A question for those who had cable in the late 1970s and early 1980s: do you remember a surgery channel? We had it; it aired nothing but graphic surgery procedures. I'd be innocently flipping through the channels, and then OH MY GOD IT'S AN EYEBALL SLICED OPEN LIKE A BAKED POTATO UP UP UP NEXT CHANNEL NOW JESUS WHY WON'T THE REMOTE WORK
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
I remember an incident where I thought I was watching someone cook a ham on a cooking show only to realize It was a knee surgery.Originally posted by Dan
I'm a little younger but I vaguely recall such a channel during the late 80s/early 90s.
I recall knee surgeries and heart surgeries.
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"
No I don't remember a surgery channel, but some time back in the 70's we had cable for about a week and there was a station that was a sort of proto-weather channel that featured exciting visuals like a thermometer showing the temp! (in fact that might have been all it showed)
Moderator note:
split from RTDNTOTO8
Last edited by Maister; 23 Jan 2013 at 2:39 PM.
People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor
I was watching some kind of operation on TV in the 80's. I turned it on mid-operation, so it was the blood and guts part. As time went on and it was time to close, someone folded open a girl's face over the location of the surgery. That was more gross than the blood and guts part. It was so unexpected and I was a little horrified.
We had that from the start in '73. A black-and-white video camera that just panned back and forth between a clock and thermometer, while the NWS station (with a light 60 cycle hum) played in the background.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
We had cable back then and didn't have the surgery channel either. To be honest, I forget what exactly was on.
When did I go from Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Yes, the hum....that was it.
People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, “Where are you from?” doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know? - Garrison Keillor
Any channel that is hawking goods outside the lower level HSN, QVC is still bad, for example I have the "Gem Shopping Network, " the "Liquidation Channel," "Black Shopping Channel" or something like that. Late night knife hawking shows are the best!
"Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon." ~Peter Lynch
Why does a shopping channel have to be included in my basic basic cable? If I had money to spend on worthless stuff I would have better cable.
"I am very good at reading women, but I get into trouble for using the Braille method."
~ Otterpop ~
Seriously!! Who the *&*$ actually buys things on TV anyways??
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"
I can't do this from work, but there is a youtube video of the knife show accident, search for that and it should come up.
"Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon." ~Peter Lynch
Off-topic:
Slightly off topic but I was reminded of this classic Johnny Carson clip. It does have surgical aspect to it.
“Death comes when memories of the past exceed the vision for the future.”
You mean you don't get the Knife Shopping Network? All knives, all the time!
IT'S 100% SURGICAL STEEL!
Yeah, soft 420; maybe 440A if you're lucky. And, think about it ... when you're getting 20 pocket knives for $20, don't expect the quality to be that great. The hosts seem to be the same good 'ol boys who used to be on the deer hunting channel that made the rounds on many cable stations until a few years ago.
The cable system in my hometown carry EWTN on basic cable; a prime spot on channel 10. Every other place I've lived, Mother Angelica was always way up in the digital tier.
Growing up, this was always my favorite channel.
Along with the surgery channel, in the early 1980s my local cable system had a channel that just showed large groups of Orthodox Jews milling around in a room, all behind a long table, with a bunch of them davening. The camera would pan back and forth for hours, just showing these rocking rabbis.
Our local public access channel has a lot of shows with new agey healers and the like. I took this photo a while ago, of some show featuring a breathy-voiced wise sage of some kind.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
I don't recall any of this. Maybe its because I grew up without cable and have never had it to this day? Sure I like watching CNN or CSPAN in hotels, but thats about it.
I am however kind of missing hockey.
We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes - Fr Gabriel Richard 1805
My mom used to be a frequent viewer of Mother Angelica.You mean you don't get the Knife Shopping Network All knives, all the time!
IT'S 100% SURGICAL STEEL!
Yeah, soft 440A. And, think about it ... when you're getting 20 pocket knives for $20, don't expect the quality to be that great. The hosts seem to be the same good 'ol boys who used to be on the deer hunting channel that made the rounds on many cable stations until a few years ago.
The cable system in my hometown carry EWTN on basic cable; a prime spot on channel 10. Every other place I've lived, Mother Angelica was always way up in the digital tier.
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"
So, I thought I'd flip through the channels to see if anything interesting has been added. The cable system here is strange; the channels are arranged randomly, and various networks appear and disappear on a weekly basis. It's organic, man!
Unfortunately, no surgery. No deer hunting. No davening rabbis. No roosting falcons. Here's what's on ...
SCOLA. News from around the world. Kind of neat to watch, but it has the WORST quality video ever; worse than Youtube videos taken with 10 year old cellphones.
Public access. This guy is on all the time.
He shows slides of parks he's visited. He seems like a nice enough person.
Uhhh ...
Anyhow, does anyone watch the Golf Channel?
Oh God. This is the shopping channel where they sell 10 acre plots of Texas desert land.
Jewish Life Network. "That's what she said!"
Uhhh ... RJ might like this
Up in the four-digit channels ...
Uhhh ...I'll pass.
This one's way up there. It's just a weather map.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
We just have a few public access channels, nothing really oddball about them. Usually they are just showing council meetings or public notice slides. Portland, Oregon had much more interesting oddball channels.
I agree about the SCOLA channel, worst video quality ever. I had it while living at the university. They had interesting channels due to the international student body, everything from South Asian, SE Asian, South American, Eastern European, the real BBC, etc.
This was one of my favorite shows on Portland public access when I lived there, it had an 8 year run. http://chessshow.com/
"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" Jeremiah 22:16
I seem to remember this being Channel 52 on the old Denver TCI CableGrowing up, this was always my favorite channel.
We were watching "between" the lines, right?
For a more modern take: Anyone remember when A&E and TLC actually played shows of substance. I remember my grandmother watching German operas on A&E in the 1990s, but now its shows on towing? Storage units?
You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone
You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart
I seem to remember this one channel that played music videos all day & night. Great way to see the artists's interpretation of their music back then. I think the channel is still on, but all the programming has changed...now what was that channel called?
"Whatever beer I'm drinking, is better than the one I'm not." DMLW
OOH! I found a video of one of the new age shows!
And the Park Guy.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
I know people do, but it still strikes me as incredibly stupid. I second Z's and planit's comments about stations that used to be pretty good but now are crap.
When did I go from Luke Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi?
I just got a new TV. After installing I did the automatic scan for analog and digital channels. (I have basic cable). I was able to get a couple of extra channels such as ION, RTV and MeTV, but a couple of days later a couple of porn stations popped up when I was flipping through the channels. One was Playboy and the other was hardcore called BangU. Luckily the kids were not in the room when I was flipping though.
They soon went off the air and haven't been back since. Ironically I was able to get legitimate channels like Lifetime and BET at this time also, but they all disappeared at the same time. Is it just because the reception happened to be very good that day or did the cable company detect that I was surfing and blocked them?
I remember seeing a surgery on TV back in the 80's, it was a hip replacement. I wish I could find anything about the channel now. As for current cable channels, I love flipping through the channels and coming across Jack Van Impe. He and Rexella are AWESOME!
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