The Water Channel - "Televison's New Wave"... You're kidding me, right?

[Mo2vation]

I'm not on cable. I am on Dish Network.

We have this new (I think its pretty new) channel in LA - "The Water Channel."

This is the last stop for essentially any program that some guy with a housed up camcorder shot.

The stuff on here is so low budget - some of it is just charmingly bad. Some is arrestingly bad. And OLD... I had it going in the background while I was wrapping today, and I caught the end of some local east coast Scuba show thing... a bunch of Bostonians yammering on and on about local diving, training protocols and drysuits and stuff. The date on this one was 1998.

NINE EIGHT.

Wow.

The programming on Waterworld (the wet version of Wayne's World, essentially) covers anything from fishing (one show may be some good ol boys bassin', next show some Aussie's fishing their local hole) to water skiing and wake boarding (more good ol boys) to some low budge travel show, to some really really low budge Scuba thingy to a boating safety show.

Its cracking me up. Most of it is entirely unwatchable, and their biggest advertiser (as measured through percentage of ad minutes in each program) is, well, The Water Channel. So not only is the programming pretty weak, but they're not exactly burning up the place signing Coke and Bud.

Its just, very, very.... wow.

Anyone else see this thing?

It is, afterall the "new wave in television..."

---
Ken

 

[drbill]

Ken... is it bad enough that some of my stuff might make it into their line up?

And a Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy to you and Jaye.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Anyone remember the old saturday Night Live sketch about the Scotch Tape store?The joke was that malls have become so big that they must have stores with ridiculously narrow focus.

Same with cable and DISH channels... so numerous that the focus of some is absurd...the video game channel, cooking for bachelors, shows about the daily life of achondroplastic dwarves, a show about the daily life of Ed Begley Jr...all real shows, I'm not making these up.

 

[The Kraken]

Ken... is it bad enough that some of my stuff might make it into their line up?

And a Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy to you and Jaye.

Tooooo Funny, Dr. Bill !!!!

Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season, guys !!!!

the K-ris Kringle

 

[_Bella_]

the video game channel, cooking for bachelors, shows about the daily life of achondroplastic dwarves, a show about the daily life of Ed Begley Jr...all real shows, I'm not making these up.

I was thinking this morning as I woke up and had a morning coffee, "there's nothing on so what I'd really enjoy watching is a channel/show all about the Life of Ed Begley Jr.!" :shakehead

 

[Queen]

I'm usually plying on the coputer so I don't focus on the TV much, it's more background noise...but last night I was flipping channels (all 72 of them) and there wasn't one thing on any of them that held my interest...why do I pay $45 a month for that??

 

[Wildcard]

"a show about the daily life of Ed Begley Jr"
Do you have the channel for that?

I don't think a water channel would be bad, it may just take some time to get up and running.

 

[Mo2vation]

Ken... is it bad enough that some of my stuff might make it into their line up?

And a Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy to you and Jaye.

About half-way into the first bogus program we watched, I'm all "I gotta call DrB about this channel. His stuff rules this stuff they're showing on here..."

Too funny.

You should get a hold of the people at TWC and get your stuff on there. No doubt.

---
Ken

 

[RonDawg]

Don't laugh, but there was once a channel called "The Puppy Channel", that showed nothing but 24/7 footage of puppies playing. It sounded like a joke, but supposedly a poll done in the few cities that it aired showed 41% preferred it over CNBC and 37% over TBS.

Remember too that many thought "Animal Planet" wouldn't last long. Now it's one of Discovery's most successful ventures.

There's also nothing new about "local access programming." It's the whole premise behind Saturday Night Live's "Wayne's World" sketch and subsequent movie. Much of it, while definitely amateurish in feel, is actually quite funnier than what's on the networks.

 

[RonDawg]

Anyone remember the old saturday Night Live sketch about the Scotch Tape store?The joke was that malls have become so big that they must have stores with ridiculously narrow focus.

Don't laugh, but my local mall has a DayRunner store. It sells nothing but day planners, and then only one brand (DayRunner). Sometimes I wonder if they're a front for some illegal activity, as I can't possibly fathom how they can make enough in just day planner sales to pay the electric bill, much less the mall rent and employee salaries.

In some Australian malls, there is even a store for the BigPond broadband internet service. There is no merchandise that I can see, just a store with a bunch of advertising for the service and a desk for you to sign up (and presumably, complain about the crappy service as well). I would think it would be cheaper to operate a call center, rather than rent mall space.

Same with cable and DISH channels... so numerous that the focus of some is absurd...the video game channel, cooking for bachelors, shows about the daily life of achondroplastic dwarves, a show about the daily life of Ed Begley Jr...all real shows, I'm not making these up.

"Little People/Big World" is one of Discovery's more popular programs. It's also been a boon for the family's farm business...perhaps too successful, as on one recent show they caused a major traffic jam :11:

As far as Ed Begley Jr., didn't he play a doctor (and a surgeon if I recall correctly) on TV?

When Bruce Springsteen wrote and sang "Fifty Seven Channels and There's Nothing On" he had no idea just how bad it would become.