The Comedy Channel (American TV channel)
Ownership | |
---|---|
Owner | Home Box Office, Inc. (Time Inc./TimeWarner) |
History | |
Launched | November 15, 1989 |
Closed | April 1, 1991 (1 year, 137 days) |
Replaced by | Comedy Central |
The Comedy Channel was an American
Most of the Comedy Channel's original programs were produced in the HBO Downtown Studios on East 23rd Street in Manhattan.[citation needed]
Programming
The format prior to the merger included several original and unconventional programs such as Onion World with
Standard format
The standard format for these shows usually involved the various hosts introducing clips culled from the acts of stand-up comedians as well as classic comedies of the 1970s and 1980s, such as
In the final months before the merger, the channel developed an eight-hour programming block that was shown three times during a 24-hour period, which included reruns of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Ha! and Comedy Channel merge to create Comedy Central
The Comedy Channel struggled both commercially and critically. Critics derided the hodgepodge of clips from comedy films and stand-up comedy acts that filled the long gaps between original programs.[2]
In 1990, The Comedy Channel and Ha! agreed to merge their operations and form a channel called CTV: The Comedy Network, which debuted on April 1, 1991.
References
- ^ a b Carter, Bill (1990-12-19). "2 Comedy Channels Will Merge". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
- ^ Ernest Tucker. "The comedy cable clash // Who will laugh last?", Chicago Sun-Times, April 1, 1990.
- ^ "Viacom buys Comedy Central stake from AOL Time Warner – Apr. 22, 2003". money.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2018.