Late-Night Television.
This livejournal has been a place that, for years, I have vented frustrations and talked about the happenings of my life. It has been a big stress reliever, and just a fun place for me to express some thoughts I have on my mind. For a long time, this has just been posts about my crazy life, ever since arriving in Europe. However, now that I'm in a pretty calm part of my life, it's time I start to write about some things that interest me in the world around me. Tonight's topic is late-night television...
Since starting at my current job, I've been working 3rd shift (11pm-7am) every Friday and Saturday night. This kinda inhibits any fun from happening on the weekends, but I have learned a lot about the late-night television scene. Basically every channel starts to show infomercials after 3am, with a select few holding off until 4 or 5. The most dominating infomercial on television is for ExtenZe, the "male enhancement" product that is apparently extremely popular. I've seen the infomercial for this product roughly 100 times since I've started working 2 months ago (not an exaggeration at all). The girls on this infomercial use horrible puns that play off of sexual inuendo, and while it's generally an entertaining infomercial, by the end of it, you're ready to hurt yourself. The street interviews are by far the best part of the infomercial, because the girl who interviews couples on the street just "happens" to find 50 couples on the street that all have found enjoyment from ExtenZe. My least favorite is the 40-year-old douchebag with a ponytail who, when asked if he's ever heard of ExtenZe, replies with "Yeah! I'm actually on it!" or something assanine like that. I've never seen someone more excited to admit they use male enhancement products on national television. I also enjoy the one other guy who, when asked how it works, sheepishly replies, "It's made me a heck of a lot...bigger." If you want pure entertainment, watch this infomercial.
Most of the other infomercials on television at night are for your average products...a steam cleaner, David Oreck and his 8-pound Oreck vacuum, a hair straightener, a roaster that cooks away more fat than the competition (and I'm not talking about the Ronco Roster), Bosley hair transplants, etc. My favorite infomercial was for a Time Life cd collection of 80s hits. I only saw it once, but it had all of my favorite 80s songs on the infomercial, so it was amazing. I can't quite remember who was in the odd pairing of 80s celebrities advertising the product...Debbie Gibson and some awkward guy who I would have never pegged to be on tv selling cd collections.
If you're actually trying to find some good television shows to watch, I've got you covered there, too. MTV is more terrible than I can ever remember it being, but the late-night line-up is surprisingly clutch. The network essentially shows 4-5 hour marathons of shows such as Parental Control, Next, Exposed, and Room Raiders. These are all the classic teen/20 something dating shows on MTV, but nobody can tell me that 4-5 hours of Next and Parental Control isn't worth watching.
VH1 is also pretty clutch at night, showing the Top 20 countdown at 3am on Saturday mornings. Sunday mornings, and all other mornings during the week feature several hours of music videos (like when VH1 and MTV used to actually show music vides, and not just whore themselves out for reality tv ratings), and this music block is called Nocturnal State. I highly recommend VH1 in the early morning.
G4 (channel 70 on Atlantic Broadband), is a surprisingly entertaining channel. What used to be TechTV is now a fantastic tv network brining pop culture/entertainment and technology together. Late night usually features Attack of the Show (a show that includes interviews with celebrities, updates on new technology like cell phones and computers, the latest hilarious clips from YouTube, etc.). This show features the absolutely gorgeous Olivia Munn as one of the hosts, and her chemistry with co-host Kevin Pereira makes the show very enjoyable to watch. The show also features a news re-cap called "The Feed" which is done by the lovely Layla Kayleigh (also part of America's Best Dance Crew). Another show on this channel is Code Monkeys, and it's an absurd show that looks like a video game from the original Nintendo. The show is a sitcom about a video game company, and the story lines are usually absolutely unreal. It sounds terrible, but you should check it out, because it's highly entertaining. Finally, Unbeatable Banzuke is a show that speaks for itself. I won't lie, while I love learning about Spanish/Hispanic Cultures, I couldn't care less about Japanese culture. However, this popular Japanese show features people completing different obstacles and physical tasks, and it is wildly fun to watch. If you've never seen someone compete an obstacle course walking on their hands, walking on stilts, using a pogo stick, riding a mountain bike, or riding a unicycle, then I suggest you watch this show and be ready to be amazed.
This post is going longer than I expected, so I'm going to cut right to the funniest part of late-night television. If you're reading this, and you have Atlantic Broadband's cable service, then you owe it to yourself to check out channel 17 after 3am. In what is maybe the most random act I have seen in quite some time, this channel shows different television shows, cartoons, and news reports throughout the night, but what makes it different is that after 3am (sometimes 4am) every single program...is German. News reports in German, German sitcoms, etc. It's every night, and I never fail to be amazed by the random hilarity on this network, although I never have a clue what's happening. The best show is a kind of puppet-based kids show (I'm assuming it's a kids show) that features a talking crow and a talking suitcase. Seriously Germany...what the fuck?
Well, this has been an interesting post to say the least, and hopefully this can help you know what's on and what's worth watching late at night.
Happy to be back on the scene,
Bowser!
Since starting at my current job, I've been working 3rd shift (11pm-7am) every Friday and Saturday night. This kinda inhibits any fun from happening on the weekends, but I have learned a lot about the late-night television scene. Basically every channel starts to show infomercials after 3am, with a select few holding off until 4 or 5. The most dominating infomercial on television is for ExtenZe, the "male enhancement" product that is apparently extremely popular. I've seen the infomercial for this product roughly 100 times since I've started working 2 months ago (not an exaggeration at all). The girls on this infomercial use horrible puns that play off of sexual inuendo, and while it's generally an entertaining infomercial, by the end of it, you're ready to hurt yourself. The street interviews are by far the best part of the infomercial, because the girl who interviews couples on the street just "happens" to find 50 couples on the street that all have found enjoyment from ExtenZe. My least favorite is the 40-year-old douchebag with a ponytail who, when asked if he's ever heard of ExtenZe, replies with "Yeah! I'm actually on it!" or something assanine like that. I've never seen someone more excited to admit they use male enhancement products on national television. I also enjoy the one other guy who, when asked how it works, sheepishly replies, "It's made me a heck of a lot...bigger." If you want pure entertainment, watch this infomercial.
Most of the other infomercials on television at night are for your average products...a steam cleaner, David Oreck and his 8-pound Oreck vacuum, a hair straightener, a roaster that cooks away more fat than the competition (and I'm not talking about the Ronco Roster), Bosley hair transplants, etc. My favorite infomercial was for a Time Life cd collection of 80s hits. I only saw it once, but it had all of my favorite 80s songs on the infomercial, so it was amazing. I can't quite remember who was in the odd pairing of 80s celebrities advertising the product...Debbie Gibson and some awkward guy who I would have never pegged to be on tv selling cd collections.
If you're actually trying to find some good television shows to watch, I've got you covered there, too. MTV is more terrible than I can ever remember it being, but the late-night line-up is surprisingly clutch. The network essentially shows 4-5 hour marathons of shows such as Parental Control, Next, Exposed, and Room Raiders. These are all the classic teen/20 something dating shows on MTV, but nobody can tell me that 4-5 hours of Next and Parental Control isn't worth watching.
VH1 is also pretty clutch at night, showing the Top 20 countdown at 3am on Saturday mornings. Sunday mornings, and all other mornings during the week feature several hours of music videos (like when VH1 and MTV used to actually show music vides, and not just whore themselves out for reality tv ratings), and this music block is called Nocturnal State. I highly recommend VH1 in the early morning.
G4 (channel 70 on Atlantic Broadband), is a surprisingly entertaining channel. What used to be TechTV is now a fantastic tv network brining pop culture/entertainment and technology together. Late night usually features Attack of the Show (a show that includes interviews with celebrities, updates on new technology like cell phones and computers, the latest hilarious clips from YouTube, etc.). This show features the absolutely gorgeous Olivia Munn as one of the hosts, and her chemistry with co-host Kevin Pereira makes the show very enjoyable to watch. The show also features a news re-cap called "The Feed" which is done by the lovely Layla Kayleigh (also part of America's Best Dance Crew). Another show on this channel is Code Monkeys, and it's an absurd show that looks like a video game from the original Nintendo. The show is a sitcom about a video game company, and the story lines are usually absolutely unreal. It sounds terrible, but you should check it out, because it's highly entertaining. Finally, Unbeatable Banzuke is a show that speaks for itself. I won't lie, while I love learning about Spanish/Hispanic Cultures, I couldn't care less about Japanese culture. However, this popular Japanese show features people completing different obstacles and physical tasks, and it is wildly fun to watch. If you've never seen someone compete an obstacle course walking on their hands, walking on stilts, using a pogo stick, riding a mountain bike, or riding a unicycle, then I suggest you watch this show and be ready to be amazed.
This post is going longer than I expected, so I'm going to cut right to the funniest part of late-night television. If you're reading this, and you have Atlantic Broadband's cable service, then you owe it to yourself to check out channel 17 after 3am. In what is maybe the most random act I have seen in quite some time, this channel shows different television shows, cartoons, and news reports throughout the night, but what makes it different is that after 3am (sometimes 4am) every single program...is German. News reports in German, German sitcoms, etc. It's every night, and I never fail to be amazed by the random hilarity on this network, although I never have a clue what's happening. The best show is a kind of puppet-based kids show (I'm assuming it's a kids show) that features a talking crow and a talking suitcase. Seriously Germany...what the fuck?
Well, this has been an interesting post to say the least, and hopefully this can help you know what's on and what's worth watching late at night.
Happy to be back on the scene,
Bowser!