TV Guide Channel

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TV Guide Channel
Launched	1992
Owned by	TV Guide
Formerly called	Prevue Guide (1992-1993), Prevue Channel (1993-1999)
Website	TV Guide Listings
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 224
Dish Network	Channel 102
Cable
Verizon FiOS	Channel 48
Also available on most cable systems such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, etc.

The TV Guide Channel is a television channel that provides, on the bottom half of the screen, a scrolling grid that lists television channels and the television programs and films currently showing on them. On the top half of the screen are featured short programs (often as little as 30 seconds to a minute long) usually featuring movie previews, celebrity news, and commercials.

The Prevue Guide (the scrolling grid) physically ran off of Amiga hardware and software. The guide was known to crash at times, leaving the Amiga "Guru Meditation" error overlayed on top of the listings. Other errors included a C-Band listing fallback, and a red box where the listings would normally be, simply stating that local listings would appear soon. The channel's name was Prevue Guide, then changed in 1993 to the "Prevue Channel", with a new logo arriving in 1996.

Ever since TV Guide bought the Prevue Channel in February of 1999, the channel has changed drastically. 'Shows' have been added to the TV Guide Channel (see bottom). Shows can last from a few seconds to a couple hours (the longer shows take up the whole screen, making the scrolling grid smaller). Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers provide coverage for television award events like The Emmy Awards and The Academy Awards. Also on the scrolling grid are ads and promotions for your cable provider, and local weather.

Since the TV Guide Channel isn't available with every cable service, services like IO Digital Cable and Bright House Networks have come up with their own scrollng grids, with IO having TV commercials for their service at a certain time (the other time just has still ads with Music playing), but up in the right hand corner in a small screen and Bright House having a local news station as a "show", and the screen is set up like IO's.

1 Categories and Color Schemes
2 Current Shows
3 Former Shows
4 Slogans
5 Logos
- 5.1 Prevue Channel
- 5.2 TV Guide Channel
6 References
7 External link

[edit] Categories and Color Schemes

The type of show categories are highlighted by colors on the screen:

Normal Programming: Gray

Children's Shows: Light Blue

Sports Programming: Green

Movies: Red, Dark Purple

During the time around the Emmys, shows that have been nominated are highlighted in gold. Same goes for the Oscars, except only movies that have won in the past. Other special shows, for example, like shows on Discovery Channel's Shark Week have a bubbly-water scheme, referring to the ocean, or close to Halloween, horror movies have spiderwebs in the scheme. Similar important shows and/or premieres have similar schemes to their grid space.

[edit] Current Shows

In addition to paid programming that airs from late morning-early afternoon, the TV Guide Channel has many original sieries that air during primetime.

Watch This!- A daily hour show (except Fridays) that shows the best programs in primetime to watch.

-Hosted by: John Henson, and Nikki Boyer (Sometimes co-host switches)

TV Watercooler- A weekly recap of TV's noteworthy shows and moments.

-Hosted by Debra Wilson, John Fugelsang and Teresa Strasser

The 411- Weekend show that shows the highlights from the past week. Lasts an hour.

-Hosted by: Madison Michele

InFANity- A comprehensive look at a particular TV series, featuring cast interviews; set visits; stars' off-screen activities; fans' questions; and plot previews.

Ready, Set, Change!- A home modification show in the spirit of Monster House. The owner's homes are changed into the theme of their favorite TV show.

-Hosted by Rosanna Tavarez

TV Candy- A lucky person gets to get a makeover to look like their favorite TV Show character.

-Hosted by Melissa Rivers

Look-a-Like- Same thing as TV Candy, only the person gets a makeover to look like a celebrity.

Seeing Stars- Hypnotist Ricky Kalmon 'hypnotises' people into believing that they are going to meet a celebrity or into thinking they are a certain celebrity.

Open Call- Marki Costello, a professional casting director tries to cast 'the next big television icon'.

Square Off- A weekly series presenting news and views about television. Included are panel discussions of TV issues.

Sushi TV- Shows the most bizarre moments in Japanese Television, while the host give possibly wrong descriptions of what's going on.

-Hosted by Chris Booker

TV Guide Close Up- Informative and fun one hour biographies on your favorite TV and film stars.

Hollywood on Set- Set visits and behind-the-scenes info on the latest movies, profiling three each show.

Reality Chat- Weekly talk show dedicated to the reality TV phenomenon.

-Hosted by Kimberly Caldwell and Rosanna Tavarez

Idol Tonight- A preview of each week's American Idol, and highlights (and lowlights) of the previous show, featuring analysis of the judging and fashions as well as the performers and performances. Also: interviews with defeated contestants.

-Same hosts as Reality Chat

Trapped in TV Guide- Classic TV moments and reality come together when unsuspecting people are placed in the middle of their favorite television shows.