TNT

TNT = Turner Network Television. Here’s an approximate breakdown of what I normally watch on TNT:
90.0% of the time — NBA on TNT /​Inside the NBA
7.0% of the time — NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament
2.5% of the time — PGA Championship
0.5% of the time — Law & Order (waiting for an episode to finish so I can watch NBA coverage)
The NBA on TNT is a first-​class, first-​rate production. To date, Inside the NBA has won 5 Emmys. I’ve religiously watched Turner’s NBA coverage since the mid-​to-​late 90s, when I started becoming a hardcore NBA fan. However, the NBA has broadcast games on Turner networks since the 80s.
I still remember the Tuesday-​Wednesday-​Thursday TBS/​TNT coverage of the late 90s. It’s a shame TNT’s NBA coverage is mostly relegated to only Thursday nights now.
I remember when Charles Barkley joined the crew and the awesome team of EJ (Ernie Johnson), Kenny (Kenny Smith), and Charles was formed. They’ve been around for a decade+. Their on-​air chemistry is amazing. Shaquille O’Neal joined the crew starting with the 2011-​12 season.
I DVR most episodes of Inside since they air after the west coast games are over. Episodes are also available online at the TNT Overtime site at
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On Thursday, December 5, 2002, I went to the Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks game specifically for a chance to win a set of Inside the NBA bobbleheads. TNT covered the game that night, a rare opportunity for the Hawks to be seen on national TV, especially during that dark era. We were handed raffle tickets at the door. During the game, a number was called, and several lucky fans won the bobbleheads. The bobbleheads included EJ, Kenny, and Charles dressed in suits with the NBA on TNT logo embossed at the base. I kind of felt like it was part of my destiny to win those bobbleheads.
The quality of the Inside studio show as well as the live game broadcasts are superb — audio, video, graphics, play-​by-​play, color, analysis, and overall entertainment value are phenomenal. TNT’s NBA broadcast crew includes play-​by-​play legends like Marv Albert, Kevin Harlan («Right between the eyes!»), and Dick Stockton. Analysts include intelligent and witty former NBA coaches and players like Mike Fratello, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller, and Chris Webber.
When you compare TNT’s NBA broadcasts to ESPN/ABC’s, there’s no comparison. ESPN/​ABC has closed the gap in recent years, but TNT is still the undisputed leader when it comes to NBA TV coverage. No disrespect to Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy because those two are excellent. I also like many of the guys on ESPN’s NBA staff such as Georgia Tech alum Jon Barry and Tim Legler. Still, they don’t have the kind of star power or draw that the TNT talent undeniably have.
In 2011, Turner began a partnership with CBS to broadcast March Madness games on TNT, TBS, and truTV. The best thing about this deal was that it allowed *every* game of the NCAA tournament to be available in HD on most standard cable and satellite TV packages. In the past, all of the games were available only on CBS. In order to watch all the games on TV, you needed to have the extra CBS channels which usually required a special cable or satellite package. In the later years, these were included in my standard cable package, but the «supplementary» CBS feeds were not in HD. Now, thanks to the Turner/​CBS partnership, March Madness is available in more homes.
I do have to say at first, it was weird, yet also kind of cool seeing the CBS talent intermix with Turner’s talent for the NCAA coverage. Announcers and analysts from the college and pro fields collided. It’s neat seeing Greg Gumbel, Seth Davis, Jay Bilas, and Greg Anthony talk college hoops with the likes of Kenny, Charles, and Steve Kerr. NBA fans can probably tell Kenny and Charles are out of their element when discussing college teams. It’ll be interesting to see how Turner’s March Madness coverage will pan out in the long run.
As for the PGA Championship coverage, it’s solid. EJ does the play-​by-​play with Ian Baker-​Finch as analyst and Golf Channel’s Vince Cellini (brother of Atlantan and former 790 The Zone Mayhem in the A.M. host Nick Cellini) as interviewer. Like its basketball coverage, TNT’s golf coverage production values are high.
As for TNT’s other programming, I can’t comment because I don’t watch it. I do like some of the feature-​length movies the channel broadcasts from time to time.
Trivia: TNT is one of the most expensive channels for cable and satellite providers to carry behind ESPN.

…and it has only gotten worse!
Turner Network Television has taken away the ability to watch full episodes on their site away from me completely.
Now, I have to have a cable television service provider to be able to log in and view full episodes.
Why was I watching the episodes on the net? Because I do not have (nor do I want) cable or satellite television service.
From 2 stars to 1… and 1 is being generous.

TNT is that silly television station that devotes 13 hours out of the day for Charmed and Law & Order. There’s little more that you can say about the channel than this.
If you really want to get to it, you can even say shows like The Closer and Saving Grace are just like a combination of Law & Order and some other generic show that’s trying to cop out on that show.
It’s boring. It isn’t the most entertaining channel out there, but there are worse. Go to the damned Book Nook instead of watching this channel…

I feel ridiculous.
It does border on ridiculous to be Unilocalin’ about a television channel /​station. But if y’all can Unilocal about Unilocal — then I suppose Unilocaling about a TV channel is not completely ludicrous.
But let’s face it — — cable is everywhere, and in every single hotel room I have been in during the last however many years, even when HBO is not available — TNT is available. It’s that good and that popular. Who can possibly NOT like TNT?
I am not big on watching TV.
I have it on usually, only to have some sound in the background, but I am not one of those people who have to be home on a certain night because _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​is on that night, and I don’t watch award shows, I am not a fan of VH1 or MTV though I love music — and I tend to watch a lot of DVDs or movies in theaters before I actually sit in front of the tube for 2 hours.
That said, my TV is almost ALWAYS set to TNT. I read my news online or in the paper (yeah, I know how old school that is… I’m old, OK?) and everything the TV could ever teach me, I can get online.
But over the last few years, I have learned to watch TV and become a fan of certain shows — all because of TNT
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Through TNT, I have now watched almost every single episode of Law and Order in existence/​Don’t take this lightly — I seriously might know every single episode of the original L&O, and I am coming damn close to knowing every single episode of L&O:SVU (though that is through USA, not TNT). This is rather sad… but the truth is sometimes sad.
I’ve learned to actually like «Charmed» — and back in the day when ER first hit NBC — I got hooked on that and have now seen virtually every episode of ER through TNT syndication. Judging Amy, Cold case, and Without a Trace are all shows I never once watched on network TV but now watch faithfully on TNT when it’s on, and I am at home… or away in a hotel… or wherever.
Since a year or two ago — I’ve been hooked on «The Closer»… with Kyra Sedgwick. Love the show.
I love the movies they show, too. I am not sure how many times they have played «Shawshank Redemption» but seriously — how does one get sick of watching THAT?
I never watched a single episode of «Alias» when it was on TV. But when TNT decided to play 5 episodes in a row every Wednesday night at midnight to the morning of Thursday — — guess who got HOOKED? (And I mean HOOKED!!!)
I’ve always been one of those people who would prefer a book over a TV, or a computer over a TV anyday. Granted, back in the days of «The Cosby Show» or «Family Ties» or «Dynasty» — — I loved TV. (Am I dating myself or WHAT?) I just fell out of it somewhere along the way — somewhere between dating and going out to play!
As ridiculous as it sounds, TNT taught me to like TV again.
And I am rather grateful for that. (Yes, I do take it as a a sign of aging… what of it??)
Now, with «Saving Grace» airing soon, starring Holly Hunter — — I am excited to get hooked on that show, too. Heartland looks good too… anything on TNT is good by me. ANYTHING!
Kudos to you, TNT, for putting together a lineup of show worth watching and converting even ME to become loyal to your channel. I love your channel, and own a TV solely to keep it tuned to Channel 39.
Now, if they would just start playing CSI — — - I’d seriously fall head over heels in love with this channel.
Sidenote: One time, my cable box was broken, as it turned out. My cable company wrote a letter to their customers crediting us for 7 days of outages where our cable box was stuck — and would not change channels. They also informed us of how to fix this problem on the cable boxes — and credited us 7 days’ worth of billing. I cocked my head while reading this, and looked for my remote control. Found it, and I tried switching to a different channel. Holy crap — it IS STUCK! Some 2 weeks after it had been stuck — I had not been aware at all of the problem, and I might be the only Comcast customer in my area who did not call to find out how to get their box UNSTUCK.
See? There IS an upside to watching only one channel!