Do you have a favorite Cable Access show?

[Jeffrey]

Some of you have at least one.

Mine is The Show With No Name, which had no "real" description what the show's about except that it had a host and a sidekick making pranks(the sidekick would do most of them), taking viewer calls, but most of all they would show random clips that are so great that I can't possibly list them all down.

Sadly however, after 7 years, they just run their last show tonight.:(

[shoujoaifan]

Sounds like it was good. Did they ever put any of it online?

One thing that is popular on cable access is the a classic show before syndication of sitcoms killed most of them in the 80's, the horror host, or more well known as the movie host.

They use public domain movies (alot of which were on Mystery Science Theater 3000) and film segments for inbetween. Sometimes they have video clips on their own sites.

One GREAT site for general info and links is www.horrorhostunderground.com or www.horrorhosts.com (make sure that last one has a "s" at the end if you type it later, or you go to a different site, haven't checked out yet)

ONE THING THOUGH: Don't get confused by "SYNDICATION". What they mean for syndication for them is that they trade copies of each others' works to show on their cable access shows in rotation with their own, or sometimes even pay for a whole block of horrorhost shows. A host of hosts :D

Although a few have manage to escape cable acess and get syndicated in the traditional sense, and get PAID for their work (usually just a couple or so stations throughout the country but its better than nothing and most people are not doing this for a living).

I should check to see if there's anything good on my local cable access channel.

[Bryangst]

Well, from mayhaps Jim Spag to the show with the guy that takes calls and people respect him because he just insults people, or the show about Nazi's... I'd probably have to say Jim Spag was uhhh... a bit different... the guy jumped around the set naked and did all kinds of crazy perverted stuff. It was definitely the most interesting local cable access show, but very stupid. And now Jim Spag is dead.

[Martianinvader]

His name was Jim Spaggs. After "Town Hall" did a special expose on him, the channel kicked him off the air. I heard that they replaced him with something even worse.

For those who don't live in Portland, take it on faith--Spaggs was a total depraved nutcase. So how'd he die? Or do I want to know?

[Bryangst]

Yeahhhh that's the guy. Only, after a while he was allowed to return to the channel... GOD I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. But yes, for a while he was replaced with something worse. Can't remember what it was though.

If I remember correctly, I believe he may have been a hooker that killed him. Never payed too much attention to him or anything surrounding him, so I'm just going off of what I've been told.

[Good Ol' Batmanuel!]

It's a bit different than cable access, but there's a guy not too far from here in Ontario who has a show called "JR Digs (http://jrdigs.com/)" who buys his own airtime. At first, he would buy late-nite infomercial time from an Ontario channel called CH (a very small part of a bigger thing called Global, which has nation-wide regional coverage), but now he has a few sponsors and was able to expand beyond CH to Global itself. So, he's now seen across the country, but as he still uses his own money to fund the show (he gets nothing from Global itself), he can't afford too much, despite sponsors.

What the show is about, basically, is him trying to get a network deal. If he got a network deal, he wouldn't have to pay out of his own pocket and he could actually pay some people, too (his cameraman and such are volunteers). For lack of a better comparison, I'd say he's like Tom Green, just not as insane/gross. The show is hit-and-miss, but when it's funny, it's very funny.

[Jeff Harris]

Cable . . . access? I know not what this cable . . . access is. Don't get me wrong. I know what cable access is, but since I live in the region unfortunately dubbed "Hampton Roads" by the local media, business, and government types (Hampton Roads is actually a body of water northwest of Norfolk, VA adjacent to the James River and Chesapeake Bay, where Civil War geeks recall where the first armored boat battle took place), we don't really have "public access." There's five cable access networks here. Three of them are controlled by the city governments and school systems. One of them is a "cable marketplace," which shows infomercials and local ads. The "main" access channel we have is basically the Cox propaganda network with regional community programming, mostly sitdown interviews with local business types, infomercials, community educational shows, and jewelry showcases.

Nothing remotely close to public access at all, though the cable marketplace came close, airing Cinema Insomnia with Mr. Lobo.

As for horror hosts, around here, we have someone akin to a legend in the industry. Dr. Madblood (www.madblood.net) has been a local stable for 28 years, beginning with his stint at WAVY after SNL (they used to shoot in the old WAVY "fish market" studio blocks from my house [heck, the good doctor's house is blocks from my house as well]), weekends on WTVZ, and currently on WSKY in the form of a weekly show that includes Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Boris Karloff Presents Thriller, and some schlocky movie. The show is just as classic as it was when it started.