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Post by Diet Kolos on May 15, 2021 8:05:13 GMT -5
Bloodlust is a totally forgettable episode, for me anyways. I barely revisit it. Something about the movie is just...dull. *shrug* Different strokes.
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Post by Diet Kolos on May 15, 2021 8:13:12 GMT -5
I'll also say that the TV movies, Code Name Diamond Head and San Francisco International, are on the lower end of movie selection, also. The episodes themselves are decent and good, respectively, but as far as MST movies go, they're...not great.
Oh! And Last of the Wild Horses! There's a dud.
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Post by PimPamPet on May 15, 2021 9:50:03 GMT -5
I guess season 6 is not that popular around here. It's definitely my favorite Mike season. I love all the episodes Kolos mentioned as well. Am I crazy? I'm Cherokee Jack!
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Post by CrowTrobotfan92 on May 15, 2021 9:54:42 GMT -5
Huh..... didn’t know there wasn’t much popularity with season 6 on this forum. Oh well.
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Post by CrowTrobotfan92 on May 15, 2021 9:55:51 GMT -5
I'll also say that the TV movies, Code Name Diamond Head and San Francisco International, are on the lower end of movie selection, also. The episodes themselves are decent and good, respectively, but as far as MST movies go, they're...not great. Oh! And Last of the Wild Horses! There's a dud. I checked out Code Name on its own, a decent TV movie from what I remember though not one I’d go out of my way to watch again. I have yet to see San Fransico on its own. Last of the Wild Horses was just boring.
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Post by wedestroymyths on May 15, 2021 10:39:00 GMT -5
Bloodlust has always been a “pizza episode” for me—you know, it’s fine, and I enjoy it if it’s on, might even put it on myself once every couple of years...but it’s nothing special.
Of course, MST is kind of a pizza show, I can do that with pretty much any ep. it’s just some slices go above and and beyond.
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Post by glowgirl004 on May 15, 2021 10:56:39 GMT -5
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Comedy Central have issues with MST3K because its 90-minute length ate up so much schedule time? And that Comedy Central suggested the Brains riff TV episodes instead because it would mean a shorter show? Then again, as someone else pointed out in this thread, MST3K was on a lot, so that doesn't go along with the "Comedy Central didn't like how long MST3K was."
I'm only going on what I saw people say on here. I was a kid when MST3K was on Comedy Central and while I remember watching some episodes with my mom, I didn't truly get into the show until I rediscovered it in college 10+ years later.
I do see what you all mean by comedy tastes shifting to something more edgy, considering South Park showed up a year after MST3K left Comedy Central.
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Post by Diet Kolos on May 15, 2021 11:27:38 GMT -5
As Comedy Central began to get into more households, and began to establish a stable of first-run shows (Politically Incorrect, Absolutely Fabulous, Doctor Katz, Exit 57, The Vacant Lot, etc), they were in fact trying to get MST into a shorter time slot. They did it to some of their other shows also, like Short Attention Span Theatre which was reduced down to 30 minutes around 1993-1994. That's where MST Hour comes from.
CC did suggest during Season 7 negotiations that they riff TV shows or politics, which was turned down, presumably in an hour-long (or shorter) format. It was part of CC's rebrand into a more vibrant, ratings-oriented channel. You can sell more ads if you have 4 30-minute shows vs 1 2-hour show.
In the early days, you needed a 2-hour long show to fill time because, what else was there. Car 54 and Quark reruns?
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Post by Diet Kolos on May 15, 2021 11:37:13 GMT -5
So it was pressure on all sides. Movie rights were getting harder/more expensive, Joel leaving prob alienated a good portion of existing viewers, and the incoming regime was moving in a different direction.
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Post by comedyc on May 15, 2021 12:20:39 GMT -5
This has been an interesting thread. I was always under the impression, based off of interviews I had read throughout the years, that CC cancelled MST3K because they were making The Movie. CC was like, if you're going to abandon us, then we'll just cancel you, as you have no need for us anyway now that your plan is to make a Movie a year. But there is that sketch in Angels Revenge about how the ratings are slipping. And they revisited that notion when introducing Timmy Bobby Rusty in Escape 2000. I also remember around that time, my cable company (and several others, from what I've noticed) started to split CC and VH1 on one channel, showing each for half the day. The MST3K part of the day being the part of the day they were showing VH1. I doubt that really had anything to do with it, but worth mentioning. Sci-Fi loved the show the first year, then just stopped caring around Season 9, and was out the door by Season 10. Along with the other originals it had launched at the time (like Sliders).
So, in conclusion, early years: show thrives. Change hosts: cancelled. Change networks: cancelled. Change networks again (many years later): cancelled. Create own platform: remains to be seen, but cautiously optimistic. BTW, I adore Season 6.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2021 12:29:08 GMT -5
I'm not sure if it was by design or other circumstances (specifically related to licensing movies), but it felt like a bold step to feature almost every week a movie in contention for the worst they'd ever done. The CC Mike era, specifically season 6, was my favorite when I first watched the entire series in order, but over time I've come to prefer the Sci-Fi and Joel eras more. Now it just sorta feels like the awkward teenage years of the show.
Actually, re-watching the Comedy Channel/Central era in order again over the last couple of years, I've gained more appreciation for Mike episodes I used to write off (Beginning of the End, The Atomic Brain, Radar Secret Service, Code Name: Diamond Head, Racket Girls...), but on the whole I thought Seasons 6 and 7 (to a much lesser extent) were kinda disappointing this time around.
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Post by slainmonkey on May 15, 2021 12:29:33 GMT -5
I mean while I enjoy the Sci-fi Channel years, it does seem like it was odd network to pick up MST3K to begin with. I’m thankful that they did though, but I do think it possible that it may have struggled the thrive on there for that reason. Netflix however loves cancelling shows after 2 seasons, plus they had a massively controversial purging on many of their shows in 2019......due to that, we might never know the real reason as to why it ultimately was canceled there!
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on May 15, 2021 12:43:44 GMT -5
Sci-Fi loved the show the first year, then just stopped caring around Season 9, and was out the door by Season 10. Along with the other originals it had launched at the time (like Sliders). In the case of Sliders, the ratings were actually good enough to renew for a sixth season, but they made a contractual commitment to a series called First Wave to air three seasons. First Wave came out and tanked, and Sci-Fi was stuck with the show. Sliders was one of the shows they axed to keep their contractual obligation and make room for First Wave. I don't know if MST was caught up in that, but if they were short on airtime, cancelling the two hour show made sense.
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Post by wedestroymyths on May 15, 2021 13:07:43 GMT -5
I think, too, Sci Fi might not have been as ubiquitous as CC when the show was on. I think part of why I lost track of the show was when I went to college, the cable company up there didn't carry Sci Fi? In fact, we might have only had it at home at that point in Ohio because my Dad had a satellite dish in our back yard, but I seem to remember friends coming over to watch some of the season 8 episodes because they didn't have Sci Fi on their cable, even as our interest was waning a bit.
The first time I remember watching an episode live as it aired at school was Soultaker. But that season I still only ended up catching that, Squirm, and the last episode.
As for season six, it's never been a favorite, but season 5 is a contender for favorite for me. I guess, for me personally, then, that puts me in the "weak film selection" for season six being a factor, camp. It didn't feel that way to me at the time. I was just excited to still be getting new episodes. It wasn't until watching since that season 6 has started to sometimes feel like a slog.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2021 13:15:37 GMT -5
When Sci-Fi picked up the show in 1996, it was primarily airing re-runs of network shows and films. SFC had some original programming in the late '90s (including MST) but they didn't start to really fill out their schedule with original content until around 1999. That basically coincided with their first channel rebrand and, probably not coincidentally, MST's cancellation.
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