The movies they pick never fail to confuse me. Why is it always the laughable Commando, when there are so many other nominally-better Arnie movies to choose from? Terminator 1 or 2, Total Recall, Eraser, True Lies, etc. It's not like any of them are less than a decade old, at this point. Maybe the parent companies of the various networks own some titles and not others, or have longer leases on some than others.

Also, why are some on like 10 times in a week, and then not again for months? Spike is right now in the middle of their second straight showing of Silence of the Lambs. Seriously, I was reminded of this phrase a couple of hours ago when Clarice was talking to Mr. Bimmel at his pigeon coop, and I just looked over to see her walking into the asylum and talking to Dr. Chilton. On the same channel!

I also wonder how this sort of thing affects DVD sales. If the film is on cable every day, do people never buy the DVD? Or do people see it, remember that they like it, and want the uncensored, commercial free viewing option?

The saddest thing is we own like half of the movies they overplay like this on DVD, and yet we often end up leaving the TV on with the movie on it, even though the censoring for TV and commercial breaks pretty well ruin it. Same reason people eat at McD's even though they could make a burger cheaper and better at home, any time they wanted to?

 

Cheaper? Yes.

Better? Yes (well, debateable).

Easier? No.

 

James Bond movies. Forgot those; but you can usually find at least one on at any time of the day or night, and I'm not even including the glut of pay movie channels on digital cable. My dad's got Showtime 1-8 or something like that; God only knows how many times the same tired films are on them.

 

Die Hard 2

 

I haven't flipped through the channels much lately, but I do seem to remember that Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and even The Shawshank Redemption are usually on anytime you have the urge to watch them.