If you follow the iFanboy staff on Twitter and were around last night then you know that we discovered a new obsession: The Hub TV.
Formerly known as Discovery Kids HD, this new American cable television network debuted on Monday (after a preview on Sunday) and, really, it couldn't be more tailor made for a bunch of TV lovers who grew up in the 1980s (and that one young bastard who grew up in the 1990s). Because the network started yesterday, everything that Hub showed was the first episode, so if you wanted to watch The Wonder Years or Doogie Howser, M.D. or Family Ties or Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley from the very beginning then you were in luck.
But that's not all! The Hub also has a few shows that might be relevant to your (and this website's) interests!
Batman
One of my favorite TV series of all time! And it doesn't seem anywhere near DVD release so I couldn't be more excited. Originally running from 1966 to 1968 and for 120 (!) half hour episodes, this pop art masterpiece burned brightly like a supernova and captured the country's imagination before it flamed out of the public consciousness just as quickly as it arrived. Batman was unique in that (up until the third and final season) it ran twice a week. The first episode set up the story and ended in one of those famous cliff hangers and the next day the second episode resolved the cliff hanger and wrapped up the story. It was glorious. And now that it runs every night at 11:30pm and I only have to wait 24 hours (just like when it originally aired!) to find out how Batman and Robin escape The Riddler's death trap. The first episode, "Hi Diddle Riddle", aired last night.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
One of my favorite cartoons of all time! The cartoon that I and — literally — every other kid i knew watched every day after school ran from 1985 to 1987 and for 95 episodes. When I was a kid, my friends and I were obsessed with the G.I. Joe comics. (Okay, some of my friends still are.) The Marvel Comics series started in 1982 which meant that by the time the cartoon came around three years later we were primed and ready like you wouldn't believe. Now that I'm an adult and work from home and am I night owl, having a "new" episode of G.I. Joe on every night at 12:30am is just about right. Want to know all the stuff that Josh, Ron and I babble on about and constantly reference on our various shows? Now's your chance to catch up! The series kicked off with a mini-series sub-titled "The MASS Device" and the first episode, "The Cobra Strikes", aired last night.
Transformers
Similar to G.I. Joe, in the 1980s my friends and I loved Transformers. (And GoBots, which doesn't seem to be on the Hub schedule…) Running from 1984-1987 and for 98 episodes, it was the natural companion to G.I. Joe (both being toy, comic book, cartoon, and animated movie empires) and it is one of the things that dominates my childhood memories. I'm not quite as excited for this one as I am G.I. Joe (I haven't added it to the DVR like I have the first two shows on this list) because the only thing I've seen of the cartoon through adult eyes has been Transformers: The Movie and that was a terrible experience, but knowing me I'll probably end up checking it out again anyway. Forever linked with its 1980s counterpart, Transformers can be found every week night at midnight and the first episode, "More Than Meets The Eye", aired last night.
Batman Beyond
One of these things is not like the other! Randomly, there's a Bruce Timmverse cartoon on the schedule and it's the only one I've never seen a single episode of. Originally running from 1999 to 2001 and for 52 episodes, the future tale of Bruce Wayne's protege Terry McGinnis doesn't really interest me a whole lot. But judging by the amount of people reading comics now who love the show I'm sure that there will be plenty of people happy to catch it again. If you're one of those people, or if you're someone who always wanted to watch it, you're in luck. Look for it every week day at 7:30am (yipes!). The first episode, "Rebirth (Part One)", aired yesterday and the second episode, "Rebirth (Part Two)" aired this morning.
The schedule itself is a bit bizarre: Kids shows (and Batman Beyond) during the day. Classic sitcoms (and Batman) after 8pm. Classic 80s cartoons after midnight. Whatever. It's amazing.
You can check out a list of The Hub's programming here. (It looks like they're going to be airing a new G.I. Joe cartoon at some future date!)
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Sounds cool, I’d love to watch all these shows from my past. I’ll have to check out my Dish Network guide to see if I have it.
Incensed beyond all words that this isn’t avaiable on TimeWarner — Uverse needs to come to NYC
@Heroville: I have Time Warner. It’s channel 722.
@Conor: I see; point about Uverse still stands
If you’re in st. louis and have charter its channel 101
I found this channel last night. Oh man I was in a time warp. I recorded on my dvr a ton of shows. This is a great channel. GIJOE was on and then I saw the 60’s Batman was coming on and set up recordings.
Channel 294 on Directtv
i saw this obsession unfold last night on Twitter.
I was about to go watch some Fraggle Rock, but turns out Hub is a pay channel that I don’t have.
I’m moving to a new place that has cable tv for the fist time in roughly 3 years. I’m really hoping that this channel is included in the package we have.
Batman Beyond is great just for Henry Rollins villian haha.
OMG! I totally discovered this last night. I watched Batman (Hi Diddle Riddle) and GI Joe. Super cool and thanks for reporting on it!
Does anyone know if its available in Canada? Specifically Bell TV?
DVR’d Batman last night and watched it this morning before work. I think this is going to be a part of my daily regimen! There is nothing like the after glow of Adam West’s comic timing to keep you smiling on your hour commute to the office…
i found it in the Bronx Cablevision channel 120
I’m disappointed i missed last night’s pilots. ugh
I became so jealous last night via Twitter. I asked for someone to re-air The Wonder Years (another series that will never be released on home video in its original presentation) and it finally happened.
Fun fact: Paul Dini almost quit when he was asked to do a Teenage Batman.
Motherfuckers pulled it off.
This sounds amazing, but I know that with my TV watching habits, I would never watch any of the DVRed stuff.
Damnit! I just dumped my cable box to gain back a lot of missing time spent on movies and tv I’d proably never watch otherwise. I gave up a lot of hours watching "Freddy’s Nightmares" and "Twin Peaks" marathons on Chiller and "Homicide: Life on the Street" on A&E over several months thanks to cable and dvr. I am now relying soley on Netflix Instant Watch and my comics for entertainment. But Adam West "Batman" is making me regret this thinking.
I might’ve failed a test this morning because I discovered Hub last night. My reaction to seeing Wonder Years, Batman, Family Ties and Happy Days on the schedule was deafening.
Please, everyone, watch.
Hopefully coming to my cable company soon – GI JOE, Transformers are classic but where are He-Man and Thudercats?!
TVByTheNumbers Article – http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/12/the-hub-tv-network-premieres-to-strong-audience-growth/67689
Transformers: The Movie a terrible experience? Heresy!
Looks like it’s on 294 for DirecTV customers.
This could be the greatest channel of all time.
Especially for people in the 80s as kids.
Luckily I was able to catch this on Sunday so I could start the shows on Monday. I’m keeping close tabs on Batman and The Wonder years especially since neither of those are on DVD and probably won’t be. If only they had Head of the Class or Soap, it would be my childhood all over again.
So far this reminds me of Nickelodeon when I started watching it in 1988.
Not part of the basic directv package. Time to upgrade?
Oh my. I just looked it up. We have this channel. Thank you, Conor!
Seriously, How many times can you actually watch that 60s batman show?
ok. heaps, yeah, i get it
so they just skipped, X-men and Spider-man? Psssh! Figures….
@oopsxlandmine: X-men and Spider-man are both on Disney XD.
They will, also, air the new GI Joe and Transformers series this fall. As for He Man, RetroTV started airing those , plus She Ra, The original Ghostbusters and others on Saturday Morning. I believe these are aired on local cable channels, so you’ll have to do some searching for which one has it in your area.
O=!!!!! Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Bitty Adventure???! WOWWEEEE! This is gonna be SWEEET! #Sarcasm
I’ve been seeing billboards for this all over. I’ll have to check it out now.
I could recite that original GI Joe miniseries from memory. And in an hour, I’ll prove it!
Thanks for posting this. Now, Thundercats, He-Man and Robotech were added, I would never leave the couch. But this is still really cool.
oops, I meant "if" Thundercats, He-Man and Robotech were added. Might as well add "Battle of the Planets" to that wish list also.
They have Robotech on netflix streaming now. And I al so glad I have the HUB TV channel.
@xiseerht thanks for the tip! I just added them.
Can’t wait to see the wonder years again. Probably my all time favorite show. Now if Freaks and Geeks was also going to be on I’d have to check the temperature in hell
It should also be noted that iFanboy favorite, Darwyn Cooke worked on the opening theme animation for Batman Beyond.
Freaks and geeks is on IFC.