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If you decide to watch the most intellectually empty channel on tv, which do you choose?

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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:27 AM
Original message
Poll question: If you decide to watch the most intellectually empty channel on tv, which do you choose?
Edited on Sat Mar-20-10 07:28 AM by Orrex
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Not Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:28 AM
Response to Original message
1. Other: SpikeTV
btw, my tv has Fox News on parental lock.
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Patsy Stone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:30 AM
Response to Original message
2. Bravo
Hands down, the best of the worst.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:31 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. And how far it's fallen!
You used to be able to tune into Bravo for thoughtful, quality programming. Now it's horrible from start to finish.
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Patsy Stone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:40 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. I remember.
A&E also. They used to show operas and classical music and foreign films, but now I tune in for the Millionaire Matchmaker, Top Chef, and the Real Housewives of New Jersey (the best one EVER!).

We also have a channel on our cable called Fashion TV. It shows non-stop runway shows from around the world. Vapid and delightful.
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:40 AM
Response to Reply #3
8. I used to love TLC, back when it stood for The Learning Station.
They had implosion specials, shows about extreme heat & cold, The Junkyard Wars. Now it's all fluff. And most of it isn't even entertaining fluff, just mindless drivel.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #8
12. Paige Davis killed The Learning Channel
A few years ago they ran "Trading Spaces" for somewhere around 1,680 hours straight. Since then, it's all been downhill.


I've never liked the implosion specials or Junkyard Wars, because they're all just variations on "let's blow shit up!!!!!1!"
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Berry Cool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:48 AM
Response to Reply #12
16. I remember this Canadian home-repair show they used to run on TLC in the old days.
It was hilarious because the female host didn't seem to know jack about repairing anything. She'd be trying to show you how to fix the tub faucet or something and make a mess of it. Totally incompetent. It was a riot.
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SidDithers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #16
46. That was Mag Ruffman...
who was (is?) actually a pretty talented actor, but not much of a contractor :)

Sid
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Warren Stupidity Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:25 AM
Response to Reply #12
22. variations on "let's blow shit up!!!!!1!"?
I'm missing your point. How are variations on blowing shit up not entertaining?
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:07 PM
Response to Reply #12
28. I question your memory of Junkyard Wars.
The episodes I saw were about building functional units out of 'junk.' Catapults, devices that could move things underwater, transportation units that could traverse mud bogs, etc.

As for the implosion specials, any show that features CDI & the Loizeaux's isn't just about blowing things up! The Loizeaux's are artists! I watched one of their specials where one of their key concerns in bringing down a skyscraper was to not harm the stained glass windows in an historic church that was across the street. This wasn't just "blow shit up" television. This was science - taking the brute force of explosives & applying finesse to it.

Just because something goes 'boom' does not mean it is about "let's blow shit up."

I reiterate, I miss the old TLC.

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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:18 PM
Response to Reply #28
34. I stand corrected re: Junkyard Wars, but it was still a far cry from The Learning Channel's heyday
Additionally, the implosion shows were just a little too close to the caricature predicted by The Simpsons, in an episode that had Bart and Homer watching some kind of "When Buildings Blow Up" program.

I don't question that it's a precise science, but it's akin to The History Channel running nonstop SUPERNOVA DISASTER!!!!1! programs and calling it astronomy.
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dana_b Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:12 PM
Response to Reply #2
30. Top Chef
my favorite "intellectually empty" show
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rox63 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:33 AM
Response to Original message
4. Other: E!
Edited on Sat Mar-20-10 07:35 AM by rox63
Hands down, the most mindless channel around. But sometimes when news and politics has become too much to handle, that's what one needs.
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cleveramerican Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:36 AM
Response to Original message
5. Home shopping channel
except on sword day.
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3324SS Donating Member (101 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:40 AM
Response to Original message
7. Just One???
Faux News and Faux Business along with all the religious are pure crap.

I too have them all blocked out.

My Sister in Law a rabid Reich winger came to visit and asked why no Faux, I told her my house my rule no Faux you don't like it go to a hotel.

She has never visited again.

a Win Win for me!

An no she did not go to a hotel, like all Reich Wingers she is a blow hard with no courage of conviction.
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spanone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:41 AM
Response to Original message
9. faux....
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Jennicut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:43 AM
Response to Original message
10. VH1.
Edited on Sat Mar-20-10 07:43 AM by Jennicut
There is a show about a guy trying to find love while living in his parent's basement. Need I say more?
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Berry Cool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:43 AM
Response to Original message
11. I was going to ask "Why didn't you have Fox News as a choice?"
but then I saw the option "The one with the pretty, no-talent hacks" and realized you did.
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ThomWV Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:44 AM
Response to Original message
13. FOX News Channel
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cynatnite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:19 PM
Response to Reply #13
52. Yep. n/t
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rucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:44 AM
Response to Original message
14. The LEARNING Channel
Home of Jon & Kate Plus 8, and I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:47 AM
Response to Original message
15. The reason Fox News is not included in this poll:
That would be like asking the reader to identify the ugliest of three contestants:

1. Someone of dubious attractivness
2. Someone else of dubious attractiveness
3. Medusa


See? One contestant so out-strips the others as to make the question irrelevant. Removing that contestant, we can examine the remaining ones for their own particular hideousness.
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Berry Cool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:50 AM
Response to Reply #15
18. Oh, I see.
Oh well. "The one with the pretty, no-talented hacks" covers a multitude of sins.
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ThomWV Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:29 AM
Response to Reply #15
24. OK, FOX is out. FX doesn't offer much, but there's a host of Religious channels, and HSN too
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jmowreader Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-22-10 07:18 AM
Response to Reply #15
60. Then you should have said as much...
"If you had to watch the second most intellectually empty channel..."

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The Straight Story Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 07:49 AM
Response to Original message
17. Lifetime (nt)
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HopeHoops Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:23 AM
Response to Original message
19. FOX Noise
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ProdigalJunkMail Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:23 AM
Response to Original message
20. the History Channel
when they are on their Doomsday runs...

sP
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awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #20
44. Used to be such a great channel...
seems to be a lot of religious "history" on it lately.
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:24 AM
Response to Original message
21. Porn.
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Warren Stupidity Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:26 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. thats hugh
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Chipper Chat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:36 AM
Response to Original message
25. Any channel where....
the time alloted to commercials is in excess of the time devoted to actual programming.
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Historic NY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 08:48 AM
Response to Original message
26. TEST pattern
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Yunomi Donating Member (167 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-20-10 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
27. SyFy (pronounced 'siffee' in our house)
Where else can you see "Giant Octopus vs Megashark", "Dinocroc" and, coming soon, "Sharktopus" (or was it "Octoshark"?)
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-22-10 08:00 AM
Response to Reply #27
61. +1
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-22-10 08:03 AM
Response to Reply #61
62. Wrong spot
Edited on Mon Mar-22-10 08:06 AM by xultar
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:10 PM
Response to Original message
29. HGTV..Sell this House..House Hunters.. Pimp my house
I like to watch those shows since we are in the throes of remodeling right now..and to watch my husband scream & holler at the tv, when these so-called-experts use the wrong tools or do shoddy work that looks good for a camera, but will not last a year :rofl:
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Swamp Rat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
31. The History Channel
ALL channels on TV are intellectually empty to some degree. The History Channel often replays the same pseudo science programs in between Nostradoofus, Hitler and the Roman Empire.


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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
32. CSPAN
I always wind up shaking my head wondering who voted for these tools.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #32
35. I can't stomach reality television
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dustbunnie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:16 PM
Response to Original message
33. Lifetime, hands down. Half hour into any movie and you're guaranteed --

to fall into the deepest sleep.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:20 PM
Response to Reply #33
36. Lifetime is useful because sometimes I suspect that some guy somewhere isn't a vengeful stalker
But then good ol' Lifetime is there to show me the error of my thinking.
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dustbunnie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #36
39. Well, occasionally the guy does end up being marriage material when the real stalker --

is the vengeful, psycho ex-girlfriend who's trying to make it look like it's the unsuspecting cute guy (if he wears a cowboy hat, he's likely innocent.) And occasionally the stalker isn't even human, but a ghost of the protagonist's half-sister who was drowned in the lake by the evil Police Chief who was searching for the rare diamond necklace buried in the bowels of the house by the protagonist's wealthy alcoholic uncle who accidently disclosed its existence while spending a night in the drunk tank. The love interest in these types of movies actually hinders the investigation since it takes forever for him to realize she's not bonkers and stops trying to get her to a doctor, but usually all ends well with the protagonist rich as sin from the sale of the necklace and the love interest being promoted when the Police Chief gets hauled off to the clink.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:16 PM
Response to Reply #39
47. Why, that's positively Shakespearean!
I had no idea that the vengeful stalker genre was so subtle and nuanced!
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aaaaaa5a Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 03:21 PM
Response to Original message
37. The FOX News Channel... period! nt
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:08 PM
Response to Reply #37
38. See reply #15
Exclamation point!
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conscious evolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
40. anything on the channels
between 2 and 999.
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distantearlywarning Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:41 PM
Response to Original message
41. Gotta be E
There is absolutely nothing of redeeming value on that channel whatsoever. It's all pointless crap 24-7.
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lpbk2713 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:44 PM
Response to Original message
42. Lately, my local PBS



Doo-wop??

Lawrence Welk??

Irish Dancers??

Quasi motivational book hawkers??

They have drifted way off course. Too bad.


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canetoad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 05:47 PM
Response to Original message
43. Other
We have a channel that shows continuous repeats of Greenacres, The Nanny and Seinfeld.
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SidDithers Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 06:03 PM
Response to Original message
45. History Channel...
I can only take so much Nostradamus, Ghosts and UFOs.

Sid
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:17 PM
Response to Reply #45
50. Hey, now.
2012 is just around the corner--don't you want to be prepared?
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The Gunslinger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:17 PM
Response to Original message
48. I hit the "on" button
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LWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:17 PM
Response to Original message
49. Other: any news or talk show, on any channel. nt
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jmowreader Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:18 PM
Response to Original message
51. Fox News, of course
Compared to Fox News, Cartoon Network, Spike and the Masturbation Network are friggin' PBS.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:33 PM
Response to Reply #51
59. See reply #57
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saltpoint Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:19 PM
Response to Original message
53. FOX News, certainly, although other contenders include the shopping
channels, and CNN when Nancy Grace is on.

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Maru Kitteh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:20 PM
Response to Original message
54. Catholic TV
Edited on Sun Mar-21-10 08:22 PM by Maru Kitteh
Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!

Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!

Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!



Mary!


Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!

Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!

Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun! Abor-shun!


The Pope.

---------------------------------------

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
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nadinbrzezinski Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:20 PM
Response to Original message
55. CSPAN?
At times I feel I am not kidding.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:33 PM
Response to Reply #55
58. When they run their far-Right marathons, I have to agree with you
I love it when BookTV runs a two hour AEI conference, followed by a 90-minute Q&A @ The Heritage Institute, after which we get a three-hour symposium at The Cato Institute, capped off with a one-on-one discussion with Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, or Karl Rove.

I haven't seen lopsided programming like that in a while, but they used to do it every weekend.
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sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:20 PM
Response to Original message
56. Fox Noise
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-21-10 08:31 PM
Response to Reply #56
57. See reply #38
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GoCubsGo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-22-10 08:05 AM
Response to Original message
63. My old "nothing else is on" fallback: The Food Network
Well, it's mostly intellectually empty. "Good Eats" doesn't fall under that category, because one can actually almost always learn some interesting things from that show.
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jeffrey_X Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Mar-22-10 08:43 AM
Response to Original message
64. ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, E! and Bravo
plus a few more.
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