Which retro network has the best schedule?

[Sal]

Now that the fall schedule is underway, which one of your favorite digital retro networks will you watch? Is there one that you will stick with all the way or will you go back and forth between channels depending on whatever is on or whatever you want to tape and save until later? Unfortunately for me, there is only one station in Canada (CHCH) that has the kind of classic shows that many of us tend to love while in the US there's a fair number of them with Antenna, Me, and Decades being the most popular.

In looking at the various schedules for all 4 of the main networks, none of them stands out over the others. During the day, they each have their strong time slots and their weaker ones along with an annoying trend of saving some of their best sitcoms for the early morning hours when their fans are asleep or are ready to head off to work. Despite this obvious flaw, there is still plenty of good material to watch for the rest of the day on all 4 stations. So which one do you like the best? Here are the current schedules that will help you decide.

ANTENNA TV

"TV The Way It Was Meant To Be" --- until 5 pm when the weakest links show up. The morning schedule is nice with series that haven't been syndicated in a long time but have found a nice home thanks to the great Columbia/Screen Gems library which I consider the best among the classic TV studios. Johnny Carson adds another plus for the network but on the down side having "The Partridge Family" at 6 am is simply unforgivable so I'll have to take a few points off there.

My verdict: 3rd place

Me TV

The biggest victim of the early morning blues. After 5 am you can watch "I Love Lucy", "Gilligan's Island", and "Leave It To Beaver" yet the afternoons are filled with Westerns. This easily makes MeTV the worst channel of the group although they do try to make up for it with a strong prime time lineup and a good Sunday afternoon group (although their previous one was a lot better) but it's not enough for me.

Verdict: 4th and last place

DECADES

The most improved channel of the group with a very strong morning and afternoon lineup and a new, better late evening group. It's also the hardest channel to find and receive thanks to that awful Start TV cutting into its territory. Do yourselves a favor and tell off your cable companies to do something about this. You are taxpayers and you deserve the best, or in this case, 2nd best.

Verdict: 2nd place

CHCH (Effective Nov. 24th)

Except for the drama series, there's not a weak link in the whole group. Take your pick. What will you have? "Bewitched", "Green Acres", "The Brady Bunch", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Gilligan's Island", and more, all at reasonable viewing hours. That's all folks. This race is over!

Verdict: #1 all the way!


There may also be others that I didn't mention that you might like to watch from time to time like Cozi TV, Retro Tv, This TV, LAFF, and more of the smaller channels. You can add those to your rankings if you wish.

[LUNCH]

I like both Antenna and MeTV equally. However I do agree MeTV shows too many westerns. Antenna TV is better for comedy shows, MeTV is a mixture of a little bit of everything. So it really depends what program they are showing if I want to watch it when it is broadcast. Otherwise I just record what I want to watch. I don't get Cozy, Decades or CHCH so
I don't know about them. I get Laff and their programming is too modern so I have little interest in that channel. One thing I really like about MeTV is for the most part they stay away from anything made after the 1980s. So overall, for sitcoms Antenna TV. For a mix of drama and comedy MeTV.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by LUNCH

I like both Antenna and MeTV equally. However I do agree MeTV shows too many westerns. Antenna TV is better for comedy shows, MeTV is a mixture of a little bit of everything. So it really depends what program they are showing if I want to watch it when it is broadcast. Otherwise I just record what I want to watch. I don't get Cozy, Decades or CHCH so
I don't know about them. I get Laff and their programming is too modern so I have little interest in that channel. One thing I really like about MeTV is for the most part they stay away from anything made after the 1980s. So overall, for sitcoms Antenna TV. For a mix of drama and comedy MeTV.

If you live near Buffalo, you can get CHCH at OTA channel 11.1.

[LUNCH]

That's good to know but I am not near there. I'd like to get CHCH, in addition to their programming, being a station from Canada they would have considerably less commercials.

[Mizzourah]

I.m just the opposite of the original poster. If I was told to pick only one it would be MeTV. The only negative is I'm not a westerns fan, so midday doesn't work for me. Otherwise 4-9 a.m. is fine w/ Barnaby Jones which I haven't seen in years, Highway Patrol which I never saw, then Dragnet. Most of the morning sitcoms are good, except My 3 Sons, which I never understood the popularity. Evenings are great except for MASH and Hogan. The other channels are very hit or miss. I never watch Laff or Cozi, and sadly I'm not a huge fan of Decades. Sometimes they have a cool weekend binge, but most of their schedule just doesn't grab me. So it's MeTV by a landslide, then Antenna and Decades. BTW, Buzzr would be first or 2nd if that was an option.

[cnnbcbs]

AntennaTV is first. They have nothing but comedies, MeTV has a nice selection from Paramount/CBS but too many hours devoted to crime shows and westerns.

Decades was getting good when my CBS O&O dropped it for a stupid lifetime channel wanna-be.

[treky]

the best one-ME TV

[Crusinforabrusin2.5]

Metv has the best schedule despite having all those westerns. You have sitcoms in the morning from 6:30-9:00. The primetime lineup is weak, but I do enjoy Happy Days and The Flintstones in the evening.

On the weekend late nights, they play shows such as The Time Tunnel and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which are nice to see.


I'd rank Decades a close second

Antenna TV would be higher, but they play too many junk sitcoms such as The Facts of Life, Bewitched, and Who's the Boss. I do enjoy watching Hazel and That Girl though

[ClassicTube]

Of course, this is very subjective. If you love westerns then you’re going to feel the opposite of the OP. So there’s no right or wrong answer and I’m glad they’re all there!

I just love overnights on MeTV with Mannix, then the the Quinn Martin shows (Cannon, Barnaby Jones), then Highway Patrol, Dragnet. Great lineup!

In fact, you could almost lineup a fantasy drama network with the Quinn Martin Productions alone:
Barnaby Jones
Cannon
The Invaders
The F.B.I.
The Streets of San Francisco
12 O’Clock High
The Fugitive

[Fallon97]

My favorite is Antenna TV.

Next would be MeTV.

[Charley Knox]

Originally Posted by ClassicTube

Of course, this is very subjective. If you love westerns then you’re going to feel the opposite of the OP. So there’s no right or wrong answer and I’m glad they’re all there!

I just love overnights on MeTV with Mannix, then the the Quinn Martin shows (Cannon, Barnaby Jones), then Highway Patrol, Dragnet. Great lineup!

In fact, you could almost lineup a fantasy drama network with the Quinn Martin Productions alone:
Barnaby Jones
Cannon
The Invaders
The F.B.I.
The Streets of San Francisco
12 O’Clock High
The Fugitive

Did you catch the Fugitive episode last night with Angie Dickenson and Robert Duvall?

[AMackII]

MeTV and Antenna TV are my top choices whenever my favorite shows are on