Forget just reading the newspaper, every Sunday, as a kid, I'd dive into the TV guide tjat came with the Sunday paper to see what was on for the WEEK! LOL
Posted by 88Gonzo@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 73 comments
Any_Initiative_9079@reddit
This was from the late 90’s, just look at all those cable stations. How about when we had to use the TV guide to see what was on one of my 7 stations we got?
That being said, I did like watching Win Ben Steins Money.
sonia72quebec@reddit
And if if you miss an episode, too bad for you. Maybe if you're lucky they would do reruns during the summer.
quasifun@reddit
But the shows weren't serialized, just for this reason. It's like Groundhog Day. The world resets every time. Edith Bunker might be almost raped one week, but Archie is still going to call her a dingbat next week. It's because people missed episodes, and they might watch them out or order on reruns or syndication.
Laurieladybug@reddit
And that was a very big maybe.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Right????
AppropriateBar3361@reddit
Yeah and we were the "channel changers".
MidnightNo1766@reddit
That's nothing. When I was a kid, there were a lot of channels that were listed that we couldn't get so you had to decipher if you could get the channel to watch the show you wanted.
This was before cable networks, everything was a numbered channel, even superstations. So 9 could be a black 9 or a white 9 (for chicago and windsor) or a black and white 17 (grand rapids and atlanta).
There aren't any of the white numbers, but many markets had both. I would have been 9 so this is definitely a piece of my childhood.
classicsat@reddit
Black numbers were antenna channels, white cable.
If you were getting listings for WGN and WTBS, they were American cable superstations. Something changed, and they had to each split to broadcast and cable stations. If you lived outside of those broadcast markets, you could only receive the cable superstation version, on cable or satellite. It might carry some local Atlanta or Chicago programming, but anything they had only local rights to, they had to put something they had national rights to, in its place.
"Networks" are different for cable. It could be regional sports nets, or channels under the same roof, such as Turner channels from Atlanta (TBS, CNN, TCM)
LyqwidBred@reddit
I was probably watching these cartoons. And Land of the Lost for sure.
ted_anderson@reddit
Yeah. It took me a long time to learn what that meant. Our market was Washington DC but we were half way between DC and Baltimore so we would get those channels also.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Oh shit.
I live in Philly area and remember this. I forgot all about the guide reading like that!!
FormerCollegeDJ@reddit
Lord help you if you misplaced the weekly newspaper TV guide!
On a related note, when I was younger I thought it was odd that there was an actual magazine-like TV Guide produced. Why would I want to buy a separate TV Guide when I get one for free in the Sunday (or in some cases, Saturday) newspapers?
classicsat@reddit
Not everybody subscribed to the sort of paper with a full weekly guide.
TV Guide was two parts. The outside gloss pages, which were national. Had the articles and stuff. Inside was the one color newsprint, with regional listings, and the crossword.
ted_anderson@reddit
That's right! If the TV guide was missing, everything in the house stopped until we found it.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Yes!!!!!!
I remember being with a buddy and staying up just to watch 3 and 10 switch networks lol. So geeky.
Fit_Caramel_9599@reddit
Plus there was no remote control
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Although... once we got that pop up vcr, that had a corded remote lol
Fit_Caramel_9599@reddit
We didn’t have a VCR until I was already 19 and away at college. I never knew that there were corded remotes
classicsat@reddit
We got our own VCR in about '85 or '84. Before that, back as far as 82 or 83 we rented one with movies.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Yea.. I remember the 1st weekend we got that vcr. I was 13 I think, probably '83, and had our appliance repair man neighbor hook it up lol.
We watched Poltergeist and Raiders of the Lost Ark!!!
But I do remember a very basic corded remote wity that top loading vcr.
blade944@reddit
We were the remote.
Fit_Caramel_9599@reddit
And sometimes antenna controllers
blade944@reddit
Standing there like an idiot with one hand on the antenna and the other up in the air so pops can see the game clearly.
Fit_Caramel_9599@reddit
Good times
blade944@reddit
And every time a plane flew over the picture would fuck up.
FunScore3387@reddit
blade944@reddit
Kids today have it too easy.
SEA2COLA@reddit
....and ONE TV!
classicsat@reddit
Up until I got thrown out TVs that were still reasonably functional, or easily repairable (for a 15 year old with modest electronic skills and tools). I never bought my own TV until 2008. I bought the folks one in 2012. They only had one new TV, in 1983.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Black and white? Lol
We had a color tv and 2 black and white tvs lol
Blurghblagh@reddit
At least there were those VCR codes there, remember before that when had to set recording times manually!
HiOscillation@reddit
Oh, that's the VERY MODERN version compared to the TV listings I had. This is what the TV Guide looked like in the 1970's - Just channel numbers, and there was no TV at after about 1AM.
Those are cable TV listings, and they also have the 6-digit quick codes or whatever they were, to figure out your channel number for that show/time/network.
contrarian1970@reddit
I remember the year my little town got cable TV it became essential to buy the Sunday newspaper for that insert. After school we immediately turned on the "super station" and watched What's Happening, Gilligan's Island, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and whatever else they had. If my mother was too lazy to tell us to go to bed I remember Get Smart was on at 11pm. Simpler times for sure.
hesathomes@reddit
I remember thinking To Be Announced was a tv show
LeoMarius@reddit
Appointment TV
ted_anderson@reddit
My job on Sunday mornings was to walk a 1/2 mile up and down a steep hill to the store to get the newspaper and to make sure that the TV guide was in it. If I didn't and it was missing, I had to make that walk a second time.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Always che k the paper to make sure the guide was in it!! Lol
ZeroScorpion3@reddit
TV Guide always sat on the end table in the living room. Best reading material ever.
Plainsdrifter71@reddit
I was one of those kids...😅
PrestigiousGrade7874@reddit
Same- lol
Trudi1201@reddit
The most anticipated thing in the lead up to Christmas was the TV guide, everyone went over that with a marker highlighting what they wanted to watch lol
rraattbbooyy@reddit
My dad must have been rich, because we didn’t have to rely on the newspaper. We subscribed to TV Guide, an entire book about what’s on TV for the whole week. It was wonderful!
Cheers and Jeers was my favorite part.
Melvinator5001@reddit
When I was a kid in the 70’s and early 80’s only 13 channels
NinJoeAssassin@reddit
Damn, I forgot that I used to do that.
j_boogie_483@reddit
big ups to Cleveland local TV. I loved WUAB 43 Lorain/Cleveland back in the day
425565@reddit
I remember how perplexed and angry my parents were when I told them they don't make TV Guides anymore.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
They stopped making TV guide? I didn't know that
BouBo72@reddit
TV Guide does still exist- but not a lot of actual listings in it. Source: I worked for the current parent company.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
That's actually interesting to know
Significant-Deer7464@reddit
My favorite was always the big Fall Preview. It was just about the only way you knew the new shows that were coming
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Yes I agree!
Especially as a kid I was always excited about those specials the networks had about the up coming seasons shows/cartoons!!
Laurieladybug@reddit
And they are never going to have to do the couch dive from the other room because the commercial ended and no pause button so you had to see it or miss it!!!!!!
Connect-Plenty-1462@reddit
My dad would pull out his yellow highlighter and plan the tv viewing for the week
southern_OH_hillican@reddit
Only having 3 channels (4 if the wind was right), I was always fascinated at what other peoples' options were.
razzle_dazzle321@reddit
We had a subscription to the TV guide. I would love reading it and seeing what was on. Plus getting a VCR was a game changer. Being able to tape shows and watch them later. And fast forwarding the commercials.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
When I was 30 I dated a girl who collected tv guides.
I say collected. They were stacked all over the living room. She says she collected them. Lol
razzle_dazzle321@reddit
Lol too funny.
PacRat48@reddit
Learning to read a TV Guide was a skill
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Agreed
fuzzimus@reddit
You had more than 3 channels?
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Barely.
3nbc. 6abc, 10cbs.... 12pbs.... then uhf, 17, 29 and 48. Later we got 57 and lost 48. Sometimes we got 35 lol.
Philly burbs.
blade944@reddit
And then there were the times when the paper was thrown out with the guide still in it. Spend the entire week looking at the daily listings in the paper.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
.... and pissy lol
VodkaToasted@reddit
Not to brag but both sets of my grandparents had cable with allllllll the movie channels...so like 3 that played the same dozen movies over and over for a month straight. But those glossy ass monthly guides with the current month's movies were the shit.
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
I never had cable till I got married in '03 lol
JoeyDawsonJenPacey@reddit
I highlighted what I wanted to watch in pink highlighter and dog eared the page!
88Gonzo@reddit (OP)
Yes!!
thecannarella@reddit
We only had over the air until I was a Jr and moved, then my dad finally found cable, and CNN...
Tony_Tanna78@reddit
I remember we used to save the TV listings for the week from the Sunday newspaper.
VyvanseLanky_Ad5221@reddit
This was the best. Plus, looking for the holiday specials
Antmax@reddit
In the UK we only had 3 channels. BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. At some point they added a 4th channel imaginatively names Channel 4 lol.
Satellite TV (Sky) was our equivalent to cable but that didn't launch till 1989 and most people didn't have it till the mid/late 90's.
Iron_Chic@reddit
We had TV Guide. Though, my brother would use it as a coaster for his water glasses so there would be some water damage.
nadiaco@reddit
with a highlighter