Horror tale

[Captain Video]

You know, I always saw this hobby as a kind of archeological task. Really, in many ways, the 1950's ( the era of my favorite vintage TV sets ) seems like a VERY distant era, a very remote era... the 50's were way so much different than present day time, that they feel like they didn't happened only 50 years agor, but centuries... or even like they were another dimension.

[bgadow]

Not related but I thought I would mention it, Captain...there is a teenage girl from our county (I've met her before, briefly) and she is currently 3/4 of the way through a year in Brazil as an exchange student. She wrote an nice letter to the paper last week updating everyone on how things are going. She kept saying how friendly & generous folks were and how beautiful it was down there. Anyway, I was thinking of you when I read that! I wouldn't want the tale of one junkman to spoil a good nations reputation.

[Captain Video]

Thanks!!!

I was not worried about one single idiot ruining my country's reputation. There are stupid people all around the world, and my own Nation would not be an exception.

Anyway, the Brazilian politicians, from all sides of the political spectrum, are usually doing much more harm to my country's image around the world than just the misdeeds of any commom Brazilian citizen.

Down here, we usually say: "the best thing in Brazil is it's people" . And that's true. The Brazilian people makes true miracles everyday, just to LIVE their lives, against all the horrible mess the sell out politicians make in this country.

There were VERY few moments in Brazilian History in which the government worked for the well being of the people. Most of the 508 years of the existence of this country, were like is described in an old magazine I have: "the government against the people, and the people against the government."

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Captain Video

You know, I always saw this hobby as a kind of archeological task. Really, in many ways, the 1950's ( the era of my favorite vintage TV sets ) seems like a VERY distant era, a very remote era... the 50's were way so much different than present day time, that they feel like they didn't happened only 50 years agor, but centuries... or even like they were another dimension.

I have to agree there too. Heck, even the 1970's (and 1980's) feel that way to me now. Since I got my two "Government Issue" DTV boxes, I've been watching this TV station called Retro Television Network (RTN) that broadcast 1950's to 1980's era programs like "The Honeymooners, "Family Ties," "Knightrider," "A-Team," and they say they carry "Airwolf" but the Pittsburgh station here doesn't carry it yet. RTN seems to allow the local station that carries it (WPXI, channel 11 here) on their digital signal to choose the programming. I'm watchig "Quincy" now, sort of like a 1970's version of "CSI" wherw a cornoner solves crimes.

When I think back and see those shows and even when I go back and think about my experiences growing up then (I was born in 1966) it seems so distant and part of anther dimension to me yet I have lived it. In other ways, it doesn't seem that long ago. I guess as a side note, I'm still hanging with the same buddy for over 30 years, so I think that does help make it seem that way.

Still, it seems like it was a different era.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by Captain Video

Thanks!!!

I was not worried about one single idiot ruining my country's reputation. There are stupid people all around the world, and my own Nation would not be an exception.

Anyway, the Brazilian politicians, from all sides of the political spectrum, are usually doing much more harm to my country's image around the world than just the misdeeds of any commom Brazilian citizen.

Down here, we usually say: "the best thing in Brazil is it's people" . And that's true. The Brazilian people makes true miracles everyday, just to LIVE their lives, against all the horrible mess the sell out politicians make in this country.

There were VERY few moments in Brazilian History in which the government worked for the well being of the people. Most of the 508 years of the existence of this country, were like is described in an old magazine I have: "the government against the people, and the people against the government."

One thing I do like about your country is that from what you told us, you can have your collection of TVs (or whatever) protected from destruction when you pass on or decide to quit. It's sort of like a "national trust." So far as I know, we don't have that here in the U.S. although the closest we have is to protect things like historical places and homes.

Stupid politicians are everywhere, (don't worry, no rant to get me into trouble, just some general advice) all I can say is that it is up to us, the average people to just keep on living our lives, do what we like to do and be happy. Although I'm very opinionated politically, I find most of the time I can just cruise on through and be happy doing what I like. I'm burned out on a lot of this stuff anyways so the R&R my hobbies provide me is very good for me.

Well, in my case, I'm looking for a new job, my old one ended on May 2nd so after hockey season (The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the playoffs, if we win, we are off to the Stanley Cup) I'll be looking again. Still I have my second job as web designer so I have to get back to doing that.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by NowhereMan 1966

I have to agree there too. Heck, even the 1970's (and 1980's) feel that way to me now. Since I got my two "Government Issue" DTV boxes, I've been watching this TV station called Retro Television Network (RTN) that broadcast 1950's to 1980's era programs like "The Honeymooners, "Family Ties," "Knightrider," "A-Team," and they say they carry "Airwolf" but the Pittsburgh station here doesn't carry it yet. RTN seems to allow the local station that carries it (WPXI, channel 11 here) on their digital signal to choose the programming. I'm watchig "Quincy" now, sort of like a 1970's version of "CSI" wherw a cornoner solves crimes.

I wish one of the Cleveland TV stations carried RTN on a digital subchannel. I'm 51 (will be 52 in July) and watched every one of the shows you mention; I was around when most of them (except The Honeymooners) were new. In fact, I taped most of the "Honeymooners" programs when they were on channel 61 in Cleveland (now a Univision affiliate) back in the eighties. Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden has to be one of the funniest actors I've ever seen, next to Art Carney as Kramden's neighbor and friend Edward Norton.

I like "Quincy" as well (I remember when the show was new on NBC in 1976 and watched all eight seasons, until it went off the air in 1984), which is why I wish there was an RTN affiliate in northeastern Ohio, although I do have a subscription to Netflix which has "Quincy"'s entire network run available. Can hardly wait to get the first three DVDs of the series; it will be great to see Jack Klugman again as Quincy in the title role, as a Los Angeles County coroner. I get a big kick as well out of the way he and his boss, Dr. Robert Asten (played by John S. Ragin) are always locking horns with each other on the show; Quincy's lab assistant, Sam Fujiyama (played by actor Robert Ito) was one of the program's best cast members as well, IMHO. I have about three "Quincy" espisodes on VHS and have seen every episode in reruns several times on Cleveland's channel 43, but I think I'm going to like it a lot better seeing the shows on DVD as those episodes are the entire show, nothing edited out (except the commercials). The dialog may have been changed a bit in the DVD version (the DVDs may contain scenes not even shown in the network program as well), but it will be basically the same "Quincy" I enjoyed for eight years in the late '70s-early '80s.

However, there's always hope that RTN will come to this area. Perhaps next year, when everything goes digital, channel 43 (or some other Cleveland television station) may decide to pick up RTN on a digital subchannel, as Pittsburgh's channel 11 did. The closest RTN affiliate to Cleveland at this time is channel 24, the NBC station in Toledo, Ohio, which does carry RTN on one of its digital subcarriers; but the cable system here (Time Warner Cable) doesn't carry that station or RTN itself--at least not yet. As I said above, however, that may well change on 02.19.09 (the cable system may pick up RTN, that is; they cannot carry Toledo stations on their northern Ohio systems, at least not on systems as far east of Cleveland as where I live, although TW may very well carry Toledo and even Detroit stations on its systems in Cleveland's western suburbs).

If you like old TV shows, but channel 11 doesn't carry your favorites yet in the Pittsburgh area, you can still find a lot of old 1950s-1990s TV series on an Internet website. Known as hulu.com (the entire URL is http://www.hulu.com), this site has quite a few of network television's classic shows (including Airwolf). It doesn't have "Quincy" (yet, anyway), but I'm hoping some day soon that will change. However, I am having a ball watching reruns of some of my other favorite shows from the '70s, such as The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Emergency!, et al., all of which are currently running on hulu.com. The site has many other classic shows besides, so you may never run out of things to watch if you get hooked on it.

I'm to the point where I like watching programs on this site, as well as other Internet video sites, better than watching standard television. I don't care much for cable anymore, anyway, with TV Land (which for years carried classic shows from the '50s-'70s) now showing movies (their new Movie Land programming) and rerunning basically the same classic shows (Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith, etc.) over and over again. It's to the point now where, when I watch TV these days (except for the evening news), I watch my old favorite shows on DVD.

BTW, speaking of old friends, I still keep in touch with a couple of friends of mine I grew up with, though most of the time (especially these days, with gas prices so high) it is via e-mail, although I do see my one friend at least once a year, if we're lucky (I haven't seen the other one since he was married in 1994). Thank goodness for the Internet and e-mail; because of this technology, my two oldest friends are as close to me as my computer (and vice-versa), even though they live 20 and five miles away, respectively, so it's almost as if we were still together. I don't drive, so I really appreciate being able to keep in touch with these guys electronically. I wish I'd had email back in the early '70s, when my dad remarried and we moved to a Cleveland suburb (Cleveland Heights); if so, I wouldn't have missed my old friends from school nearly as much as I did.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Yeah, I know I should be working on my second, well for now, primary job, I have to answer. I'm watching "Cannon" now and also what's next is "The Fugitive." I think most of those series are intact, it seems to me that there are not as many commercial breaks on RTN. I always liked Robert Ito too on Quincy.

I wish I had my DTV boxes when I was sick a few months ago with the flu, I would have just laid in bed while in pain in my room watching TV there. I know with the variety of RTN and PBS, I can do without cable if I had to although the downside is that I would miss some hockey games and NASCAR races. I know Comcast carries RTN but why should I feed the "Cable Pig" when I get it free over the air by just walking to the computer room or my room? Johnstown, PA will get RTN too on their channel 6, WJAC, station so if I can get it, I'll have my choices of two RTN's. I guess I'll have to make that monster antenna. I wonder what our Channel 2, CBS affiliate, will do, I mean, they only have their main signal, at least the other two of the Big Three networks, both have weather channels with radar (if power stays, useful in storms and for Storm Watch amateur radio operators) and of course RTN.

I love the old commercials they run too, I saw one advertising a 1957 Chevy, you can get 283 horsepower if you order fuel injection and another from PG & E (Pacific Gas & Electric) featuring the "Reddy Kilowatt character.

E-mail is great, you're right, it is much easier to maintain contact with your friends. I still do with a few high school chums.

[radiotvnut]

From what I'm reading, RTN needs to be carried everywhere. Man, I'd almost forgotten about "Airwolf." I remember when WGN carried "Quincy" back in the early to mid '90's, then, FOX picked it up. I remember Quincy, Trapper John, and Kojak all coming on FOX in the afternoon. Now, all they have are those stupid TV courtroom programs all afternoon.

I'm on Comcast, and, they do not yet carry RTN on analog cable in my area. I don't know about digital. I keep hearing that Comcast is going to dump analog all together in 2008. I don't know what I'll do if and when that happens. I'm not to enthused about paying digital cable box rental for all my TV's. If a local station carried RTN on a subchannel, I could just about dump cable. The only channel on my cable that shows any older programs is TV Land and they are steadily going downhill.

[Captain Video]

It happened to me too: I found a very close friend from my days in school, when I was between 9 and 14, and who I haven't seen and lost contact since 1993, thanks to the Internet. After 15 years the Internet made possible for me to find him again. I moved from another city when I was 14, and now he is studying in Spain... and we are able to make contact easily, without spending money on phone calls. Not only that, I was even able to have ( through the Internet, again ) a copy of a 1986 photo of the whole class together with the teachers... I had lost this picture many years ago!!!

[colorfixer]

A number of RTN affiliates are available using a DVB-S free-to-air satellite receiver and 30" ku band dish:

http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy10r.html

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

From what I'm reading, RTN needs to be carried everywhere. Man, I'd almost forgotten about "Airwolf." I remember when WGN carried "Quincy" back in the early to mid '90's, then, FOX picked it up. I remember Quincy, Trapper John, and Kojak all coming on FOX in the afternoon. Now, all they have are those stupid TV courtroom programs all afternoon.

I'm on Comcast, and, they do not yet carry RTN on analog cable in my area. I don't know about digital. I keep hearing that Comcast is going to dump analog all together in 2008. I don't know what I'll do if and when that happens. I'm not to enthused about paying digital cable box rental for all my TV's. If a local station carried RTN on a subchannel, I could just about dump cable. The only channel on my cable that shows any older programs is TV Land and they are steadily going downhill.

I know, I think TV Land has "jumped the shark," although it can jump back if they care to. They keep rerunning the same shows all the time, "Andy Griffith," "Leave it to Beaver," "Here's Lucy," and so on, I mean I enjoy those shows, but I think we need a change every so often. Hopefully RTN will cycle some shows around. Mom said that once her CSI's go into repeats, there isn't al ot of TV so she might pirate my box on my '64 Sony and hook it to the main 1982 Zenith. My aunt says she doesn't need her extra card from the government so she plans to give it to us. Hopefully I will be able to get the new DTT901 box Zenith is coming out with so I'll shove that on the Commie 64 monitor and free that for the '82 Zenith. I'm recently unemployed so there might be a chance I might have to cut cable anyways, at least I can get 24 hour weather with my box from two of the stations here. I hope we get even more variety on OTA TV, so far, channel 2 here in Pittsburgh has no subchannels, maybe they will do something.

[andy]

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