Network Decay/In Universe Examples

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Examples are categorized according to the networks the listed works are making fun of.

BET

• Two banned episodes of The Boondocks (you can watch 'em on DVD) bash BET's decay for all it's worth. The irony here is that the Executive Producer "Reginald Hudlin" in the credits is the same one who currently runs BET. Contractual obligations keep his name on it, but series creator Aaron McGruder has made his stance on the network clear. "Martin Luther King Jr." called out the network in one episode, and shortly afterwards, the former president of the network killed himself.

Cartoon Network

• Mocked in Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 01 where in the episode "Jumpy George", a woman hires Meatwad to babysit her children. Her instructions:

"They're allowed to watch half an hour of television, and only cartoons. Which means no Cartoon Network."

• Robot Chicken lampshaded Adult Swim’s treatment of Anime, noting once during a segment about Inuyasha:

"Stupid Adult Swim only plays it on Saturdays now."

• In an Adult Swim Ad Bumper, a viewer noted that their message boards were feeling dead as they were not pissing off their fans good enough. Adult Swim, being the Trolling Creators they are, attempted to start some rallying by lampshading their own decay.

"ANIME IS A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME! WE'RE GOING ALL LIVE ACTION THIS SUMMER!"

• The Andrew W.K. song "Hearing What I Said", which was used as a promotion for CN Real, pretty much sums up Cartoon Network’s attempts at live action. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t received very well.

Your name is Cartoon Network, so you expect to see, nothing but animation when you flip CN on your TV. But the times they are a-changing, so don’t get left behind, because now we’ve got real people and, we’ve heard it blows your mind.

Fictional Networks

• UBS, the TV station from Network, which shifts from a regular channel, to a sensationalist channel, complete with a Reality Show following the steps of a guerrila group.
• The Onion: "Learning Channel Switches to All-Gilligan Format".

FOX

• The Simpsons: In a Flash Forward episode set in 2010 Marge comments that the FOX TV network had switched to hardcore porn so gradaully she never even noticed.

G4/Tech TV

• In Episode 12.5 (DTV Pitch) of Berserk Abridged, when Zodd mentioned specialty cable networks being good at the start, then going downhill quickly when they lose their focus, using G4 as an example.

Zodd: Don't you think we can do a little better than DTV? Phil: Why, what's wrong with DTV? It's television for demons, we're demons -- it's perfect. Zodd: Yeah, but you know how these specialty cable networks are: they start out real good, but then they lose their focus and things go downhill real quick. Just look at what happened to G4!

MTV

• In the Family Guy humor book Stewie's Guide to World Domination, the section "Why MTV Is the Root of All Evil", has Stewie Griffin lashing out on MTV.

"There's no bloody music on the network anymore! Yes, I'm aware this is an age-old complaint, but the word "music" is right there in the name of the channel, you loathsome cretins. At the very least, stop being disingenuous and just go ahead change the name of the network from MTV to Road Rules-Pimp My Ride-and-Intoxicated-College-Students-Doing-Disgusting-Stunts-for-No-Pay-but-Rather-Because-Someone-Shoved-a-Camera-in-Their-Faces TV."

• Lyrics for the Bowling for Soup song "1985" include: "There was U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV..."

The History Channel

• Parodied by South Park in the episode "A History Channel Thanksgiving", when the boys believe that aliens were involved in the original Thanksgiving after watching a "special" on the channel.
• Mocked in a Jimmy Kimmel Live comedy short:

"This weekend on The History Channel, someone digs through old plastic junk ("It's a Dukes of Hazzard wastebasket!"), someone else tries to sell a doll head ("I used to take the heads off the bodies, and I kept the heads")... and Larry the Cable Guy taste-tests Tabasco sauce ("I can't feel my dadgum tongue!"). The History Channel. What the hell happened to us?"

TLC

• This just about sums it all up
• And this too.
• Mocked in a Cracked.com article: Subject of "The TLC Experiment: Just How Dumb is The Learning Channel?"
• The Daily Show mocked this, saying it's where you can go to "learn" what it would be like to have 8 children, or 17 children, or...

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