What is your favorite channel...

[Trill Co$by]

So I'm sitting here, at my house in South Carolina, flipping through my channels early yesterday morning. 2am to be exact. I was bored, just got off of my job, and was looking for ANYTHING to watch. And to be honest, I came to find out that today's television generally SUCKS. There was hardly anything on that was even remotely entertaining. Food Network was playing some rerun of Food Network Challenge (I think the Disney Cake one)... I mean if it had been a Good Eats rerun then I def. would've stayed tuned... Cartoon Network/Adult Swim just finished showing American Dad, and USA Network was already headed into their Infomercial hour.

Needless to say, I was running low on options. But then, as I was flipping through the guide, the most amazing thing happened. I stumbled upon the channel known as "The Hub". I believe to be an America only channel, The Hub is the replacement for Discovery Kids in favor of a channel that is both family and kid friendly and also co-owned by Hasbro... you know, the creators of Life (which they totally made a game show out of). And on this channel, was (obviously) a rerun of without a doubt the most amazing show to ever be created in television...

ALF had returned to me. A show that I had rarely seen as a child, because it came on late and I had a stupid 8pm curfew... though I did see a few reruns before heading out to the bus. But there I was, watching the show like I was when I was a child... it was like someone built that 30 minutes of television for me. As ALF came to an end, I have to admit, I almost cried. The Hub had given me my childhood and then ripped it right out from underneath me.

And right as I was about to turn off the television, they play Sabrina. Now, before anyone goes around shouting "GAY!" I'll have you know that Sabrina is a very entertaining show, especially with Salem being the absolute greatest part of the show. He's like a cat version of Alf, only not so much. So Sabrina ended, and I was thinking to myself "What else does this amazing channel of gold possess!"... I open my guide menu and scroll through the listings. What I find is pretty much my childhood and teenage years rolled up into a tiny channel.

There's Batman, Transformers (a new series which is really good), The Facts of Life, Family Ties, Happy Days (my Brady Bunch), and even new shows that are ironically addictive. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is like watching Sailor Moon back in the 90s, only with Ponies instead of hot and ****ty teenage cartoons.


But yeah, with my 90s and late 80s flashback under control, I must now bring on the questions...

What is your overall favorite channel?

What do you like most about the channel?

Would you like to see a certain show added/picked up to the channel? (optional)

 

[IT Factor]

I'd have to say AMC is my favorite channel as of right now. They have Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Hell On Wheels. Not to mention alot of great movies[although they do tend to overplay the same ones]. It's pretty safe to say no one can touch AMC right now.

I do like FX, though their show quality has dropped lately. They did have shows like The Shield, Rescue Me, and Nip/Tuck[which kinda was decent in the beginning, but, did suck in the final three seasons mostly]. The only decent show they have now is Sons Of Anarchy and maybe alot of buzz with Charlie Sheen's show Anger Management. Two and a Half Men is ok, but, they replay alot of the older seasons, so it gets old too.

I did like the CW with Smallville & Supernatural. Now the only real established show is Supernatural. They do have a promising new show in Arrow, which is the Green Arrow from Smallville/DC Comics. Although it's not the same character or actor playing Green Arrow, it does look promising.

USA is another decent channel, although the only major shows I watch on it are Burn Notice, Psych, and WWE monday night raw. Spike TV only really has TNA Impact and maybe 1,000 ways to die[which is kinda corny].

Other than that, not much on. Maybe the History channel and H2[the other history channel]. The Biography channel is decent from time to time with I survived or I survived beyond and back.

 

[The Brain]

This might not be what you had in mind but my favorite channel is MLB Network. I am addicted to it. As I type this from Chicago I am happily watching the Reds vs. Padres. The games aren’t even the best part. I love watching MLB Tonight where there is live analysis of each game going on throughout the night. Each game gets plenty of attention. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Yankees vs. the Red Sox or the Mariners vs. the A’s, every game gets discussed in detail. If there is a crucial moment in any game the network will go to a live shot to catch the action as it happens. Harold Reynolds, Mitch Williams, Dan Plesac, and many other former players provide a very interesting insiders point of view. I used to love Baseball Tonight on ESPN but ever since MLB Network debuted in 2009 I haven’t watched Baseball Tonight at all. It was a great show but they had to cram everything into about forty minutes. MLB Network is all baseball all the time. There have been plenty of times where I’ve turned on MLB Network at about 7:00 and before I know it it’s midnight.

Even during the offseason the network is entertaining. There are countdown shows, documentaries, quiz shows, Hot Stove which discusses off season trade and free agent rumors, and much more. I’ve called my cable company a few times about lowering my package and as soon as they tell me I would lose MLB Network the conversation ends. How did I live without this channel before 2009?

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The Chiller channel, easily.

The Chiller channel is all horror 24/7, and I'm glued to this channel most of the time. Oddly enough, I stumbled across this channel by accident one day. I was flipping through the channels, and noticed a rerun of the old Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series. I started paying more attention to Chiller after this, and I couldn't pull myself away from this channel after a while.

Chiller does air some of the worst American independent horror films you'll ever see, but I love to poke fun at them most of the time. They're awfully good in a lot of ways, and I have seen a few gems, but you'll see the occasional stinker every now and then (Assault of the Sasquatch would be a prime example). But they will throw audiences a bone sometimes. I've seen the Alien films, Evil Dead I and II, and a few of the Friday The 13th films. I own most of these films on DVD (expect for Alien Resurrection, you couldn't pay me to take that piece of shit), but I will stop and watch them on TV at times.

And the Chiller channel provides reruns of some of my favorite canceled TV series. I already mentioned Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and I have the chance to watch Masters Of Horror (which originally aired on Showtime, if I'm not mistaken), Fear Factor, Friday The 13th: The Series, The Outer Limits, and The Twilight Zone. And recently Chiller has started to show episodes of Dark Shadows (not the original 60's/70's version, but the 90's revival). It's a bit cheesy and over the top at times, but I'm starting to get into it.

The reruns are give me a nice trip down memory lane, but Chiller features some enjoyable original series as a well. Their documentaries on past horror films are thorough and full of great material, and their specials on the rise and fall of scream queens and horror's creepiest kids were fantastic. Also, I can't wait for the premiere of "Can You Survive A Horror Movie?" this Friday. The premise sounds unique, and it should be a great show.

I love the Chiller channel, but they DID introduce me to The Asylum, unfortunately. The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor, and they produce some of the most shitty, low-budget horror films you'll ever see. Most of their garbage airs on the Chiller channel, and their films are an instant channel changer for me. Ugh, I can't count the number of times they've shown Halloween Night, such an awful film.

 

[IT Factor]

I do like Chiller too. Like you said though, they do play alot of shitty movies. I cannot understand why they don't just pay more and get the big name horror movies. Although I can say they do play decent TV series shows on Chiller. They used to play Brimstone and they also played Harper's Island. They've since stopped playing both of those and opted to keep playing Buffy The Vampire Slayer reruns and Fear Factor[which I was never a fan of anyway].

If Chiller wants to break out and stand out, they need to start coming up with new original programming with TV series shows. That's what put AMC and FX on the map big time.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Thats a hard one to say because the answer has changed throughout the years but as of right now I'd have two say USA. In the past I loved channels like Spike, AMC, MHC, Comendy Central and most recently Fuel TV but I can only see it at my folks house. The thing that USA has that the others don't is I always loved it in the past because of shows like Monk and NCIS, they've always good movies and now we have Raw and Psych to look forward to every week. All in all most channels have ups and downs but USA has always had something to offer for me.

 

[Mochaches]

For me, it's a toss-up between TNT and CW. I am watching the new Dallas series, even though I have many, many memories of the original series from the late '70's and '80's (repeats used to air on TNN years ago) and I am hooked on the new show The Great Escape. CW I like, because when I get home from work at night, they air two episodes of COPS, and I usually watch that when I get the chance. A lot of you guys (or gals) are mentioning Chiller. I wish I got that channel, because I always hear a lot of positive feedback about it.