Theory On Why The Movies Aren’t Shown As Much

I said this in I think the “Pamela Was The Killer” topic but I’ll gladly say it again. It feels like the tv execs today don’t acknowledge horror from before the 90s. Think about it. Back in the dsy, these movies were EVERYWHERE! You had Joe Bob Briggs, Rhonda Shear, Gilbert Gottfried and others doing massive marathons of the movies and it was an event. MonsterVision on TNT. USA Up All Night. Saturday Nightmares on USA.

Even TNN/The New TNN/SpikeTV/The Paramount Network, FX and AMC all did marathons and made them seem important and special. Now, the only time they really do anything is when it’s October. Even then, AMC is just about the only network that airs them and the original is cut to ribbons because it’s either too expensive or unavailable to get a newer copy that is on dvd and readily available it would seem.

Unless it’s a major movie like John Carpenter’s Halloween or the original Night of The Living Dead, most networks won’t go back that far to show movies we remember. They act like horror didn’t exist before 1990 at the earliest.

My theory is some execs are unwilling or unable to make it so we get marathons and events of these movies like we did before. I definitely miss the days of watching WWF Superstars and other WWF and WCW wrestling shows and USA Cartoon Express and then keeping the channel where it was because we would get some good movies like A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Halloween, Phantasm, Child’s Play or some other great franchises. I get we have streaming now but there’s just something about changing the channel to find something you like or looking at the TV Guide to see what’s on and planning and making a day or a night of it. I even remember the first time The New TNN or Spike TV, depending on when the channel was airing it, did a showing of the original A Nightmare On Elm Street and was promoting it nonstop because it was uncut! That was a big deal and they even had a parental advisory before it started and when it would come back from commercial break.

I do think we will see a day when we get marathons of these movies back but unless it’s an anniversary or something special like a new movie, it doesn’t happen as much as it should. Ty for letting me rant about this subject. I’ve been thinking about this all day and I feel so bad for the new generation. We got all the cool marathons and stuff and they are stuck with marathons of NCIS and Law and Order: SVU on the weekends. Those are great shows but we had the coolest lineups and marathons. I really miss watching SNICK on Nickelodeon and then after it was over, turning the channel to MonsterVision and watching Joe Bob Briggs go full tilt in his job as host.

Hmmm this feels like it should be in the General forum section.

Sorry about that if it is supposed to be can you move it there please?

There's lots of reasons for what you've described. Recentcy bias is a huge reason for it. TV has always tended to skew young, that coveted 18-34 demographic their always talking about. Younger people tend to want to gravitate to the movies they grew up with, the non-hardcore fans at least. While Jason and Freddy will always have a seat at the table, other classics from the 70's and 80's have kind of aged out for the general modern audience. The proof is in the programming. The rare times I do see horror movies played outside of the Halloween season, it's usually the Saw series, Final Destination, some the J-horrors, The Conjuring films and the more recent crop of reboots. When TNT and USA were running their horror marathons back in the day, those movies were still relatively recent, within 10-20 years of the airing. Now, a lot those movies are pushing 40.

Another issue is that the rights for networks and streaming services to play these films has become a very lucrative business. Especially if one of these entities can score exclusive rights to show these films. Syfy seems to have a strangle hold on most of the Classic Nightmare series. AMC usually has the Halloween franchise locked up, except for Part 2 for some reason, as I'm sure some of you have noticed that film seems to be missing from the Fear Fest lineup every other Halloween. Not sure who owns the broadcast rights to that one, but AMC can't hold on to them consistently or doesn't care to bother to try. Friday whores themselves out a little more, as I've seen those films broadcast on AMC, Paramount, and IFC within the last year alone. I don't know if there are any Peanuts fans on the forum but the Peanuts Holiday specials might be one of the most egregious examples of this practice. I used to watch them with my dad, making them a big part of my childhood, a tradition I've tried to carry on with my own son... Only to find out last year I couldn't watch the 'Great Pumpkin' on network TV anymore because Amazon had bought the exclusive rights to air those specials on their shitty streaming service. That's the entertainment world we live in now though.

Another issue, is just the simple fact that Cable TV is dying, as more people switch to streaming, or kids in particular primarily consuming YouTube. Ratings are in the toilet so a lot of these cable networks run what gets them eyeballs. That's why you see so many cable networks showing the same shows over and over again. They show what their data is telling them people are watching. TV Land might be the worst offender, as I think they show the save seven or eight shows all week long. This is also a big reason why we don't get a lot of horror content outside of the Halloween season. Networks are only willing to show those movies when they know the most people are willing to watch. Your average housewife doesn't care to watch Texas Chainsaw at Christmas time.

It sucks, but that's just the state of television now. Personally, I'd rather consume these films on DVD or streaming anyway. Don't have to worry about censorship or have my film interrupted by a commercial break every ten minutes. I do miss the days when T.V. used to be fun.

Ah, yes. I remember the USA Up All Night with fondness. I saw some of the great Bimbo Movie Bash classics such as Assault of the Killer Bimbos, Slave Girls Beyond Infinity, Sorority Babes in the Silmeball Bowlarama, Vice Academy, Reform School Girls, and so on. For those who didn't know, these are real titles of real movies. It surprises me that given the changing face of television programming that these movies are frowned upon while some current shows slip through the enlightened mentality that dominates pretty much all aspects of our culture. I am old enough to remember when there were no swear words on public TV, and remember being surprised when I heard ass, damn, and b---h, followed later by s--t and f--k. Surpising to us, but nowadays everyone is used to it. But that aside, some of my favorite memories growing up was watching the late movie in my grandparents basement with my siblings and cousins, watching the older movies that to me are far superior because they relied on atmosphere and suspense rather than gore or shock. With cable TV, you can get them anytime but it's not the same. I'm sorry if I'm rambling. I just miss the good ole days

Ty Jason for moving this to the correct forum. I didn’t know where it would go but I’m glad it’s in the right place now.

SonofOdin6039 you’re not rambling I appreciate the response. Yup I remember some of those movies. I can still remember USA doing Up All Night and seeing Rhonda Shear and Gilbert Gottfried introducing movies but they were on pretty late so I got to see a little bit before I had to get to bed. I miss the good ole days too so I know what you mean. There’s just something about wanting to see what was on and looking in the TV Guide or changing channels to a channel you liked and waiting for the show to come back. I’m glad we have Shudder and other services but watching the movies late at night or going to the video store and finding something to watch was part of the fun you know?

Yeah I've noticed alot of really good movies no matter the genre arent ever appearing on TV.

AMC is keeping most of the horror content alive, Spike use to be good with horror based movies, Sci-Fi or aka Syfy USE to be amazing at bringing all the Halloweens,Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elmstreet, hell I remeber watching the Godzilla films on that channel in Marathons, but now it seems we cant seem to find anything good anymore.

Every so often or not, SciFy will have a couple of good horror movies on the weekends, some straight to video gems, but that's about it. The rest is all hit or miss. It's a pity there isn't a public cable channel that's strictly horror without requiring a subscription

SonofOdin6039 wrote:Every so often or not, SciFy will have a couple of good horror movies on the weekends, some straight to video gems, but that's about it. The rest is all hit or miss. It's a pity there isn't a public cable channel that's strictly horror without requiring a subscription

We used to have Chiller, but sadly it isn't around anymore. It was extremely low budget so they couldn't always afford the best stuff, but it was better than nothing.

Syfy seems to be more happy showing their own content, which I understand. I get why they’d rather show their own stuff but there’s something to be said about showing more of the shows and movies that helped make them a big deal. Same with USA and TNT and Paramount Network formerly known as Spike. Those networks have gotten to a point in their existence where they’ve forgotten their fans who liked those old movies.

I do miss Chiller. That network was always fun and I loved when they’d show anime and Buffy reruns. They didn’t seem to want to lose their original fans and I miss them for it. They’d started to show the A Nightmare On Elm Street movies but hadn’t gotten to the Friday The 13th movies yet. We cut the cord a few years ago but I was still saddened to hear NBCUniversal shut it down.