This morning at 3AM Ch 38 broadcast Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. I serioulsy have to question who is programming these movies and why they choose such ridiculous times. Ch 38 like 56 have sadly become infomerical & talk show stations, but every now and then they show something interesting. This was actually a decent move and should have been shown in the afternoon slot.

As a side note I am enjoying RTN and its slate of programs with the exception of MMH, but why bring that up again? It stinks!

I know it was a rhetorical question, CDF Fan, but...
The answer "why" is right in your statement:
"Ch 38 like 56 have sadly become infomerical & talk show stations".
These programs are the station's money-makers, not Godzilla movies. I suppose they would have thrown any old movie in that time slot just to kill the time. Things sure have changed...remember when they only showed informercials during the overnight hours to save entertaining programs for the prime hours? Heck, remember when there were NO informercials at all and you could find stations hosting "Late Shows" for classic movies after the 11pm news?

Take heart my friend because Off-Beat Cinema has returned to RTN right after MMH! (at least for now)

Well that's a dose of both good and bad news. While it's very unfortunate that chanel 38 would choose to air a movie like that at 3 AM, it's also pretty awesome that channel 38 would choose to air a movie like "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." at all these days. The kind of stuff that used to regularly show up on channel 38 and 56 has all but disappeared (with the exception to the occassional Ernie Boch Jr. CDF revivals). I wonder if this should be a positive sign that maybe channel 38 has at least some interest in showing these types of movies? It's doubtful that these kinds of movies could ever be as lucrative as paid programming. !nd why ARE they so lucrative anyway? It's hard to believe that enough people watch these programs and buy the crap they're selling to make paying for the airtime worthwhile. But that's another story... I suppose it couldn't hurt to let the people at channel 38 know that we appreciate them running a movie like "G:T S.O.S.", but that we also wouldn't mind seeing it at a time when we could actually watch it! Imagine seeing something like that air on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon after The Stooges and The Phantom Gourmet? No, I'm sure it won't happen, but it WOULD be cool, wouldn't it?

It's true about how much things have changed where paid programming used to be generally found only very late at night and now they're on during all hours of the day. Maybe cable has something to do with this. With so much programming (much of it commercial free) available on cable/satellite, it's almost like daytime hours on broadcast channels has become one big commercial zone!

I actually kind of miss the short paid-programming-type of commercials that used to run during the commercial breaks in movies (rather than being entire shows unto themselves). All those records (K-Tel) and kooky products (Ronco) that you'd see advertised while watching monster movies on CDF seem so quaint now.

Colonel, I agree! As a matter of fact, I propose that a new thread is started devoted to these commercials! I have some things to contribute, and will, but I am packing to go to the airport tomorrow morning. When I get back from my trip, I will try and get my stuff onto my computer (I have some audio I recorded onto cassette off of the tv from way back when...)

Speaking of Ronco, I've seen his "pocket fisherman" commercial on RTN. It's a new ad too; not the one from the 70's.

K-Tel and Ronco were as much a part of the CDF experience as the movies. I know we discused it before but the Mr. Big Toy Store commercial was also quite popular.

Oh yeah, that was a great one! I actually posted it around here somewhere quite a few months ago--it is (or at least WAS at the time) on Youtube. I don't really remember seeing that one during CDF (though just how many commercials can you remember after all?). It always seemed to be on during the afternoon showings of Force Five and Star Blazers. A perfect place for it!

south shore girl, the paid-programming-commercial thread sounds like a good idea. Perhaps a thread for ALL the commercials we remember from the late 70s/early 80s would be good. There have been commercial threads before (the one with the Boy Scouts commercial stands out in my memory), but it would be nice to have them all together in one place. They always seem to bring back good memories!

starblazers? good times.

I used to watch Battle of the Planets, but I think I liked it more for its theme song than the actual program. I can hum it no problem, but I don't remember much of the show itself outside of a few characters (like 7zark7 and Zoltar).

Yeah, Battle of the Planets really introduced me to Japanese animation (before it was called anime) in the late 70s. I never actually disliked it, but by the time Force Five and Star Blazers were on I didn't seem to watch Battle of the Planets any more. It did have a great theme though. Thanks to Netflix I've been able to watch a lot of Battle of the Planets once again for the first time in decades! Not only that, but I've been able to see them as they were originally made, as "Gatchaman". It's funny to compare the original to the cut up version that was Battle of the Planets. Not only was there no Star-Wars-rip-off 7 Zark 7, but there was actually quite a bit more violence and even deaths in the original!

My introduction to Japanimation was Speed Racer waaaay back around 1970-71 (on channel 56, of course!)and still my all-time favorite. Not surprising because I was nuts for race cars and Hot Wheels in particular . Funny you mentioning "Gatchaman" (the real Battle of the Planets)--- that it wasn't until I could look it up on the Internet that Speed Racer was originally "Mach Go Go Go" and some of the things that puzzled me for decades finally got cleared up. Like:

Why does Speed have "Go" on his shirt? (His real Japanese name is Go)
Why is there an "M" on his helmet and hood of the Mach 5? (His Japanese last name is Mifune--and his family's company is Mifune Motors)
Why does everyone talk so fast? (So the translated dialog will sync with the mouth movements)

i think i should start a starblazers thread...