Why Comedy Central Doesn't Stand Out Anymore

MST3K


Comedy Central was once a bold network that dared to stand out and produce programming that not only was braver, but also better. Oh how I wish I had all the episodes of Seasons 2, 3, and 4 (I taped a lot of the later ones on VHS) of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 or MST3K as the fans call it. It was the funniest cutting edge weekly two hours that many people were glued to their television sets. I inhaled all the cheapo movies, many old, some recent that were mocked by Joel Hodgson, Tom Servo and Crow!!! And TV's Frank and Dr. Forrester. And later Mike Nelson, and so on...

But, once the consultants came in and saw the money the network was getting, they thought they would do better homogenizing it as much as possible. While MST3K would last a few more years on the Sci-Fi Channel, it never was quite as good a fit as with Comedy Central. Sci-Fi wanted to be taken seriously. So, all that remains is the MST3K Info Club. (Although I have heard that Mike Nelson does a dialogue to the newer dvd version of Night of the Living Dead).

I am sure the consultants at Comedy Central said MST3K lacked unique viewers. These same consultants should explain why some viewers only know the Mary Joe Pell period MST3K shows.
The same staff lost Bill Maher.
And it is not funny that Comedy Central shows B-Movies now without the MST3K crew, with them the films would be funny.