The VICELAND channel - who watches and what are your opinions

I am branching out and trying to contribute more and this was on my mind at 4:30 AM before going to bed.

Yes, I am one of those people that still pays for cable television. I enjoy shows about science, history, sci-fi stuff and things like AHS, The Walking Dead and other well written or interesting adult dramas. Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy were some of my past favorites and there are a few new shows of the season on broadcast TV I follow as well.

I work from home, all hours of the day and night and have a television on my desk that's usually always on if nothing else for background noise as living alone in a big house gets creepy sometimes when it's too quiet. Except for a few shows I actually focus on, I'm usually multitasking, working or work or drawing with a computer or trying to find the end of the Internet. At any rate...

In my cable package, H2 or the History Channel 2 was one of the channels I watched on a regular basis but several months ago, it was replaced with VICELAND. They had promo'd the switch and two of the premier shows, Gaycation and Weediquette, that looked like they would be interesting so I watched them after the switch was made. I found them to be well done, intelligent and thought provoking.

I'll be 62 in a couple months and highly doubt I'm this channel's target demographic but I've come to love some of the programming. Admittedly, some of it is not my thing and some of the personalities grate on me but a lot of it is like nothing else on the air. Gaycation and Weediquette are both excellent shows and others are filled with perspectives of culture, societies and lifestyles often with an inside or backstage view. A lot of it is hard-hitting and some of it is hardcore and sometimes it's funny and irreverent but I have found myself tuning in more and more. If you are an inquisitive person, there is a lot to learn and take in.

Some of the shows I watch or have enjoyed in addition to those already mentioned are Abandoned, States of Undress, Huang's World, Cyberwar and Vice Guide to Film. I'll even admit, if you don't hold it against me, for viewing Action Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens several times just for the sheer stupidity of unattractive and unintelligent people sitting around for an hour getting baked out of their minds and saying stupid stuff. It's like a car wreck that you can't seem to look away from.

Which brings up some of the politics of this channel. It is very pro weed, very pro LGBTQ, very pro women and very left leaning and most of all it seems to be targeted at well educated Millenials and those off the beaten path. It is full of social and political commentary and at times, outright propaganda but I find many of their views are either in alignment with my own or present other perspectives that differ but cause me to think.

So if you have this channel and have spent some time watching it, what do you think, what shows do you watch and why? What do you like or dislike about some of the programming and features or their blatant sociopolitical stance?

Thanks for reading and for your comments.

Whats in a name , right ?

a reply to: Freija

I watch it, loving it.

Edit to add an episode, Tunnels of Gaza. Highly recommended for people that want a little more information than we get from the mainstream media...

Viceland TV, "The Tunnels of Gaza"

Being that I am 62 as well, and seem to share many of your own interests, And also have that channel, I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

a reply to: Freija

In my youth, I happened upon a "speciality"-store that sold old copies of VICE magazine. I found them intriguing and googled them which lead to...

VICE MAGIZINE, which is full of cool stuff like they put on the TV network.

If you go to the top you will see something that says VICE channels, there you can go to a link to VICELAND.

Anyway the do report on some crazy stuff, like one time I saw a guy go to an illegal Pakistan gun market and fire an automatic weapon off the roof of this building.



Cool, TV channel and

Which brings up some of the politics of this channel. It is very pro weed, very pro LGBTQ, very pro women and very left leaning and most of all it seems to be targeted at well educated Millenials and those off the beaten path. It is full of social and political commentary and at times, outright propaganda but I find many of their views are either in alignment with my own or present other perspectives that differ but cause me to think.

I totally agree.

S&F

I'm a couple of years younger, enjoy some of the programming on Vice, but noticing some over exposure of Action Bronson's various shows. Astute observations about their strong editorial POV. Not sure I care for some messages (although in the spirit of equal time and all that...) and some message deliveries leave me clueless - like the "Black Photo Editing Software History" series of very short clips.

ganjoa

I'm a couple of years younger, enjoy some of the programming on Vice, but noticing some over exposure of Action Bronson's various shows. Astute observations about their strong editorial POV. Not sure I care for some messages (although in the spirit of equal time and all that...) and some message deliveries leave me clueless - like the "Black Photo Editing Software History" series of very short clips.

ganjoa

a reply to: Freija

Hi...I have it as well. I believe it originated on the internet as the VICE channel and moved over. I like the Black Market show, Abandoned, Huang's World, Cyberwar...and a few others. Gaycation Ive watched some...and there is that comedy show about the house full of comedians and like all full of random friends living together (like the hippie communes did) honing their crafts by doing live shows in the house.

Ive also caught Vice Essentials and Party Legends-where famous people talk about their most wasted times partying. Viceland is one of the 1st I can think of "alternative" channel gone mainstream...if you can call basic cable "mainstream"......

Guten Morgeng-

Viceland™ is one of My top channels. I throw that in the rota along w/EncoreWesterns and TurnerClassicMovies now that the baseball season is winding down, I won't watch as much MLBNetwork.
Have You noticed they also don't have a lot of commercials, and when/if they do they'll just play a recording of a phone call to their recorder, I was thinking of leaving a message and seeing if it gets played. It would have to be better than what sounds like an older Lady moaning about how crappy Viceland is...

Did You catch the Wdequette episode w/'TheSwami'? Both are farcebook™ friends

I also like the Aliens production...

Action Bronson's ancient aliens 4/20 episode changed my life lol.

The ancient aliens reboot is like mystery science thrater for this generation.

And I love flophouse. The comedians are great.

And according to the WSJ Disney is planning to buy the Chanel. So my thought is... Maybe television isn't dying? Or maybe this is the last grabs at the mellinial culture?

originally posted by: Sillyosaurus
The ancient aliens reboot is like mystery science thrater for this generation.

And I love flophouse. The comedians are great.

And according to the WSJ Disney is planning to buy the Chanel. So my thought is... Maybe television isn't dying? Or maybe this is the last grabs at the mellinial culture?

Oh no please tell me Disney isn't coming to ruin my Viceland?!?

a reply to: Freija

I love Viceland... there's usually always something interesting on no matter what type of day or night. It was slow going in the beginning with the limited content they played on loop, but that has changed and I'm really enjoying it. I'm 36 so not quite millennial but still feel included haha!

originally posted by: lonegurkha
Being that I am 62 as well, and seem to share many of your own interests, And also have that channel, I will check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

Oh, you should. It may not be your cup of tea but there is some good stuff there. Enough so that I was motivated to start a thread about it but as I noted, I doubt people in their 60's are their target audience and some of their programming is a bit too rude or in-your-face for me and I'm a very open-minded and socially progressive person.

originally posted by: ganjoa
I'm a couple of years younger, enjoy some of the programming on Vice, but noticing some over exposure of Action Bronson's various shows. Astute observations about their strong editorial POV. Not sure I care for some messages (although in the spirit of equal time and all that...) and some message deliveries leave me clueless - like the " series of very short clips.

Yeah, I don't care for Action Bronson and don't like the show, "F*ck, That's Delicious". The times I have watched "Ancient Aliens", it just mostly confirms my feelings about him. I do like Huang's World because he's at least intelligent and the show has a lot of culture as well the food. Eddie Huang is kind of like a punk Anthony Bourdain.

I get the intent of the " Black Photo Editing Software History" thing but find the execution of it kind of disjointed.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
I like the Black Market show, Abandoned, Huang's World, Cyberwar...and a few others. Gaycation Ive watched some...and there is that comedy show about the house full of comedians and like all full of random friends living together (like the hippie communes did) honing their crafts by doing live shows in the house.

Ive also caught Vice Essentials and Party Legends-where famous people talk about their most wasted times partying. Viceland is one of the 1st I can think of "alternative" channel gone mainstream...if you can call basic cable "mainstream"......

Yes, "alternative", that's descriptive. I saw the promos for Abandoned and thought why would I watch a show about some grown up skateboard dude but it has really drawn me in. The Salton Sea episode was interesting because I was there a few times during its heyday and the most recent "Route 66" episode grabbed me because I was back and forth across the country in the early 60's before everything was multi-lane interstate and much of the original Mother Road was still in use. My parents and I took a Route 66 road trip in 1969 intentionally staying off the beaten path and I got to see so much.

Vice Essentials, I forgot about that one but have seen several episodes of that as well. I've seen Flophouse a few times but can't relate or maybe comedy just isn't my thing?

originally posted by: JimNasium
Guten Morgeng-

Yeah, I got up at 12:45 this afternoon! Went to bed after posting and watched YouTube videos until 6:30 AM.

...Have You noticed they also don't have a lot of commercials, and when/if they do they'll just play a recording of a phone call to their recorder, I was thinking of leaving a message and seeing if it gets played. It would have to be better than what sounds like an older Lady moaning about how crappy Viceland is...

Did You catch the Wdequette episode w/'TheSwami'? Both are farcebook™ friends

"Jackasses"! I love that spot. I did see that episode - cool!

originally posted by: Sillyosaurus
The ancient aliens reboot is like mystery science thrater for this generation.

I hadn't thought about that but you're right. It's MST3K with weed and a few less brain cells.

... And according to the WSJ Disney is planning to buy the Chanel. So my thought is... Maybe television isn't dying? Or maybe this is the last grabs at the mellinial culture?

There is no doubt who this channel is aimed at and why I'm somewhat surprised I enjoy much of their programming. I'm really looking forward to this week's Black Market: Dispatch because the topic is underground transgender communities but I'm probably going to wait for a replay or catch it through On Demand. The schedule conflicts with the 2-hour season finale of Halt and Catch Fire and that show wins my attention!

I am glad to see that others are watching and enjoy the content. Thanks for all the comments!

VICE was great a few years ago. Their documentaries, like "This is what winning looks like" and all the "vice guide to travel" episodes were beyond compare. Then they decided dope and ass were more worthy of their time. Really a shame because they were great and doing something in a way that was never done before.