Growing up in the 90s, television was a different experience.
You turned on the TV, and whatever was playing at that moment
would become your entertainment.
Strangely enough, I miss that feeling of having something
selected for me, something I cannot influence.
I grew up a few decades before and I lack the author's nostalgia. I think some of that is because my exposure to OTA TV was much longer.
Some was because I missed TV's first Golden Age and TV trended toward awful afterward - with some exceptions (Taxi & 1980s NBC Thru night are 2). I never had cable so I can't factor that in.
Between having control over what I watch and some of the absolutely stellar content that's come out in the last generation, I've no nostalgia for OTA TV of yore. I really like what I have.
In 2005 I came across of video stream (mp4? viewable in VLC) of early 20th c. cartoons. There were dozens and dozens of them and nothing else. I never worked out who was behind it, just that it's IP was in western Europe. It was up for at least a year.
My kids were often with me during adult hours (work, etc) and I'd put it on for them. But I was also half-captivated by the idea of anonymously delivered content.
It would be fantastic to find a modern equivalent except delivering an endless slate of novel, off-kilter and largely inexplicable content.
I have long thought Netflix should offer such a service. Have a sitcom channel that plays constantly from a slowly evolving list. Even better if I could just pick say Seinfeld and get random episodes from an episodic show. I do not want to have to expend energy picking a season+episode, just trying to decompress.
>Growing up in the 90s, television was a different experience.
>
>You turned on the TV, and whatever was playing at that moment would become your entertainment.
>
>Nowadays you yourself are in control, you choose what you want to see, whenever you want.
You had some control back then, too -- you could change the channel. I don't know anywhere that had a single OTA channel in the 1990s.
I'd love to have a database of once-annoying but now-nostalgic TV commercials to intersperse between the shows, and insert into commercial breaks. (Those dramatic pauses in Star Trek TOS just aren't the same without a Crazy Eddie interruption.)
I've setup something like this recently and I think it's great - I really like the idea of just dropping into the middle of a movie because honestly who has the time to watch a 3 hour movie? that's one thing I really miss about TV
kinda tempted to get a CRT just for it to make it even better
I find it quite baffling you'd want to drop In halfway through a 3 hour movie, you'd miss out on so much!
And plenty of people have time to relax and watch a 3 hour movie. They wouldn't make them otherwise.
The again I also find the idea of turning on a show or film just as background filler/noise to be quite weird as well but many people seem to do it so I guess I'm the weird one for either paying complete attention to a film otherwise I find it distracting
IIRC, some while ago, there was a post from somebody that recreated multiple 90s-like TV channels. Like, one “channel” would bring sitcoms, another would show children shows, etc. And it was dependent on the time of day, i.e. you could “miss” an episode if you didn’t “tune in” at the right time. One or two episodes per show per day. Just like in the old days.
Not sure whether he even implemented that Weather Channel simulator or I’m mixing things up in my head. But I remember that it was pretty impressive.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 42.3 ms ] threadBetween having control over what I watch and some of the absolutely stellar content that's come out in the last generation, I've no nostalgia for OTA TV of yore. I really like what I have.
My kids were often with me during adult hours (work, etc) and I'd put it on for them. But I was also half-captivated by the idea of anonymously delivered content.
It would be fantastic to find a modern equivalent except delivering an endless slate of novel, off-kilter and largely inexplicable content.
You had some control back then, too -- you could change the channel. I don't know anywhere that had a single OTA channel in the 1990s.
(And "Stargate SG-1" was on cable.)
HEAD ON: Apply Directly to the Forehead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE
W.E.T. P.E.T.S.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMbsZU83ajc
Fine Corinthian Leather:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0diMFShiUU
Bic Banana Ink Crayon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv5O2zwyQGo
Flea Market Montgomery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk
Crazy Eddie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml6S2yiuSWE
https://myretrotvs.com/
from: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44942602
Edit: even the 5 seems to include composite video, but it requires a little bit of soldering.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3323850/Blippo/
kinda tempted to get a CRT just for it to make it even better
And plenty of people have time to relax and watch a 3 hour movie. They wouldn't make them otherwise.
The again I also find the idea of turning on a show or film just as background filler/noise to be quite weird as well but many people seem to do it so I guess I'm the weird one for either paying complete attention to a film otherwise I find it distracting
shrug
Not sure whether he even implemented that Weather Channel simulator or I’m mixing things up in my head. But I remember that it was pretty impressive.
Think twice