Pop Culture Timelines Go-To Thread

vultan

An Easter update (that has nothing to do with Easter, but oh well :p) for my fans is completed!

Check it out! Link in the sig!
 

MatthewFirth

OK, what Pop Culture timeline do you want me to do.

A. A timeline of the Beatles staying together after 1970
B. A timeline of Elvis still alive after 1977
C. A timeline of the International Song Contest?
 

MaskedPickle

I have launched a new idea of adaptations for the 2000s in my Perot TL (see my sig): videogame adaptations. I have opened a discussion about them, what videogames could be adaptated, what castings, and so on!
 

Unknown

Here's a WI:

WI World Championship Wrestling programming isn't canceled (now this would require someone in the Turner family who knows wrestling (1) or someone in WCW who knows what they are doing) on TNT and TBS?

One of the butterflies (possible): The Closer doesn't air (since the canceling of wrestling, IMO, left a hole in TNT and TBS programming) and Kyra Sedgwick isn't known as Brenda Lee Johnson (one of her best roles, IMO).

IMO, the departure of RAW from USA allowed USA to develop more original programming, which led to Monk (one of the best cable series, IMO).

(1) Seriously, read the Death of WCW sometime. The mistakes made were huge.
 
Brainbin

Brainbin

Unknown said:
WI World Championship Wrestling programming isn't canceled (now this would require someone in the Turner family who knows wrestling (1) or someone in WCW who knows what they are doing) on TNT and TBS?
Click to expand...
From what I understand, the death knell for the WCW was the AOL/Time Warner merger, which necessitated the power shuffle that saw Ted Turner, the promotion's only real champion, installed into a sinecure and removed from the active decision-making process (This is why we really haven't heard from him in the last decade or so, compared to his ubiquity in the 1980s and 1990s). So there are two possibilities: either prevent AOL from getting involved in conglomeration (unlikely, given the culture of American businesses in this era), or tweak the merger in some way so as to have Turner retain a great deal more power and influence. The possibilities for butterflies are enormous, because it could dramatically alter the business plan of one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.

I'm not nearly enough of a wrestling fan to estimate the changes to storylines or narrative trends, but competition always breeds greater innovation and risk-taking than monopolies do. And from everything I've heard, the WWF/WWE has become woefully complacent in the last decade.

Certainly an interesting topic for a wrestling fan to explore. And having the instrument of the POD be a media tycoon is certainly something that I could get behind ;)
 

Ace Venom

Brainbin said:
From what I understand, the death knell for the WCW was the AOL/Time Warner merger, which necessitated the power shuffle that saw Ted Turner, the promotion's only real champion, installed into a sinecure and removed from the active decision-making process (This is why we really haven't heard from him in the last decade or so, compared to his ubiquity in the 1980s and 1990s). So there are two possibilities: either prevent AOL from getting involved in conglomeration (unlikely, given the culture of American businesses in this era), or tweak the merger in some way so as to have Turner retain a great deal more power and influence. The possibilities for butterflies are enormous, because it could dramatically alter the business plan of one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
Click to expand...

You touched on a big part of it. However, the death of WCW had a number of factors not mentioned.

1) Egregious storylines
Examples: David Arquette wins the WCW championship, Fingerpoke of Doom

Let's not forget there were other issues at play. Hulk Hogan had creative control over his character, which put him on television quite a bit. Eric Bischoff rode heel Hogan through a ratings boom, but he did not quite seem to know when enough was enough. Unfortunately, there were a number of very talented performers who were buried thanks to the New World Order storyline that overstayed its welcome.

Then the promotion went off the deep end. Storylines became a joke as did the championship. While anyone who follows professional wrestling knows these events are scripted, events like the Fingerpoke of Doom or giving the title to David Arquette just helped send fans to the competition. The WWF was not exactly that much better in those days, but there were more reasons to feed money into McMahon's machine.

2) Too many roosters in the hen house
Examples: Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Sting

We also had some problems with a top heavy roster. WCW tried to alleviate this problem with Thunder, but you still had the problem of Nitro being the place where the major storylines developed. Someone like Bret Hart could have been a major force as a primary face or heel. With Hogan pretty much established as a face, Hart could have been the natural choice as a heel.

But wait a minute. Sting was the franchise and riding a wave of renewed face popularity. Ric Flair was still bankable in these days even though his prime was done. Hart's entrance into WCW was wasted on a cheap knockoff of the Montreal Screwjob (see StarrCade '97) and a feud with Ric Flair.

This top heavy roster also hurt the development of younger stars within the promotion. For every Bill Goldberg who received a big push, guys like Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were not getting pushes. WCW handled the push of Diamond Dallas Page extremely well, but botched Bill Goldberg's push in many ways.

I could go on with this subject and I'm hoping you get the sense of how WCW collapsed under its own weight.
 
Brainbin

Brainbin

Space, the final frontier. These are the exploits of That Wacky Redhead. Her ongoing mission: to make her company the most successful in the television industry. To make changes in whatever way possible. To boldly spread butterflies where no butterflies have flown before!

Find out more about The Final Frontier in the latest update of That Wacky Redhead!
 

Gosing

I've launched a new cultural mini-TL, Metal Defiled, that basically started out as a thought experiment: "How can the development of heavy pop (metal, punk, power pop, etc) be delayed for as lng as possible?" The answer I came up with: eliminate Jimi Hendrix and Cream, and avoid the general "update" of traditional blues that happened in the late 1960s. Psychadelia remains primarily based on folk of the Jefferson Airplane/Byrds.Mamas and Papas variety variety. Instead of a roots rock reaction, the Kinks lead a music hall/British folk revival in Britain. Prog, when it comes, is steeped more in folk and classical,with even less rock influence than OTL.

Comments needed and appreciated!
 
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