Digital Television Opening New Vistas of Broadcasting Horribleness

Creature of habit that I am, my Sunday nights tend to go the same way: At 11 p.m. I turn on the TV, watch the best show on television, then go to bed, visions of faceplants dancing in my head. But lately I’ve had a few more options to choose from, thanks to the advent of digital TV. Since installing my converter box last month I’ve been trying hard to appreciate some of the newly available subchannels, even the ones that are just 24-hour weather feeds. But the hardest to get behind is Channel 7.3, which is WJLA’s feed of something called the Retro Television Network. RTN specializes in reruns of old TV shows, which means that it should be a fantastic option for somebody like me, who a) Watched an unhealthy amount of television growing up and b) Likes a dose of stupid before bed.

But there’s something disappointingly off and B-list about RTN, like shopping for Wheat Chex and being forced to settle for Generic Farms’ Tasty Grain Polygons. Behold the cavalcade of crap on offer here: Harry and the Hendersons, The Greatest American Hero, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, Hunter. Most troubling are the shows I’ve never even heard of. Did you know that Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner acted together in something called Switch? What’s Laredo? Who wants to see Judd Hirsch play a cop?

If it’s a matter of funds, RTN, just make it simple: 21 Jump Street, all day, every day.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.