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80s cable TV

Nice Guy Eddie

By Nice Guy Eddie
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trza-hawk

trza-hawk 269

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The cable television era was a blur of bad movies endlessly repeated. Trash shows rerun over and over again. The channels that made more educational, documentary, or informational content first served to give cover for media companies to move their bigger channels in a trashier direction. Later the History, TLC, and other non fictional programming channels slowly morphed into total staged garbage reality tv chud. There was a social aspect, every middle class family would feel like it had to have cable, you would feel like you were missing out if you didn't have the bundle with thirty channels.

 

The streaming era is less profitable in the big picture for the studios and distribution channels. They aren't collecting money from subscribers, carrier fees, sponsorships, ads, or bundling low quality channels/content with the highly valued stuff. There are more original programs being made today, and the cost of streaming is cheaper and fewer ads if you only subscribe to one service at a time. Nearly every rerun you could ever want is also available. Its just a little more convenient compared to the big thick wires and cable that dudes would drill holes into plaster walls in order to install back in the day.

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13410

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While it wasn't The Wire, Sopranos or GOT, HBO produced some entertaining material in the 80s. Especially when everyone was used to network TV.  1st & 10, Tanner '88, Fraggle Rock, America Undercover.  Besides the aforementioned NNTN or Hitchhiker.  Not to mention comedy specials like something from Carlin every couple of years. 

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Lazarus Bocanegra

Lazarus Bocanegra 303

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On 3/10/2023 at 7:38 PM, Dewey said:

We're there any kids shows that originated in the 80s? Because all I watched were shows from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Kids were an afterthought in the 80s, send them to school, make sure they stay outside til dinner and keep em out of sight til morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know. 

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Tylerocks

Tylerocks 2551

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Like others here, Bozo show every morning.

TBS in the afternoon for Leave it to Beaver, Gilligan's Island or Good Times

Nickelodeon for You Can't do that on Television and Double Dare

Cartoons- He-Man, GI Joe, Tom & Jerry, Super Friends, Justice League, Scooby Doo, Transformers, Voltron

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gofuckyourself

gofuckyourself 8121

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Bizarre, besides having the great Super Dave Osborne, also had even greater and superer gratuitous boob shots.

I don't know if it was cable but I remember late night TV showing 3D movies as a kind of monthly special of 50s or 60s era 3D movies. Like Creature from the Black Lagoon. Seems like we picked up the glasses at a nearby convenience store or grocery store. Didn't work for shit but it was fun.

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Texzilla58

Texzilla58 4717

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While it wasn't The Wire, Sopranos or GOT, HBO produced some entertaining material in the 80s. Especially when everyone was used to network TV.  1st & 10, Tanner '88, Fraggle Rock, America Undercover.  Besides the aforementioned NNTN or Hitchhiker.  Not to mention comedy specials like something from Carlin every couple of years. 

Dream On was a funny show but it featured nudity from half of Hollywood women’s back when getting nekkid was part of the job, and there weren’t enough pages in Playboy to show everyone that wanted to be in it.
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South Austin

South Austin 52136

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On 3/13/2023 at 1:32 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Not to mention comedy specials like something from Carlin every couple of years. 

My primary exposure to comedy was HBO in the 80’s. It was constantly airing new specials from some great comedians. And then there was Rodney Dangerfield’s special for young comedians, where I saw guys like Bill Hicks and Dice Clay for the first time.

Edited by South Austin
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13410

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26 minutes ago, South Austin said:

My primary exposure to comedy was HBO in the 80’s. It was constantly airing new specials from some great comedians. And then there was Rodney Dangerfield’s special for young comedians, where I say guys like Bill Hicks and Dice Clay for the first time.

When I first watched Dice Clay doing his nursery rhymes on HBO when I was ~17, I was literally on the ground laughing. I don't even remotely find them funny today except in memory of that HBO special.

Showtime wasn't as good as HBO but they held their own and forced HBO to keep their game up.

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South Austin

South Austin 52136

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2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

When I first watched Dice Clay doing his nursery rhymes on HBO when I was ~17, I was literally on the ground laughing. I don't even remotely find them funny today except in memory of that HBO special.

Same here. My friends and I quoted those rhymes all the time in high school. 

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Pokoloco

Pokoloco 1270

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39 minutes ago, PittsburghTiger said:

Loved WWOR for the Islanders and Rangers games. I never really watched a ton of baseball but Mets games were good back then. It was best for the commercials:

 

Yes! Little Poko lived in NY till I was 12. Cookie O'Puss for St Patty's day!!  Got a Fudgy the Whale every year on my b'day.  Crazy Eddie got himself in some trouble and ran off to Israel I think.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89413

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58 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

They each had a buck and a quarter.

Jill came down with two-fifty.

Ooooohhhhh!!!!!!

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Same here. My friends and I quoted those rhymes all the time in high school. 

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

When I first watched Dice Clay doing his nursery rhymes on HBO when I was ~17, I was literally on the ground laughing. I don't even remotely find them funny today except in memory of that HBO special.

Showtime wasn't as good as HBO but they held their own and forced HBO to keep their game up.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I was at the park talking to some other moms and dads, and one of the kids came up and started in with Jack and Jill, and I and two others in the group of 6 or 7 parents started laughing/chuckling very noticeably.  I just said "buck and a quarter" and the other two that were laughing were like "Yup".

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Texzilla58

Texzilla58 4717

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Early on HBO was over reliant on the usual Carson comics. Carlin was great but they had way too much of guys like Robert Klein who was never funny.

And then Sam Kinison got his first special. Holy shit he was so fucking funny and brought a very different perspective to comedy.

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DeepEastTexas

DeepEastTexas 640

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Buddy Hackett was great on HBO, along Carlin in those early years. When they started the Daingerfield Young Comedians show, it really took off. 
 

They had 8-10 episodes a year featuring great comedians. Louie Anderson, Kevin Pollak, Steven Wright, and more. Perfect match between outlet and genre. 
 

Don't see that much these days outside of the occasional Netflix special. 

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dcbc

dcbc 14404

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2 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

Early on HBO was over reliant on the usual Carson comics. Carlin was great but they had way too much of guys like Robert Klein who was never funny.

And then Sam Kinison got his first special. Holy shit he was so fucking funny and brought a very different perspective to comedy.

"I bet the guy holding the camera could give that kid a sandwich.  Ya see this?  This is sand.  You know what it's gonna be in a thousand years?  Fucking sand!

 

You live in a desert!  Yeah, we have deserts in America.  We just don't fucking live in them.  Ahhhhh!!! Ahhhh!!!  Ahhhh!!!!"

 

Yeah, I might have seen Kinison's standup on HBO a time or two as a kid.

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Guest

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On 3/11/2023 at 10:50 PM, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

I practiced the bucket game in the event I ever went to Chicago for the Bozo show.
I would have dominated.

Didn't we all? I figure there might be a lot of the yips having to toss that light ping pong ball in front of all those people.

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PittsburghTiger

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7 hours ago, Pokoloco said:

Yes! Little Poko lived in NY till I was 12. Cookie O'Puss for St Patty's day!!  Got a Fudgy the Whale every year on my b'day.  Crazy Eddie got himself in some trouble and ran off to Israel I think.

In our first, of 29, trips to NYC for the Big East Tournament we made sure to go to a Crazy Eddie’s. They were nutty-ass stores. So many stereos. And this was in the mid-80s so boom boxes were still a thing, break dancing in Times Square (not us), lots of Run DMC all over the place. It was crazy to us guys from little towns on our first trip to the big city.

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28705

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15 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

Dream On was a funny show but it featured nudity from half of Hollywood women’s back when getting nekkid was part of the job, and there weren’t enough pages in Playboy to show everyone that wanted to be in it.

Unfortunately, Wendy Malick remained clothed. 

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DeepEastTexas

DeepEastTexas 640

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20 hours ago, dcbc said:

"I bet the guy holding the camera could give that kid a sandwich.  Ya see this?  This is sand.  You know what it's gonna be in a thousand years?  Fucking sand!

 

You live in a desert!  Yeah, we have deserts in America.  We just don't fucking live in them.  Ahhhhh!!! Ahhhh!!!  Ahhhh!!!!"

 

Yeah, I might have seen Kinison's standup on HBO a time or two as a kid.

"Pack all your shit, we're making one trip!"

I've seen that one several times. 

19 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

https://epguides.com/OneNightStand/
 

a little rough. 
 

I still remember the kevin meaney and Kevin pollack ones well. 
 

forgot about Dennis wolfberg. Unique delivery that guy had. 

Robin Harris and Martin Lawrence definitely kicked off their careers there. That's about the time House Party came out. Several others on that list starred in several TV shows and movies after being on those specials. 

18 hours ago, Underdog said:

Judy Tenuta(rip), a name I haven't seen or heard of for ages.  Love Kevin Pollack and fan of Meaney(rip) and Clark. 

Weird to see so many people who have died on that list. Robin Harris, Kevin Meaney, Taylor Negron, Bill Hicks, Norm Macdonald, and others. Hard to believe it's been over 30 years since those specials aired. 

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dcbc

dcbc 14404

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18 hours ago, utee94 said:

 

The He-Man 1-900 number at $2 for the first minute/$0.45 each additional minute (be sure to ask your parents - wink wink) was unexpected, then remembered as a distinct time period of my childhood.  But I never expected that He-Man was so into the grift.

 

Also, these were very underrated cable remotes.  I could tune in my favorites without even looking.

 

3g8gsvm3o4i61.jpg

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South Austin

South Austin 52136

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7 minutes ago, dcbc said:

The He-Man 1-900 number at $2 for the first minute/$0.45 each additional minute (be sure to ask your parents - wink wink) was unexpected, then remembered as a distinct time period of my childhood.  But I never expected that He-Man was so into the grift.

 

“By the Power of Greyskull!!! Tell me what you’re wearing little boy.”

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LosIllini

LosIllini 91

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On 3/24/2023 at 12:16 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Our 80s cable box looked almost exactly like this one.

That was the box you could insert a folded 3x5 notecard into- right above the dial.  If you got it between the contacts correctly, hbo/ scrambled channels would come in.

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52342

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On 3/24/2023 at 12:03 PM, utee94 said:

Vintage Hamlin cable tv converter box....this is what early 80's cable TV looked like ! | Tv converter box, Cable tv, Vintage

Family had this at one time

On 3/24/2023 at 12:16 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Our 80s cable box looked almost exactly like this one.

3063E82A-277B-4BFF-9CA7-1B6B41F9AA19.jpeg

This too. I’d spin that mfer so fast and it was LOUD

14 minutes ago, LosIllini said:

That was the box you could insert a folded 3x5 notecard into- right above the dial.  If you got it between the contacts correctly, hbo/ scrambled channels would come in.

Now you tell me

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