Line #8 NetworkDecay/NotableAversions


1	!The channel has managed to avoid decay, either by working on a genre that is broad enough that it is resistant to decay, or that the executives feel that channel is good enough that they don’t need to change anything. Of course obviously any channel that is not listed on this page would count as this, but we’ve listed a few (honorable) mentions.
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5	[[folder:Toonami’s Aversion]]
6	* Compared to Creator/CartoonNetwork’s [[Creator/AdultSwim other]] [[Creator/{{Boomerang}} divisions]] whom have fluctuated in regards to decaying over the years, Creator/{{Toonami}} (and by extension, its former sister blocks such as Creator/{{Miguzi}}, Creator/SaturdayVideoEntertainmentSystem, the action part of Creator/AdultSwim, etc.) has been very dependable in terms of sticking to its mission of showcasing anime and action cartoons. While there have been a few oddballs on rare occasions such as ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'' and ''Series/WulinWarriors'' (mainly due to ExecutiveMeddling), such "experiments" were never really successful[[note]]Case in point: ''Wulin Warriors'' was canceled after its second episode[[/note]]. But after the Boston Bomb Scare and the infamous "CN Real" era came to prominence, unlike going down the Network Decay path like Adult Swim had, CN would eventually can Toonami entirely due to flagging ratings—a direct result of moving the block to Saturdays only and reduced it to reruns and ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', which was at the time working through the now-infamous pre-Shippuden Filler Arc (ironically, the end of Toonami came mere weeks before they would've completed the "[[FanNickname Filler Hell]]" portion of ''Naruto'' and transitioned into Shippuden; this allowed Disney to pick up the rights to Shippuden instead and air it in ludicrously censored form on Creator/DisneyXD). Not surprisingly, folks have cited the downfall of Toonami as one of the lowest points of CN’s AudienceAlienatingEra (perhaps only rivaled by the rise of CN Real) and had a knock-on effect on anime’s popularity as a whole, as the loss of Toonami, considered to be one of the biggest GatewaySeries to anime in general in the west, is considered to be a big contribution to the [[EndOfAnAge infamous ending of the]] 90's-2000's [[MediaNotes/TheJapaneseInvasion anime boom]]. Prior to 2012, the only legacy that was left of Toonami was Adult Swim’s anime block, which was reduced to Saturday nights and flooded with endless reruns.\
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8	Fortunately, as Cartoon Network started refocusing its efforts on showcasing animation, on AprilFoolsDay 2012, Adult Swim briefly replaced their normal Saturday night block with Toonami to rave reception. After a huge fan campaign, they brought back Toonami on a regular basis starting May 26. Presently, the revived Toonami is building off on Adult Swim’s action block, but out of the gate, it's done its part to help revive anime in the west. It has cemented such hits as ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', and ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', among others, and even turned ''Anime/DeadmanWonderland'', a program that tanked badly in Japan, into a hit with a bonafide fanbase. And perhaps because of this success, they've even gotten the privilege of showing ''Anime/SpaceDandy'' '''just before''' it was broadcast in Japan.\
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10	And you know what’s even more impressive? Perhaps as a response to the many animation-related networks being some of the biggest examples of Network Decay, Toonami has been pretty adamant on avoiding a shift in their purpose, in a similar fashion to sister network [[Creator/TurnerClassicMovies TCM]]. While you can still see live-action programming on Adult Swim, Toonami [[http://toonami.tumblr.com/post/41671611485/you-thought-live-action-movies-fit-interesting-does has stated that they would like to avoid airing live-action altogether on the block]], which fortunately the parent network has obliged so far. On that same topic, contrary to semi-popular belief, mostly by the more elitist anime fans that say that Toonami airing western-made action cartoons on the new block would count as Network Decay, fans and even the creators themselves have long said otherwise, with its long history of showcasing action toons cited as the reason. In fact, if Toonami were to air slice of life, non-action romantic comedies, or anime of the "Otaku Pandering" varieties unless said show can be consumed by general audiences, ''that'' actually would count as Network Decay ([[http://toonami.tumblr.com/post/42220096782/are-slice-of-life-anime-airing-on-toonami-a-no-no which Toonami doesn't plan on showing anyway]]).
11	** Asia has contributed to the Toonami revival efforts by launching a [[Creator/ToonamiAsia Toonami channel of its own]] in late 2012. However, Toonami Asia’s conception was through the decay and re-branding of its region’s Boomerang channel, which was the end result of CN Asia relegating all of their programming, save for old classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons and ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', to Boomerang and losing the purpose of both networks in the process. Eventually, Boomerang Asia was canned, and CN Asia started working on an action cartoon channel. Do note that Toonami Asia was being conceived at a time when the conception of the revival of the U.S equivalent was still unknown, even to them. Their decision of using the Toonami brand was mainly because Asia has also had a Toonami block of its own, and also achieved success with an established fanbase to go with it, along with the fact that some of the channel’s heads have mentioned that they were/are also fans of the US equivalent.\
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13	Currently, the channel airs CN-produced action cartoons and a couple anime titles, though their crew has stated that there are plans to air more anime and action cartoons in the future. It does help that the Asian crew are fans of the American crew’s work and would love to replicate their success, albeit in their own fashion (for example, to prevent messing with the continuity of the US equivalent, Toonami Asia has its own host, Nami, with her own story). Like the US equivalent, time will tell how their efforts will go.
14	** In the UK, Toonami previously had a channel of its own back during the channel’s "golden age", however, its fate wasn’t as fortunate. It started out as CNX, a channel devoted to shows that appealed to the American equivalent of {{shonen}} in the mornings and afternoons, with uncensored {{anime}} and kung fu movies later at night. However, its Toonami block, which was placed at CNX at the time, would quickly expand to take over the entire channel, which still fit the channel's original mission until [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ82vEHqpAs they started showing live action]]. Since then, it eventually mutated into CN Too, which is actually marketed as a second Cartoon Network. As of 2014, there are no plans to revive Toonami in the UK at its current venture.
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17	[[folder:Other Notable Aversions]]
18	* Since its inception, Creator/TurnerClassicMovies has mostly stuck to its original mission of airing and discussing films from before 1980; movies from the '80s onward are only rarely broadcasted and are typically reserved for special blocks that also encompass earlier films (e.g. their annual 31-day marathon of Oscar-nominated works). Furthermore, any original programming for the channel (another rarity compared to the pre-1980 movies) is typically limited to documentaries on classic films or programs with a direct relationship to them.
19	* Losing ''Cartoon Express'' aside, Creator/USANetwork really seems to have gotten better as time went on. Unlike sister network Creator/{{Syfy}}, USA never really had one gimmick or target demographic to cater to; back in the 80s and 90s, they were known for seeming being the "melting pot" of cable TV; they aired old movies, sports, reruns, game shows, and even ''court shows''. They can get away with showing almost anything and either get high ratings (''Wrestling/WWERaw''; ''Series/{{Psych}}''), critical acclaim (''The 4400''; ''The Starter Wife''), or both (''Series/{{Monk}}''; ''Series/BurnNotice''; ''Series/MrRobot''). Their former slogan "Characters Welcome" meant they were able to put on whatever they want as long as it has a strong character-driven plot, which encompasses almost all of fiction, without worrying about Network Decay.\
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21	After the amazing ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_%28TV_series%29 Night Flight]]'' was cancelled in 1988, USA may have been most famous in the late '80s and early '90s for "Up All Night," where it showed B movies on late night weekends hosted by either Rhonda Shear's boobs or Creator/GilbertGottfried's grating voice. So yes, it can be fair to say the quality of programming has gone up. They can pretty much show anything, and advertise ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Supremacy]]'' and ''Along Came Polly'' equally without having anyone bat an eye, and even have shows that match such movies thematically.\
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23	If you think about it for a while, USA is really what its (older) sister network, Creator/{{NBC}}, wishes it could be. Thing is, the shows that are a success on USA would never be given time to find their audience on an over-the-air network. Often if you do count it without the usual broadcast/cable split, it's easily the #4 or #5 network in all of television depending on the night and has beat NBC in the ratings on several occasions. When Comcast bought NBC Universal, one analyst projected USA Network had a value of ''$9.5 billion'' (while NBC barely even reached half a billion).
24	** Thanks to a significant [=NBCUni=] cable restructuring in 2020, and management moving most scripted programming resources to Creator/{{Peacock}}, USA Network may be headed back to its "melting pot" roots. The conglomerate announced the shuttering of NBC Sports Network at the end of 2021, with all its sports programming migrating over to USA. This puts the network on par with TNT and TBS, both of whom carry sports programming and movies while sticking to their formulas of drama and comedy, respectively.
25	* Creator/ComedyCentral still, by some miracle, shows this thing called "comedy". ''Series/TheDailyShow'' and ''Series/TheNightlyShow'' for example, are news shows... but still comedies! There was panic when ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' was temporarily added to the lineup as a tie-in to the [[TheRoast the David Hasselhoff Roast]], but [[{{Narm}} unintentional comedy]] is still comedy.[[note]]In comparison, Adult Swim once ran ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' for a week as a similar joke, inspired by complaints about their cheesier retro programming at the time, although considering that [as]'s original focus was on adult animation... well let's just say that's why they're listed in "NetworkDecay/{{Slipped}}" instead of here.[[/note]] There have only been a handful of non-comedies to air on the channel in its history, the most prominent of those being ''Series/{{Battlebots}}''. In this case, however, the network thought it appealed well to its main demographic, and framed it as being a parody of sports "for nerds" in post-production (plus the unscripted robot fights could sometimes end in a humorously violent conclusion).
26	** The UK version of Comedy Central has had a weird past. It first started as ''The Paramount Channel'' back in 1995; true to its name, it aired a lot of Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures archive material, but also aired comedy shows, drama series, ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' (its sister channel, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}, which it would timeshare with on Sky until the analogue service ended, wouldn't air it in the UK due to the adult-ish nature of the series), ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', and even ''Entertainment Tonight''. However, after about a year, all non-comedic shows were dropped and it became known as ''Paramount Comedy''; by 2009, the renamed ''Paramount Comedy 1'' was pretty much Comedy Central in all but name, so when CC got its current logo Stateside, [=PC1=] got its long-awaited rename.
27	* Any shopping or infomercial channel. As long as they can stick a toll-free number on the bottom of the screen and a price on the side, they can sell anything and everything and never be accused of decaying. (Although nowadays, they also have a website address, as well, in a case of TechnologyMarchesOn).
28	* You can always count on public access cable channels to have low-quality production values and to cover local events with a homespun angle you don't find on the network stations.
29	** Many stations now devote a significant part of their schedule to satellite-delivered left-leaning national public affairs from Free Speech TV (mostly ''Radio/DemocracyNow''). Many also feature retransmitted broadcasts from around the world via the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCOLA_%28TV_service%29 SCOLA satellite network]], where you can see NHK, Rossiya 1, and so forth as their home viewers see them, rather than repackaged versions for the American market.
30	* Regional cable news channels like the News 12 networks in the New York suburbs and Charter's Spectrum News/[=NY1=] system serving New York State and New York City proper (formerly under the purview of Time Warner Cable), respectively (as well as outposts in Austin, Texas, the Carolinas and affiliates with separate names in Orlando and Tampa), New England Cable News (which is owned by [=NBCUniversal=]), and CLTV of Chicago (which is operated alongside WGN) usually stick to just news confined to their regions. But on the most slow of news days, they might wander a little out of their main coverage area, or cover national breaking news just to keep things moving along and not have to depend on inane feature reporting to fill time. In fact, [=NY1=] was commended for having about the most sane coverage of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy around, mainly because it was confined to the five boroughs and used the short 'news wheel' format to succinctly state what was going on, what to do, and how New York would be affected.
31	* RFD TV (basically Rural TV) has pretty much stuck to shows for farmers and fans of rural living, along with nostalgic country programming to satisfy their needs. Although there was a threat of network decay when they aired ''Imus in the Morning'' for a couple years (but even then he owns a farm for ill children in New Mexico, so it still easily fit the network's mission), Imus has moved on to Fox Business Network and it's all farm programming (and of course, ''I Love Toy Trains!'', a cult favorite of ''Series/TheSoup'') there. The network is so dedicated to their mission that the network's CEO made a clear promise never to air either an infomercial or any erectile dysfunction drug ads on their air, though there was a little LoopholeAbuse in 2013 when they decided to turn the homespun story of the creator of the "My Pillow" into a hidden infomercial to buy said pillow. They also bought a second network, [=FamilyNet=], to carry more rural programming, but kept that network's infomercial block to maintain their revenue.
32	** [=FamilyNet=] later dedicated itself to reruns of classic television shows, among them ''Series/BarneyMiller'', ''Series/TJHooker'', ''Series/FantasyIsland'' and ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' -- ''without cuts!'' Viewers who are used to watching these old relics hacked to bits on Me-TV and other stations over the years can rediscover their favorites as they were meant to be but have now reformatted the channel as "The Cowboy Channel" dedicated to rodeos, Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger reruns, and other western related stuff.
33	* C-SPAN is dependable as can be. The mainstay is still House and Senate sessions (or should we say, House sessions and Senate quorum calls). When the houses aren't in session, you'll get some light non-inflaming political talk, academic panel discussions, the UsefulNotes/PrimeMinistersQuestionTime once a week, and whatever other political events they can find, along with the network's continued fight to get any shred of Supreme Court arguments on the air (even if it's just still pictures of justices with audio). Oh, and Book TV on [=C-SPAN2=] during the weekends. There, you might get a little Kindle talk, but otherwise if it's bound with pages, that's all you'll get there. Of course, it helps that C-SPAN is contractually obliged ''not'' to decay.
34	* Hallmark Channel, and its little sister Hallmark Movie Channel, are pretty well guarded against decay. Even with their daytime block of home and crafting programming, repeats of sitcoms from the 80's to the present, and their [[AdoredByTheNetwork hyperfocus on]] [[SugarWiki/AHallmarkPresentation Christmas TV movies]] in the last part of the year (to the point that the network adopted the "Countdown to Christmas" template as a year-round programming strategy, with programs and original movies always catered to a seasonal theme or upcoming holiday). Unless the network suddenly signs a contract with a monster trucking circuit, the channel's mission is so broad that anything works as long as it makes you feel [[LighterAndSofter warm and fuzzy]]. Hallmark Movie Channel did cut its slight decay off at the pass by rebranding itself as '''Hallmark Movies and Mysteries''', thereby justifying its daytime reruns of classic murder-mystery TV series ''(Series/MurderSheWrote'', ''Series/HartToHart'', ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', ''Series/DiagnosisMurder,'' etc.)
35	* It's surprising that NetworkDecay in general hasn't been used as an argument against defunding Creator/{{PBS}}. The ''last'' time the conservative movement had enough power in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC to bring that under serious discussion, the existence of networks such as the Creator/DiscoveryChannel, Creator/TheHistoryChannel, and TLC were used to argue that we don't need PBS anymore. All those have undergone significant decay since then — Discovery and TLC are now dominated by {{Reality Show}}s, while History had been devoting an increasing (and, frankly, scary) amount of time to conspiracy theories and pseudoscience before ''also'' going down the reality show route. All in all, PBS has done a very good job of avoiding NetworkDecay throughout its existence.
36	* If a network is owned by a sports league or is devoted to a specific sport, all you'll get is content from that sports league or sport. Well, most of the time; NBA TV shows international basketball, the NFL Network showed Arena Football and [[UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague CFL]] games in the past (plus a few all-star college bowl games, mainly because they primarily feature NFL prospects), NHL Network has featured coverage of IIHF tournaments and other major Canadian non-NHL events (i.e. the Memorial Cup), while Toronto's Leafs TV also shows events for their farm team, the Toronto Marlies in the AHL. MLB Network during the offseason airs games from smaller leagues including the Arizona Fall League and many of the winter leagues in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Most sports fans wouldn't mind that these programs, especially if the sports league is in its off-season in which fans of that sport may be craving for some more of that sport (while the channel itself can't count on its league to fill its programming day).
37	* Creator/{{ESPN}} has stayed pretty true to its original pledge of bringing you sports in all of its flavors. Of course, much of that nowadays is brought to you by talking head shows rather than the actual sport. And their definition of sports is broad enough to include the Scripps National Spelling Bee and poker (and, at one time, ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''). But, it still does devote a bit of its time to the ideal of its now parent company's flagship sports show, ''Creator/{{ABC}}'s Series/WideWorldOfSports'', so you'll still be able to find the odd karate skill-breaking competition or cheerleading competition. However, while the main channel has remained constant, it's the spinoff channels that have changed. ESPN 2 was initially to cover the non-traditional sports that the main channel would cover late night, but it evolved to have the same programs on an hour delay or to host ESPN shows when they're bumped by breaking news on the main channel. ESPN News used to be a 24-hour channel -- it was changed to host original ESPN documentaries and programming. ESPN Classic and ESPN College have remained unchanged, however.
38	** The same applies to its Canadian equivalent TSN, although it has managed to show the occasional sports movie such as ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' or ''Film/SlapShot'' ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it still makes sense in context]]).
39	* The Film Zone originally showed both new and old movies before dedicating itself to movies too old for other channels, but not old enough for Retro and TCM.
40	* Technically cable music channels (the ones that just air audio and display the track and artist information) like DMX, Music Choice and MTV's Urge package aren't really television channels, but beyond throwing out the occasional fad or DeadHorseGenre format (what's Toni Basil's "Mickey" doing in the rotation of Music Choice's [[AlternativeRock Classic Alternative]] station? A throwback to when it was the New Wave channel), these channels are designed to purposefully not decay based on format division between each channel (you're never going to find Music/LadyGaga playing on the Oldies channel, for instance).
41	* Channels from international broadcasters, especially those funded by their individual governments, are almost always undecayable since said government is always going to present their country in the best way possible.
42	* The Canadian channel The Movie Network (TMN) (formerly available in Eastern Canada only and now available nationwide after the buyout of Movie Central, which held the western part of the country until April 2016), originally known as First Choice, is similar to TCM in the fact that they don't show commercials during movies and the commercials they show between films are advertising the network itself or are actually independent Canadian short films. Pretty much all of their programming is movies or movie-related. They will also show HBO series/specials, but [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this is a good thing]] because Canadian audiences really wouldn't have anywhere else to see them; besides, HBO ''is'' short for Home Box Office.
43	** Generally the same with Movie Central (MC), originally known as Superchannel, which was available in Western Canada only until the merger above. It should be noted, however, that both TMN and MC partnered on {{Creator/HBO}} Canada, which is generally [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin original shows sourced from HBO]]. Incidentially, First Choice and Superchannel (which was then owned by Allarcom, later WIC, before WIC was split up with its cable holdings generally sold to Corus Entertainment, a company related to Shaw) were jointly marketed from 1984 to 1989 as "First Choice Superchannel".
44	* ITV4 has also fallen into this. Good range of programmes, slightly better than ITV2, as in no wacky shows like ''Series/TheOnlyWayIsEssex'' (except maybe for ''Series/GetAway'', a car-theft gameshow with a MsFanservice presenter; it's hard to find information on it online). However, it never shows the entirety of ''Series/PoliceCameraAction'', and ''Series/PoliceStop'' skips a VerySpecialEpisode. Fans are not amused. Other shows just about get the full rotation run though, such as ''Series/{{Minder}}''.
45	* Creator/{{MeTV}} still focuses on showing reruns of classic TV shows from the 1950s through the 1980s. The closest it has to original programming is Series/{{Svengoolie}}, a UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} horror host who focuses on classic horror films (and the occasional airing of the Creator/MarxBrothers classic ''Film/DuckSoup'') and is a longtime fixture of Me-TV's founding station. Since horror hosts are, themselves, a part of classic TV and the show embraces a NoBudget theme prevalent at the time among local programming, it's still well within its theme. It also helps that the show is [[LongRunner over 40 years old itself]] and has survived a cancellation, being UnCancelled in 1979 under the name of ''Son of Svengoolie'' with a new host, who has hosted the show to this very day.
46	** The network seems aware of their own resilience and pokes fun at it in their commercials; a few commercials contain lists of words you'll never hear on METV, all of which are very modern terms or phrases and a few of them note that METV is a "Kardashian-Free Zone".
47	* In the beginning, Mark Cuban's [=HDNet=] was revolutionary since it was one of the first cable networks with an entirely high definition lineup. Its programming had always been male-oriented general entertainment, with a focus primarily on concerts, sports (such as auto racing, MMA, and NHL games for a period), travel programs, and off-network reruns of assorted dramas. But, the gimmick started to wear off as more and more mainstream channels began introducing HD feeds; it voluntarily gave airtime to [[HandsomeLech Joe Francis]] for some Girls Gone Wild contests and a few more shows where women show off their...endowments, including the sexcom ''Svetlana''.
48	** Eventually, Ryan Seacrest and Anschutz Entertainment Group purchased a stake in the network and re-formatted it to AXS TV in 2012, which is dedicated to pop culture, entertainment, and concert programming (which seems to be stubbornly set to the 'jam rock' and '70's rock'). The branding may have suggested a slip, alongside the fact that its no longer exclusively available in HD (a letterboxed SD feed was launched on Dish Network to coincide with the re-launch), but did [=HDNet=] really have a genre to begin with, aside from being all HD?
49	* In another case though, sister network HD Movies has delivered on its promises; quality HD films presented the way they were intended without commercials as a modern-day TCM. The network even premieres films funded by Cuban's Magnolia Pictures studio weeks before they hit movie theaters, a major help to someone in the middle of South Dakota who doesn't want to have to make a long drive to Denver (or even the local video store, if there's still one) just to see an indie or art film.
50	* Eurochannel, a Brazilian channel (with feeds in four languages) dedicated to broadcast series and movies from Europe, with dedication to little-known productions of countries not usually in the limelight, has been doing this for almost 20 years with little change on its mission and style.
51	* Zigzagged with the American Heroes channel, a Creator/DiscoveryChannel affiliate. It has gone through several stages of network decay, but each time it has changed its name to reflect this. Originally the Discovery Wings Channel airing shows about aircraft, it changed its name to the Military Channel since the majority of its programs were about the military. After it started airing shows about non-military valor and such, it was renamed the American Heroes Channel. The next stage is probably dropping the "American" part because it [[ArtifactTitle airs shows about non-American heroes]].
52	** Or, possibly the "Bigfoot and Paranormal" channel, as that seems to be the majority of its programming now.
53	* Ride/UniversalStudios theme parks, although backtracking on film production since around the 2000s (and Universal Studios Florida having no Studio Tour since 1995), have maintained their general focus on movies and television shows (and in the future video games) and continue to be working film studios to a certain capacity, although by the mid-late 2000s they started cutting back on aging "behind-the-scenes" experiences. This is more than can be said for Universal Studios Florida rival [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's Hollywood Studios]], despite that park having more attendance than the former. However, in USF the New York area suffered, for a while, a unique decay in which the two main attractions from 2004-2015, ''Ride/TwisterRideItOut'' and ''Ride/RevengeOfTheMummy'', were inconsistent with the overall themeing of the area (neither attraction's source material is set in New York City). This was somewhat alleviated when ''Twister'' was replaced with ''Ride/RaceThroughNewYorkStarringJimmyFallon'' in 2017.
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Context NetworkDecay / NotableAversions