kids will never know the experience of getting up at 6:00 AM every Saturday to watch Saturday morning cartoons. I also discovered some of my favorite movies while randomly watching late night movies when I couldn't sleep. But I do not miss commercials one bit.

With the right channels I regularly discover amazing movies, series and documentaries that I’d probably never choose to watch if I had access to them on a streaming platform (which I don’t).

Or, there's a thing called recommendations on streaming services. You really think streaming services aren't going to recommend you something new to watch? That's literally all they do when you're not watching something. This doesn't make classic TV superior to streaming in the slightest. Why would you limit yourself to a stationary TV when you could stream on any device? Sorry, but your reasoning is terrible.

There's something to be said for the shared experience of watching something, not because you've individually chosen it, but because it's the thing that's on. A 5/10 movie becomes a 7/10 if you limit your options right down.

My favourite experience of watching a film on telly was for Audition (the Takashi Miike film), where, at the end of each ad break, the continuity announcer was advising, with increasing seriousness, that we should stop watching. I would've slept better if I'd listened.

I find myself flipping on PlutoTV a lot for just this reason. It's cozy to just channel surf, and their lineup (e.g. 24/7 Price is Right, Jeopardy, MST3K, and tons of other classics) makes it feel doubly cozy. Like a portal straight back to 90s cable, but free.