It was fun while it lasted: IFC and Antenna TV

It's time for one final round of Gloomy Gus musings to close out 2010. Maybe my reaction to these two items is too cynical, but I'll let you be the judge.

ITEM: IFC airing commercials DURING its programming
--First of all, note the "brand name" IFC. The channel has been de-emphasizing the Independent Film Channel part of its name for a while now. It has added more types of films to its lineup. It has added different programming to supplement the films, including original shows and reruns. This is not news.

But now IFC is inserting ad breaks INTO its programs, and to me that's the last straw, the sign that we have left the "better keep an eye on this" phase and entered the "all downhill from here" phase. After all, does this strategy remind you of another movie channel? Like, say, American Movie Classics--I mean, AMC? Take a guess what other channel the parent company of AMC owns.

Sure, for now, the channel isn't hacking up its films and series; for now it is picking quirky or acclaimed TV shows with cult appeal like "Freaks and Geeks" and "Larry Sanders." But it's only a matter of time until they start boosting the ad content, then trimming the programming content to make way for it. And then, in order to attract more and better ad content, well, of course the people running IFC are going to look for more mainstream reruns to draw those eyeballs the advertisers will want.

So, yeah, basically, IFC is not a train wreck yet, but it's on that slippery slope towards abandoning its original reason for being and becoming just another channel.

ITEM: Antenna TV revises its launch schedule, eliminates the rare shows
--I'm delighted to see another digital subchannel programming outlet that relies on old-school programming, and I mean literally see it, as I just confirmed that it will be available in Cultureshark Tower. But this past week was a bit of a downer as far as Antenna TV goes because I went from the joy of seeing the original launch schedule, then days later learning it had changed.

The first schedule I saw included rarities like "Farmer's Daughter" and super-rarities like a 1950s anthology show, among other interesting programs that were not only not on DVD, but which had not been aired nationally in years and years.

Then a newer schedule came out, as announced by Pavan Badal at Sitcoms Online. Take a guess what shows aren't on the schedule anymore. Much of the product from Sony, the story goes, is either in terrible shape and/or isn't yet in a usable format for air, so Antenna is waiting until it's all ready so it can show each series from the beginning. In the meantime, we're left with some decent stuff--I'm not complaining about getting the post-season-1, not-on-DVD "Hazel"--and a lot of overplayed or too-new reruns ("Married With Children," "The Nanny," "Sanford and Son," etc.).

Oh, Pavan tried to talk us all off the ledge by assuring us that Antenna is still committed to running the good stuff when it's ready, but the fact is, most channels are best when they launch, and they gradually homogenize themselves and get rid of the more interesting stuff as time passes. See, for example, AMC and IFC!

I don't doubt the integrity of Sitcoms Online, and I really want to believe Antenna has its collective heart in the right place, but I fear this is gonna be a wasted opportunity, and by the time the rare shows are ready, Antenna will be moving on and adding the likes of "NewsRadio" (a quality show, but one that has seen ample rerun cycles already) and "Mad About You" and other TV Land rejects.

A lot of us desperately want Antenna TV to be what it claims to be, but this isn't a promising start. Let's just hope that the fact the schedule changes were made like this is because Antenna is rushing to get a foothold on the dial with the beginning of the new year and Sony just couldn't keep up...and NOT because of a RTV-style pattern of disorganization and chaos that will plague this outfit.

I'm disappointed but cautiously optimistic on this one, and I can enjoy "Father Knows Best" in the meantime, but I'm still worried.