The Cyclops in the Living Room

[rolanni]

So, if you could only have cable for ONE MONTH, which shows/service/channels would be must-haves, and why?

Comments

[sraun]

We won't live without the SciFi channel and the Food Network. HGTV runs a close third. Catch Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica on SciFi. If you're feeling adventurous, try for some of the 'made for SciFi' movies - they're uniformly pretty bad, but there are some interesting gems. There are these guys in the SciFi accounting department that have a standing arrangement - the film company gets $X, SciFi gets their name on it and First Broadcast Rights. The objective is to get the modern equivalent of the 50's B skiffy/horror movies. I'd say they are achieving their objective.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

MSNBC for Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Local cable sports (Comcast SportsNet, Fox (*spit*) Sports Network for Cubs games, since WGN doesn't carry them all anymore.

A&E for reruns of Poirot, etc and Cold Case Files.

Comedy Central so that I could finally see what the Jon Stewart fuss is all about.

F/X and HBO for the occasional first-run dramatic series.

BBC-whatever, for news and whatever else.

I wish I knew more about the various cooking/lifestyle stations because I would most likely like them, but I don't.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

FoodTV. Alton Brown! The ultimate Food geek!

The History Channel. I'd watch almost anything on it, really.

The SciFi Channel. Because they have cool re-runs, and occasionally good new stuff.

The Comedy Channel. Because I like cartoons.

Other stuff, but those are the important ones.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

The WB. For Charmed and Smallville.
NBC. For Medium.
(And yes, in our area, NBC is a cable station -- the nearest affiliate is over the border in Pennsylvania. You'd need bionic rabbit ears to pick that up.)

And it now becomes glaringly obvious that I don't watch TV...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

USA channel for the 4400. Sci-Fi channel for BSG.

One of the movie channels, (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime or STARZ) for when insomnia strikes. Not real picky on which one.

I'm fond of the Discovery Channel, and the OLN network is required for July (Tour de France coverage). History Channel is also fun, and BBC America can be a nice change of pace. A&E, Bravo and TNT offer decent programming from time to time, and the Airport show on A&E is one of those jaw-dropping reality programs that has to be seen to be believed.

[ferragus.livejournal.com]

OK other folks have good ideas, so instead of repeating I'll add:

the Cartoon Network for Adult Swim (mature themed stuff late at night), Justice League Unlimited, and Teen Titans

On-Demand, so you can watch just about whatever you want, when you want it. Including all of this seasons episodes of Deadwood/The L Word/Sopranos/whichever series catches your fancy

DVR option, so you can record it all on a hard drive and not worry about staying up until 5AM watching it (or worry about the phone ringing and it's your agent calling to tell you that BigName Publishing is offering you a 7 figure advance on your next 3 books, but you'll have to do a world cruise promo tour for 6 months and hit all those places you've been meaning to go to. Oh and did I mention the movie deal? so of course you missed 2/3rds of your show.) With DVR just hit pause when the phone rings, or if it's been recorded, start it up again when you have time.

Still a lot of this would depend on which month, right now a lot of shows are on break and so (unless you see them On-Demand and that might be extra) you'll miss things. July looks like a good month though!

[ixixlix.livejournal.com]

USA for Monk and The 4400.
Food TV for Alton Brown/Good Eats
Comedy Central for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
SciFi for Battlestar Galactica
Showtime for Penn & Teller's Bullshit!

[pmrabble.livejournal.com]

Mythbusters on Discovery Channel is usually a hoot, and sometimes defines crogglement.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I think every single regular channel I occasionally hit is listed, but I don't remember seeing one channel. I confess that my guilty pleasure is watching two cartoons--Kim Possible and Dave the Barbarian--on Disney. Only thing on Disney worth watching. I wouldn't pay extra for the channel, but if it's part of a package you want, tape a couple of those--I think you'll enjoy them.