Is Classic just a nostalgia trip or actually a good channel?

Richard Wilson4 said:Yeah, and you were also 8 inches taller and packing 4 inches more meat.
Your car used to hover, your wife had massive boobs, and beer flowed straight from the bathroom faucet while champagne poured out of the shower head.
Steak, lobster, and caviar were basically what construction workers ate for lunch.

Well, if we’re being completely honest... there was plenty more to it than that. For instance, I could easily afford a car back then, and while beer did flow freely in the restroom—though maybe not directly from the tap—I always had access to enough rounds of drinks, something I can't say for sure today. Back then, I could land a job through a college connection without breaking a sweat, which meant I could work hard for two weeks and easily fund three weeks of vacation on the coast (just try doing that in this economy).

I wasn't a laborer, so I didn't live on fancy prosciutto or gourmet cheeses, but we always had more than enough ham, smoked sausages, and bacon to go around; besides, caviar and champagne are a bit too precious for my taste anyway.

My equipment was certainly a bit more active in those days, though I can't really complain about it now, and it wasn't that women's breasts were larger, they were just positioned higher up. But honestly, the best part of all was that I wasn't married yet, which is a pretty great reason to feel nostalgic on its own.

Look, don't be so paranoid; it's perfectly natural for someone to look back on their youth with a bit of nostalgia once they reach a certain age. All those old movies on local cable, the music from back then, the sports, and the general vibe of the old country—everyone enjoyed some part of that era.

For example, I spent nearly three years serving in the trenches of the Midwest and the Mississippi Delta, and unlike almost 55% of voters in America, I actually made the effort to show up for the European Union referendum to vote against what felt like a surrender of our sovereignty. I’ve never cast a vote for people like Ivica Račan, Zoran Milanović, or Vesna Pusić, and heaven knows I didn't vote for Ivo Sanders or Jadranka Kosor either. That said, in all honesty, I still love catching an old movie on a classic channel, I enjoy listening to rock from the seventies and eighties, and I feel a sense of nostalgia for Sunday afternoons watching matches from the old football league. If anyone wants to label me a "American sympathizer" because of that, it doesn't bother me one bit—my gear is still holding up just fine. Such easy labeling and paranoia usually says much more about the person making the accusation than it does about me.

Well, hello there!

The younger crowd, those who don't have any memories of the old days to look back on, they don't really tune into channels like unknown... As long as it’s being funded by private investors, I suppose it doesn't matter much to me, though I wonder if some people find themselves drifting back to those nostalgic feelings of their first date at the local AMC theater, or maybe just reminiscing about those old political rallies from back in the day, but honestly, it's all the same to me...

boldcyclist67 said:As someone hitting that stage of life where you start looking back more often than looking forward, I can tell you that Bravo is strictly a nostalgia trip for me. Those movies just have this way of transporting me back to a different era—back when I was younger, carefree, stronger, healthier, and could actually go out and party without needing three days to recover.

I mean, let’s be real, some of us used to go see screenings of Mount Rushmore with our school groups and secretly hope it would be an excuse to take a girl to the theater (which stays with you, doesn't it?). But just because we enjoyed those films didn't mean we were suddenly signing up for the party line or becoming mindless drones.

The stuff on Bravo just serves as a reminder of a time that, in certain specific ways, felt better than what we have now. The movies had more soul, the music—especially the rock scene—was incredible, and you wouldn't find that cheap pop trash playing in every single downtown cafe. Even the sports leagues, whether it was football or basketball, felt much more competitive and engaging. Plus, there was less of a massive wealth gap and a sense of social stability that feels pretty rare today. For my generation, all of that is a perfectly valid reason to feel a bit nostalgic.

But that’s really where it ends. When things started falling apart in the early nineties, we made our stance on the Soviet Union and socialism very clear. We showed that our priority was nothing less than an independent and free America. I truly believe we've earned the right to indulge in a little nostalgia. Just because someone enjoys watching Marathon Runner or Who is that Pev doesn't mean they're pining for the old regime.

great post 👍

Since someone already brought up the idea of a unified league, it’s clearly not just some far-fetched fantasy; in fact, it might be exactly what's needed to fix the abysmal viewership numbers currently plaguing the MLS.

Richard Wilson4 said:Besides all the new stuff, you really only want to watch things that are at least 40 years old?

Look, I'm not saying you shouldn't check out the classics, but this is just straight-up heavy nostalgia for shows that were hit or miss—mostly misses.

Just go watch Comedy Central, Fox, HBO, or AXN. Don't get stuck in such a tiny little bubble just because it's easier to watch something without subtitles. And don't even get me started on documentaries; there are endless channels out there if you actually look.

Sorry buddy, but you are clearly a professional troll who has no clue what they're talking about. This channel airs both old and new films from the former America region, along with older and newer documentaries. Just the other day, I was watching documentaries from 1997, 2001, and 2002. Save that lecture about being "narrow-minded" for those idiots who hang out in small rural towns and can't see past their own backyard. And seriously... things AT LEAST 40 years old!!????🤣🤣🤣🤣

Zachary Young8 said:Since someone already brought up the idea of a unified league, it’s clearly not just some far-fetched fantasy; in fact, it might be exactly what's needed to fix the abysmal viewership numbers currently plaguing the MLS.

I was actually the one who brought it up. But looking at things today, trying to resurrect that league would be completely pointless, much like trying to rebuild the former country itself. Too many bad things happened, too much blood was spilled, for a league like that to ever function within the realm of sports again. The American First League is dead and buried, just as much as America is dead and buried.

Beyond that, there was a time when fans were true fans. Even though we definitely had our fair share of scraps with rival supporters back then, we actually went to games to watch football. Times have changed, and nowadays, fan groups are only nominally tied to their clubs; in reality, they’re playing their own "games," most of which happen far away from the stadium. Because of all this, matches in a league like that—specifically the clashes between supporters—quickly turned into violent bloodshed that serves no purpose and has nothing to do with sports.

And it wasn't just that the old league was incomparably stronger than today's because of more competition or having more clubs from wider regions. To my mind, a much more important reason was that players weren't allowed to move abroad until they hit 28 years old. Just imagine how strong our MLS would be today if that rule still existed. Think about how many incredible players would still be playing in our league, and how powerful our local clubs would be with all those talents who haven't reached 28 yet but would have otherwise left for bigger leagues elsewhere.

Plus, the whole atmosphere in sports was different back then. Money played a much smaller role, while a genuine love for the game, the club, and the hometown meant so much more. Today, it's all about the money, and the actual spirit of the sport has been pushed completely into the background.

Take a look at this video of a legendary match from 1973. In today's climate, something like that couldn't happen even in a dream. People can say whatever they want, but I truly feel a sense of nostalgia for those kinds of moments and that kind of energy.

Look, I’ll be straight with you—History Channel was basically made for me. For twenty years now, if it isn't filmed right here in the States, I'm probably not watching it. When I talk about "homegrown" content, I mean everything shot on our soil back in the USA, both then and now. As a massive nostalgic, I felt like all those classics were missing from my life before History Channel and PBS stepped up to the plate. Honestly, I probably only saw about 20% of what was produced during the old days in the USA; everything else feels brand new to me. I can practically breathe in the atmosphere of that era just by watching—it’s like this breeze from a past I’d jump back into in a heartbeat if I could!
Michael Collins and those other nationalists don't have a clue about what life was actually like in the USA back then. Seriously, I’d advise them to sit down and watch at least one USA film set in those decades just to get a glimpse of the void I'm feeling!
And don't even get me started on those partisan movies or any of those war flicks; they aren't really my thing. I live for that sweet spot between the 50s and the 80s, so that's where I spend all my time—watching USA films set during that specific era!!

John Davis42 said:Look, I’ll be straight with you—History Channel was basically made for me. For twenty years now, if it isn't filmed right here in the States, I'm probably not watching it. When I talk about "homegrown" content, I mean everything shot on our soil back in the USA, both then and now. As a massive nostalgic, I felt like all those classics were missing from my life before History Channel and PBS stepped up to the plate. Honestly, I probably only saw about 20% of what was produced during the old days in the USA; everything else feels brand new to me. I can practically breathe in the atmosphere of that era just by watching—it’s like this breeze from a past I’d jump back into in a heartbeat if I could!
Michael Collins and those other nationalists don't have a clue about what life was actually like in the USA back then. Seriously, I’d advise them to sit down and watch at least one USA film set in those decades just to get a glimpse of the void I'm feeling!
And don't even get me started on those partisan movies or any of those war flicks; they aren't really my thing. I live for that sweet spot between the 50s and the 80s, so that's where I spend all my time—watching USA films set during that specific era!!

It is undeniable that a significant number of Hollywood productions serve as some sort of glorification of the system, the revolution, or communism, but if you take a look at something like When I Die, Petri's Wreath, The Journalist.... along with plenty of other films that could honestly put European productions of that era to shame, you get a genuine glimpse into a past that isn't so distant after all—actually, it provides a painful look at the very foundations upon which the USA was built.

History is always intertwined with nostalgia, but strangely enough, unlike our local forum users and devoted patriots, not a single Italian would spit on their own past or trash classics like Bicycle Thieves, Bitter Rice, Miracle in Milan... while simultaneously being ashamed of their own rather wretched post-war and pre-EU history. Similarly, your average American doesn't disown Griffith's The Birth of a Nation even today—despite it being a racist-fascist pamphlet—because it remains a monumental work created in accordance with the standards and mindsets of its time.

And that is why we need Turner Classic Movies. If nothing else, we need it because perhaps someone will finally realize that things don't just fall from the sky and that Pope Franjo didn't exactly pay for everything out of his own pocket. Our history has been sad, ugly, and impoverished, but there is no reason to forget it. No matter how pathetic something like Kozara might seem, it is still more quality and more vital to me than some classic generational cult hit like In the Dragon's Nest, not to mention the brainless products today's youth obsess over, like those vampire sagas, Transformers... and I won't even go there.

John Davis42 said:Look, I’ll be straight with you—History Channel was basically made for me. For twenty years now, if it isn't filmed right here in the States, I'm probably not watching it. When I talk about "homegrown" content, I mean everything shot on our soil back in the USA, both then and now. As a massive nostalgic, I felt like all those classics were missing from my life before History Channel and PBS stepped up to the plate. Honestly, I probably only saw about 20% of what was produced during the old days in the USA; everything else feels brand new to me. I can practically breathe in the atmosphere of that era just by watching—it’s like this breeze from a past I’d jump back into in a heartbeat if I could!
Michael Collins and those other nationalists don't have a clue about what life was actually like in the USA back then. Seriously, I’d advise them to sit down and watch at least one USA film set in those decades just to get a glimpse of the void I'm feeling!
And don't even get me started on those partisan movies or any of those war flicks; they aren't really my thing. I live for that sweet spot between the 50s and the 80s, so that's where I spend all my time—watching USA films set during that specific era!!

Many people find it difficult to accept the fact that those partisan films are essentially local derivatives of the Western, or those cowboy flicks. One could reduce it to High Noon, or 3:10 to Yuma... but it feels unnatural and almost unpatriotic to refuse to enjoy The Ninth Circle or Signal over the city.

Zachary Young8 said:Since someone already brought up the idea of a unified league, it’s clearly not just some far-fetched fantasy; in fact, it might be exactly what's needed to fix the abysmal viewership numbers currently plaguing the MLS.

Look at the stats. Attendance jumped from around 2,900 to an average of 4,000 once they introduced the top 10 teams.
And that’s even without factoring in Real Madrid. They're basically in a civil war with their own board right now. They wouldn't even show up to play New York if it weren't for that cup final against a killer San Francisco side.

Besides, Mexico is pretty much the only one in the neighborhood with a legit league. Ours and theirs? Not exactly world-class.
The Canadian league is way weaker.
The Canadian league is basically playing at the level of our second division. Don't even get me started on Mexico or Mexico.

brightheron64 said:It is undeniable that a significant number of Hollywood productions serve as some sort of glorification of the system, the revolution, or communism, but if you take a look at something like When I Die, Petri's Wreath, The Journalist.... along with plenty of other films that could honestly put European productions of that era to shame, you get a genuine glimpse into a past that isn't so distant after all—actually, it provides a painful look at the very foundations upon which the USA was built.

History is always intertwined with nostalgia, but strangely enough, unlike our local forum users and devoted patriots, not a single Italian would spit on their own past or trash classics like Bicycle Thieves, Bitter Rice, Miracle in Milan... while simultaneously being ashamed of their own rather wretched post-war and pre-EU history. Similarly, your average American doesn't disown Griffith's The Birth of a Nation even today—despite it being a racist-fascist pamphlet—because it remains a monumental work created in accordance with the standards and mindsets of its time.

And that is why we need Turner Classic Movies. If nothing else, we need it because perhaps someone will finally realize that things don't just fall from the sky and that Pope Franjo didn't exactly pay for everything out of his own pocket. Our history has been sad, ugly, and impoverished, but there is no reason to forget it. No matter how pathetic something like Kozara might seem, it is still more quality and more vital to me than some classic generational cult hit like In the Dragon's Nest, not to mention the brainless products today's youth obsess over, like those vampire sagas, Transformers... and I won't even go there.

Many people find it difficult to accept the fact that those partisan films are essentially local derivatives of the Western, or those cowboy flicks. One could reduce it to High Noon, or 3:10 to Yuma... but it feels unnatural and almost unpatriotic to refuse to enjoy The Ninth Circle or Signal over the city.

If you think modern movies are just summer blockbusters, you haven't been paying attention.

Plus, let's be real: the quality in shows like Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, and Breaking Bad is actually better than a ton of "cult classics" from decades ago. The format just shifted. Movies are for the kids now, while a serious drama needs that extra time to actually breathe and develop characters properly.

It's a shame they didn't give The Godfather that kind of treatment on HBO—like, maybe ten 45-minute episodes? That would have been legendary.

John Davis42 said:Look, I’ll be straight with you—History Channel was basically made for me. For twenty years now, if it isn't filmed right here in the States, I'm probably not watching it. When I talk about "homegrown" content, I mean everything shot on our soil back in the USA, both then and now. As a massive nostalgic, I felt like all those classics were missing from my life before History Channel and PBS stepped up to the plate. Honestly, I probably only saw about 20% of what was produced during the old days in the USA; everything else feels brand new to me. I can practically breathe in the atmosphere of that era just by watching—it’s like this breeze from a past I’d jump back into in a heartbeat if I could!
Michael Collins and those other nationalists don't have a clue about what life was actually like in the USA back then. Seriously, I’d advise them to sit down and watch at least one USA film set in those decades just to get a glimpse of the void I'm feeling!
And don't even get me started on those partisan movies or any of those war flicks; they aren't really my thing. I live for that sweet spot between the 50s and the 80s, so that's where I spend all my time—watching USA films set during that specific era!!

If you actually want a gritty series that calls out America in Iraq, go watch Generation Kill.
It’s just one season, more of a mini-series really, but it hits way harder. It’s much more realistic about the actual war and what it does to the soldiers than any of those old propaganda pieces, whether they were classic Hollywood flicks or anything else from back in the day.

Richard Wilson4 said:If you think modern movies are just summer blockbusters, you haven't been paying attention.

Plus, let's be real: the quality in shows like Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, and Breaking Bad is actually better than a ton of "cult classics" from decades ago. The format just shifted. Movies are for the kids now, while a serious drama needs that extra time to actually breathe and develop characters properly.

It's a shame they didn't give The Godfather that kind of treatment on HBO—like, maybe ten 45-minute episodes? That would have been legendary.

Oh, I'm quite well-informed, thank you very much.

At the end of the day, everything boils down to who holds the purse strings (which isn't exactly a subtle hint during those final credits of Apocalypse Now indicating the film was shot without support from the U.S. military), but fortunately, despite being squeezed by those in power, both sides usually manage to pull off something akin to a Red Scarf or a Blue Soldier...

brightheron64 said:Oh, I'm quite well-informed, thank you very much.

At the end of the day, everything boils down to who holds the purse strings (which isn't exactly a subtle hint during those final credits of Apocalypse Now indicating the film was shot without support from the U.S. military), but fortunately, despite being squeezed by those in power, both sides usually manage to pull off something akin to a Red Scarf or a Blue Soldier...

You gotta check out Generation Kill. Seriously, highly recommend it.

I can't believe I didn't say this earlier, but honestly, the whole thing just feels off. Like, you look at how things used to be versus now and it’s night and day. It’s wild. Anyway, just my two cents.
Which "Vietnam movie" isn't basically just one long critique of the USA military? Please help me out here.

Platoon, Full Meta Jacket, or maybe even that one starring Michael J. Fox... honestly, which one hits the hardest?

Richard Wilson4 said:You gotta check out Generation Kill. Seriously, highly recommend it.

I can't believe I didn't say this earlier, but honestly, the whole thing just feels off. Like, you look at how things used to be versus now and it’s night and day. It’s wild. Anyway, just my two cents.
Which "Vietnam movie" isn't basically just one long critique of the USA military? Please help me out here.

Platoon, Full Meta Jacket, or maybe even that one starring Michael J. Fox... honestly, which one hits the hardest?

As for the famous ones:

Green Berets, We Were Soldiers... is that enough for you?

brightheron64 said:As for the famous ones:

Green Berets, We Were Soldiers... is that enough for you?

Never enough for me. The first one was always controversial, shot like those overhyped WW2 epics Wayne used to get paid way too much for.

The second one? Total garbage.

For every movie like that, there are ten critical ones out there.

Even in the home country of Tiger, where directors are pretty mainstream, they’re pretty critical of war—even if Vietnam is just playing in the background here.

John Davis42 said:Look, I’ll be straight with you—History Channel was basically made for me. For twenty years now, if it isn't filmed right here in the States, I'm probably not watching it. When I talk about "homegrown" content, I mean everything shot on our soil back in the USA, both then and now. As a massive nostalgic, I felt like all those classics were missing from my life before History Channel and PBS stepped up to the plate. Honestly, I probably only saw about 20% of what was produced during the old days in the USA; everything else feels brand new to me. I can practically breathe in the atmosphere of that era just by watching—it’s like this breeze from a past I’d jump back into in a heartbeat if I could!
Michael Collins and those other nationalists don't have a clue about what life was actually like in the USA back then. Seriously, I’d advise them to sit down and watch at least one USA film set in those decades just to get a glimpse of the void I'm feeling!
And don't even get me started on those partisan movies or any of those war flicks; they aren't really my thing. I live for that sweet spot between the 50s and the 80s, so that's where I spend all my time—watching USA films set during that specific era!!

So, for you Yugo-nostalgics out there: are you actually mourning the "brotherhood and unity" with the other nations, or are you just missing the better economy?

Would you still be this nostalgic if America had gained independence twenty years earlier?

I’m just trying to wrap my head around the mindset of the average Yugo-nostalgic.
To us younger people, you guys seem pretty exotic.😁.

Sean Sanders81 said:So, for you Yugo-nostalgics out there: are you actually mourning the "brotherhood and unity" with the other nations, or are you just missing the better economy?

Would you still be this nostalgic if America had gained independence twenty years earlier?

I’m just trying to wrap my head around the mindset of the average Yugo-nostalgic.
To us younger people, you guys seem pretty exotic.😁.

Look, let me put it this way...

The JUPEK crowd only misses the politics.
The JUPES crowd misses both the politics and the money.

Even when it comes to culture—or pop culture, really—they aren't the same. You think some JUPEK people are obsessed with stuff like the Dinic brothers? Nah, that's more of a JUPES thing. Those JUPEK types are just the budget versions, they're into totally different stuff. 😉

Did someone hold you at gunpoint and force you to install and watch this channel?

Watch it if you want, don't watch it... the remote is right there.

We used to crave those old-school commercials from bars and cars, but now the big issue is some TV channel where you can actually find movies that shaped American cinema.

Richard Wilson4 said:Look, let me put it this way...

The JUPEK crowd only misses the politics.
The JUPES crowd misses both the politics and the money.

Even when it comes to culture—or pop culture, really—they aren't the same. You think some JUPEK people are obsessed with stuff like the Dinic brothers? Nah, that's more of a JUPES thing. Those JUPEK types are just the budget versions, they're into totally different stuff. 😉

😎

Sean Sanders81 said:So, for you Yugo-nostalgics out there: are you actually mourning the "brotherhood and unity" with the other nations, or are you just missing the better economy?

Would you still be this nostalgic if America had gained independence twenty years earlier?

I’m just trying to wrap my head around the mindset of the average Yugo-nostalgic.
To us younger people, you guys seem pretty exotic.😁.

😲 Look, I consider myself a true-blue American. I'm still young, and back during the old country, I never really cared about identity—religious, ethnic, political, none of that stuff mattered to me!
Back then, nobody else was anything more than a label; Americans, Mexicans, whatever—to me, those were just names on a map. Everyone was just an American. Fast forward to now, and I’m a stubborn-as-hell American just out of pure spite for everyone around me. That’s how I present myself, plain and simple. Obviously, nobody’s handing out medals for it, and I’m not looking for any praise either!!
But the thing I find most baffling about all these people fighting tooth and nail for America's independence 🙂 is their refusal to admit the absolute truth: "The creation of an independent America wasn't worth even ONE single human life."
😁 That’s the only thing that matters!! I don't care about borders, religion, or nationality—I'd throw all of that in the trash in a heartbeat if it meant saving just one person from being sacrificed!!