Highway 18 -- WTF??!!!

[alkibiades]

Is it just me?

I mainly lurk on these boards -- to my great enjoyment and benefit, I might add -- but I have got to get something off my chest.

I love, love, love the Golf Channel. Because they show lots of golf, and I am ALWAYS ready to watch some golf. I watch almost no other TV; if I could get a special cable package that consisted of the GC and the BBC America newscast (well, and also all the network golf coverage, of course) I would do so.

WHAT IS THIS "HIGHWAY 18"? I've half-ignored all the commercials for it, but I just paid attention to one, and either I am suffering from some sort of cognitive impairment or it seems almost unintelligibly stupid. Is it some sort of race? Do the contestants have to follow clues to find the courses? What do they do when they find them? WHY? WHO CARES??!!

Show the Japanese tour. Show the Canadian tour. Show the world junior championships. Show the Liechtenstein girls junior publinks. Show the Mongolian super-senior hermaphrodite matchplay. SHOW SOME #$$@$%&*&-ING GOLF INSTEAD OF THIS POINTLESS BULLSH!T!!!!!!

What's next, "Big Break -- Girls Gone Wild", hosted by Joe Francis and a topless Stephanie Sparks? If you want to look at hot women scantily clad -- nothing that I would fault anyone for, by the way :man_in_love: -- they are but a mouse click away by the millions. Whatever happened to Golf Channel Academy? Why do those two Titleist Performance Center guys get relegated to the wee hours?

Maybe it's just me . . .

[bradyrstokes]

Totally agree with you there, alkibiades. I'll bet anything TGC is having auditions for the next Big Break, whatever number they're on these days, for junior golfers. Just watch.

[PutteditOB]

I agree too. Seems like they are focusing less on pure golf. Very similar to MTV. Very very similar.

[poppyhillsguy]

I think Playing Lessons With a Pro is the best series they have right now and would love seeing more episodes of that show. It wouldn't even need to be a famous pro. If the took out a Nationwide player, ranked amateur, or a club pro I'd still watch.

 

I also wished they would replay some classic 4th rounds of tournaments in the past.

[golfdad907]

I mainly lurk on these boards -- to my great enjoyment and benefit, I might add -- but I have got to get something off my chest.

 

I love, love, love the Golf Channel. Because they show lots of golf, and I am ALWAYS ready to watch some golf. I watch almost no other TV; if I could get a special cable package that consisted of the GC and the BBC America newscast (well, and also all the network golf coverage, of course) I would do so.

 

WHAT IS THIS "HIGHWAY 18"? I've half-ignored all the commercials for it, but I just paid attention to one, and either I am suffering from some sort of cognitive impairment or it seems almost unintelligibly stupid. Is it some sort of race? Do the contestants have to follow clues to find the courses? What do they do when they find them? WHY? WHO CARES??!!

 

Show the Japanese tour. Show the Canadian tour. Show the world junior championships. Show the Liechtenstein girls junior publinks. Show the Mongolian super-senior hermaphrodite matchplay. SHOW SOME #$$@$%&*&-ING GOLF INSTEAD OF THIS POINTLESS BULLSH!T!!!!!!

 

What's next, "Big Break -- Girls Gone Wild", hosted by Joe Francis and a topless Stephanie Sparks? If you want to look at hot women scantily clad -- nothing that I would fault anyone for, by the way :man_in_love: -- they are but a mouse click away by the millions. Whatever happened to Golf Channel Academy? Why do those two Titleist Performance Center guys get relegated to the wee hours?

 

Maybe it's just me . . .

 

You read my mind, Big Break GGW with Stina and Stephanie topless in thongs, awesome. The Mongolian hermaphrodites I could take a pass on.

 

Seriously, I'd really like to see them drop the infomercials and some of those stupid Monday/Tuesday talk shows and get back to Academy Live and stuff with teaching pros and the like. Even more Celebirty Golf (the old ones with Gary Player, Arnie at the mic) and Sam Snead is better than The Approach, Highway 17 and the like.

 

What happened to John Daly and Natalie Gulbis shows?

[toofless]

Word up.

 

They really put some horrible shows on tgc.

 

I like:

 

Golf Central

 

Playing Lessons

 

Inside PGA Tour

 

Golf Channel Classics

 

 

I dislike:

 

pretty much everything else.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I'm sorry but I just can't agree with you on this one. Sure I love watching just golf but to be honest there are only certain tours I care to watch. I could honestly do without the champions tour with the third string broadcast team, just give me PGA, Nationwide, and European, maybe LPGA if it is a big tournament. I feel like the Big Break is a welcome addition to the golf channel, and while Highway 18 does look a little more out there, it may be entertaining. Also, don't disrespect the recent Big Break contestants by referring to them simply as scantily clad just because you don't like the show, most of those girls could really play. In my opinion the Golf channel academy and the Titleist guys telling how to work out are just boring, it's stuff I can find in golf digest or on the internet. I think their best show by far that isn't a reality show is playing lessons from the pros, and I think the Big Break is an entertaining show to watch early in the week when there are no tournaments. I just don't think the golf channel can offer any other coverage because they don't have the resources or they can't pick up someone's feed because it doesn't make good business sense. It's a business, they have to make money.

[tbowles411]

I hope they read these boards because I don't know who their test audience is. Get back to the golf and leave the reality TV alone. I tolerate the Big Break, but Highway 18 is where I absolutely draw the line....though the two Ashley's in thongs sound nice... :man_in_love:

[masegolf1978]

Don't mind the golf channel. If you can watch "tounament golf" for seven days straight, more power to you. Not me. Four days a week is enough for me.

[alkibiades]

I don't usually watch the Big Break, but I'm not offended by it in principle or anything. I agree that the women they got for this latest installment all seemed like strong players -- at least on the two episodes that i saw, which were late in the season after some had been eliminated. Oh, and based on those two episodes, I'm in love with the British chick :man_in_love: -- she is just gorgeous!!!

 

So warm blood does indeed run through these curmudeonly veins, and I have some meager supply of testosterone. But, however good those women are, they were clearly selected based on their looks. The one overweight, middle aged woman is the equivalent of the token minority golfer recruited by a racist club for PR/legal reasons -- that's really weak and transparent, GC!!! And what about those cheesy promos with them on the sailboat in bikinis, or the one blonde climbing out of a swimming pool dripping wet: it all adds up to mediocre soft porn and worse than mediocre golf programming, IMHO. If memory serves I also saw a promo for one of the early episodes in which the contestants "chose" partners for a challenge by getting into a swimming pool, blindfolded and in bikinis, and more or less played tag. Is John Daly moonlighting as a producer?

 

I agree with everyone who likes the playing lessons. Those are their best original programming -- I've learned a lot watching those, and they're fun to boot. I, like everyone else, hates the infomercials, but those run at odd hours and bring in money. You can't fault them for that. I just don't see how it's cheaper or more interesting to show Highway 18 than it would be to have a week-long analysis of the Stack-and-Tilt guys, for instance, or more of those shows where Jim McClean breaks down famous swings. Or more old tournaments, that's a great idea.

 

I guess the folks at the GC have come around to former Rep. Charlie Wilson's line of thinking about his aides: "you can teach them to type, but you can't teach them to grow t!ts."

[DRGJR72]

I need a break from the tournament golf coverage. These shows give me that ability. It is kind of like reality TV with a golf twist, not bad,not great....It just is what it is. If the show has some sort of substance I will watch it. If it is super corny, I am out...won't tune in to it.

 

They have to do other things than tournament golf and instruction 24/7, otherwise it will get monotonous. There is room for some reality type shows. Not sure if this is the best one...but it could be entertaining (similar to BB).

 

I do miss the Nat Gulbis and JD show......they were great. Maybe they will redo those or something of the sort. Also loved the "cribs" type show with the tour players. That would be great if they sported some more of them.

 

The infomercials are killing me. Too many and on too long. They need to come up with some other ideas than the infomercials. I am sorry but there has to be a better show to place for 30 mins than the hammer commercial or the latest BJ wedge.

[alkibiades]

Mase -- I got a little carried away with my righteous anger and wasn't clear (not an unusual occurrance, btw): I like the non-tournament programming also, both on its merits and as a respite to watching so much straight golf. I liked the old rhythm: golf Thurs.-Sunday, then analyis and instruction -- often related to some noteworthy shots from the previous weekend -- Mon.-Wed. And like I said, I can tolerate the Big Break. I see two worrisome trends: 1) a race to the bottom on the Big Break itself (although one would hope that this last season was the nadir) and 2)PROLIFERATION. I'll use Bravo as an example of what I mean. They have a reality show about aspiring fashion designers called "Project Runway" that is quite popular and is watched with quasi-religious discipline by my girlfriend. I have thus been more-or-less forced by circumstance to view it several times. While it is not anything I would watch of my own accord, I have nothing against it: they had a clever idea and it is well done. However, the show's success has led them create various iterations on the idea: cooks, hairdressers, interior decorators, etc., each less appealing than the one immediately before it. Between reruns and new episodes, these shows now make up the majority of Bravo's programming. So I worry when I see an abomination like Highway 18. If the GC can come up with good original shows, then fine -- even if they're not to my taste. But the default should always be golf, either tournament golf or reporting on tournament golf or instruction. The Big Break is at least golf of a sort. Remaking "The Amazing Race" (I thank God I have never had to watch that and I wish I had never even heard of it!!) and shoehorning in a few golf shots to justify airing it on the GC is just stupid and pitiful IMHO. Maybe they could put a bunch of "golfers" on a replica of the island green at TPC Sawgrass, divide them into two teams, and then have them compete at hitting goofy trick shots and vote each other off and call it "Golf Survivor"? Or they could get a self-promoting washed up pro and have twelve desperate souls somehow compete for the right to carry his bag when he goes on the senior tour (that would be "The Caddie"). It could go on and on. They already show each Big Break episode several times. If they have two or three shows like that, how long will it be before they show reruns of their shows instead of golf at night on Thursday and Friday, for instance?

[Guillotine007]

I hope they read these boards because I don't know who their test audience is. Get back to the golf and leave the reality TV alone. I tolerate the Big Break, but Highway 18 is where I absolutely draw the line....though the two Ashley's in thongs sound nice... :man_in_love:

 

You can keep the ashley twins.... Charlotte Campbell is where it is at. I've never followed her at a Future's Tour event (my allegiances lie elsewhere) but she is too fine.

[Mongo26]

Totally agree with you there, alkibiades. I'll bet anything TGC is having auditions for the next Big Break, whatever number they're on these days, for junior golfers. Just watch.

 

I would audition for it

[golfortennis]

It's a business, they have to make money.

 

I would probably put myself in the group that the GC execs figure are going to watch them no matter what. Having said that, with shows such as the latest edition of Big Break in particular(although I've never really watched any of the series), this highway 18 thing, adding the co-host's shots to playing Lessons with the Pros moving int he direction they have, I find myself watching less and less of the golf channel. Aside from the Euro tour, and PGA tour coverage replayed at 8 pm, i'm having a had time finding a way to describe the rest of the GC's programming as something other than useless.

 

So the question would be, is the number of people whom they would "count on" to watch no matter what who don't watch becase of this type of programming more or less then he number of new viewers this stuff draws?

[withdrew]

Agree 100%.

[xan_user]

I was thinking about adding the Golf channel, because I hate missing Thursday and Friday coverage, and Id like to see more golf from around the world.

 

After reading this thread I won't bother now.

 

I hate the MTV business model of removing their main content and replacing it with 'reality' type programming. Does MTV even have music videos any more?

 

I would rather watch grass grow than a reality show or game show themed around golf.

 

One potential subscription lost.

[Mr_Flatstix]

I agree 100% with the original post. But we all know that sex sells and this new show will undoubtedly draw some viewers that otherwise would not watch the instructional programming and non-PGA events. Although I don't think they accounted for the number of viewers they will lose by "conforming" to the cable TV norms. I know Highway 18 is a golf oriented show, BUT IT AIN'T GOLF and I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT!!! Let's just hope The Golf Channel doesn't end up like MTV which used to stand for Music Television...we all know what complete garbage that channel has become.....Let's not open that can of worms.....

[Onebulldogs]

I don't know if I will like the show; however, I think programming like this "can" be interesting. While I enjoy the PGA and LPGA events, I don't watch Nationwide or Champions Tour events unless something special is going on. European tour - almost never. Other tours, I could care less.

 

If the new show works, it will have interesting people doing interesting things. If so, I will probably watch when I have a little down time and it is saved on the DVR. Stress-free TV can be fun.

 

As for other programming, I think TGC has made two huge mistakes

1. Moving Golf Central into Primatime. I used to DVR it and watch it while making dinner when I get home from work. Now, almost never.

2. I enjoyed the Monday Night teaching shows.

[BankerGolfer]

To quote the wise sage Justin Timberlake last year: "Hey MTV, what's with the reality show crap??? Just SHOW MORE MUSIC VIDEOS!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

In response, I say" "Hey Golf Channel, what's with the reality show crap??? Just SHOW MORE PEOPLE PLAYING GOLF!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

If they can't do that, maybe there shouldn't be a Golf Channel....

 

 

I was thinking about adding the Golf channel, because I hate missing Thursday and Friday coverage, and Id like to see more golf from around the world.

 

After reading this thread I won't bother now.

 

I hate the MTV business model of removing their main content and replacing it with 'reality' type programming. Does MTV even have music videos any more?

 

I would rather watch grass grow than a reality show or game show themed around golf.

 

One potential subscription lost.

[larrybud]

I agree too. Seems like they are focusing less on pure golf. Very similar to MTV. Very very similar.

There's only so much golf that can be televised each week, and they still have to fill 24/7 of broadcast.

 

It's like GolfWRX forums. You have a swing forum, a general forum, travel, style and equipment. Lots of different things to talk about in regards to golf.

[larrybud]

I hate the MTV business model of removing their main content and replacing it with 'reality' type programming. Does MTV even have music videos any more?

What main content do you think they've removed? There's more golf telecast on TGC than ever before.

[BankerGolfer]

Agreed, but something like "Highway 19"??? Now, they're really reaching for content.

 

I'd like to see more shows catered towards different handicap players. One show teaches beginners golf etiquette, swing basics, etc. Another show could focus on midhandicappers. A show for low handicappers, etc.

 

Maybe have a show that follows someone through Q-school or trying to compete on the Nationwide tour.

 

Not this lame reality TV, CBS-Big Brother/Survivor/ The Great American Race crap....

 

 

 

I agree too. Seems like they are focusing less on pure golf. Very similar to MTV. Very very similar.

There's only so much golf that can be televised each week, and they still have to fill 24/7 of broadcast.

 

It's like GolfWRX forums. You have a swing forum, a general forum, travel, style and equipment. Lots of different things to talk about in regards to golf.

 

[masegolf1978]

Mase -- I got a little carried away with my righteous anger and wasn't clear (not an unusual occurrance, btw): I like the non-tournament programming also, both on its merits and as a respite to watching so much straight golf. I liked the old rhythm: golf Thurs.-Sunday, then analyis and instruction -- often related to some noteworthy shots from the previous weekend -- Mon.-Wed. And like I said, I can tolerate the Big Break. I see two worrisome trends: 1) a race to the bottom on the Big Break itself (although one would hope that this last season was the nadir) and 2)PROLIFERATION. I'll use Bravo as an example of what I mean. They have a reality show about aspiring fashion designers called "Project Runway" that is quite popular and is watched with quasi-religious discipline by my girlfriend. I have thus been more-or-less forced by circumstance to view it several times. While it is not anything I would watch of my own accord, I have nothing against it: they had a clever idea and it is well done. However, the show's success has led them create various iterations on the idea: cooks, hairdressers, interior decorators, etc., each less appealing than the one immediately before it. Between reruns and new episodes, these shows now make up the majority of Bravo's programming. So I worry when I see an abomination like Highway 18. If the GC can come up with good original shows, then fine -- even if they're not to my taste. But the default should always be golf, either tournament golf or reporting on tournament golf or instruction. The Big Break is at least golf of a sort. Remaking "The Amazing Race" (I thank God I have never had to watch that and I wish I had never even heard of it!!) and shoehorning in a few golf shots to justify airing it on the GC is just stupid and pitiful IMHO. Maybe they could put a bunch of "golfers" on a replica of the island green at TPC Sawgrass, divide them into two teams, and then have them compete at hitting goofy trick shots and vote each other off and call it "Golf Survivor"? Or they could get a self-promoting washed up pro and have twelve desperate souls somehow compete for the right to carry his bag when he goes on the senior tour (that would be "The Caddie"). It could go on and on. They already show each Big Break episode several times. If they have two or three shows like that, how long will it be before they show reruns of their shows instead of golf at night on Thursday and Friday, for instance?

 

 

I hate to say it, but I'd probably watch some of those shows. You should be on the golf channel payroll.

[masegolf1978]

I will say this, the most recent Big Break was pretty bad. They should really just get the hottest Duramed Futures Tour players and put them on every season. The idea that they would put Kirby (or whatever her name is) on is laughable.

 

Am I the only one who would watch Duramed coverage?

[xan_user]

I hate the MTV business model of removing their main content and replacing it with 'reality' type programming. Does MTV even have music videos any more?

What main content do you think they've removed? There's more golf telecast on TGC than ever before.

 

 

 

 

I don't have the GC (was going to add it) so all I can go off is what the member's say here, and it sounds like they are adding more non-golfing shows.

 

That combined with paying for the privilege to watch infomercials seems like a waste. ->2me.

 

Im pretty sure not getting GC will mean more time on the course for me anyway, so its a good thing! :man_in_love:

[Swingtheclub]

As far as Hwy 18 is concerned has it made its debut yet? I do not wish to pass judgement until I see it at least.

 

As far as the other programming on the Golf Channel I am sure one thing and one thing alone drives it ..

 

 

The money, if you like certain shows get your friends to watch cause if they make money they will show them.

 

Infermicials are just that commercials paid airtime when they do not have anything else to run.

 

I promise you they went away from the shows you like because they were not paying the bills.

 

TGC is not public tv they are in it for the money.

[golfman1229]

:man_in_love: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :birthday: :wave: :lol: :lol: :lol: :heart: :heart: :heart:

[larrybud]

I hate the MTV business model of removing their main content and replacing it with 'reality' type programming. Does MTV even have music videos any more?

What main content do you think they've removed? There's more golf telecast on TGC than ever before.

 

I don't have the GC (was going to add it) so all I can go off is what the member's say here, and it sounds like they are adding more non-golfing shows.

 

That combined with paying for the privilege to watch infomercials seems like a waste. ->2me.

 

Im pretty sure not getting GC will mean more time on the course for me anyway, so its a good thing! :man_in_love:

Just the fact that you can watch the Thursday and Friday coverage of the PGA tour starting at 8:30pm is worth it to me. You get the Nationwide, European, LPGA, and PGA tour. What else is there? My Tuesday night hacker league coverage?!?!

[BluesDrive]

Highway 18 looks like Bullrun crashed into some golf courses. It looks amusing though. The Myrtle Beach show, I like. It's relaxing to see some stuff just for the fun of it.

 

I do agree that Playing with the Pros is my favorite though.

 

That golf trick shot show sounds awesome. I think I'll sign up. I like to invent my own trick shots on the range.