Cable Access Television Shows

NEW YORK—Forget YouTube. The best place to see unfiltered video is still cable access television. Though sometimes they seem like ugly hybrids of fine art video, high school art projects, and clumsy call-in shows, these programs made on a shoestring budget are pure, unrestrained Americana. While the raunchiest shows are often on late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, daytime fare is also worthwhile viewing. Here are five shows in the New York area that we highly recommend.

1. Brooklyn Community Access Television, affectionately known as BCAT, had one of the most out-there programs ever seen. Unfortunately now off the air, Local Vision Rock U.S.A. Television was a music video program featuring bands not signed by major labels. It may seem like a straightforward premise, but there’s a catch: Between videos, host Larry Wein sat on a couch and talked to a bunch of stuffed animals, including a canine he called Doctor Dog. The kookiest moments were when Wein used a megaphone to shout out instructions—often inaudible—about how to call in, or to repeat the name of his show over and over.

2. Manhattan Neighborhood Network boasts four channels and has such standout shows as $andy Kane’s Midnite Blew!, in which a topless, haggard, past-her-prime stripper dances and sings in an outright assault on your senses. You might want to turn your head when she belts out a tune and removes her pasties, but then you’d be missing the meaty part of the program.

3. The celebrity analysis talk show Kim Tre' From Around the Way is an example of why cable access is the real reality TV. The blond hostess spouts off about the latest Hollywood stars and starlets, as well as rockers and pseudocelebs like Paris Hilton. Between callers flirting with Kim and her self-indulgent musical interludes, which are consistently off-key, it’s one tremendous train wreck.

4. IN NY, which describes itself as a “talk show about New Yorkers and their likes and dislikes about NY,” presents two type-A frat boys taking calls from people about random inanities, making politically incorrect statements, and swearing. Watching this show, you can’t help but imagine how great it would be if they were actually drunk. But I guess we’re being picky here.

5. Not to be counted out, WTF Wrestling Outlaws is a low-budget professional wrestling program, with more interviews than actual wrestling and the occasional coverage of a porn industry convention. Presumably an acronym for “What the fuck?”, it claims to be “one of the most popular cable access show in New York City.” Host Nelson Torres is the mastermind behind this product, which is embarrassingly painful—hence, delightful—to watch.

Rumor has it the FCC is looking to allow cable providers the right to yank public access television off the air altogether. If you’re like us and value these creative bursts of videography, sign a petition and read more about this situation at Save Access.