ME-TV (stylized as MeTV, and as a backronym for its on-air slogan "Memorable Entertainment Television") is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting that airs classic television sitcoms, dramas and classic commercials from the CBS Media Ventures note The domestic distribution arm for much of Paramount Global's back catalog , NBCUniversal Television Distribution, and 20th Television libraries, and a few from Sony Pictures Television, as well as several shows from other libraries that aired from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Warner Bros. Television later added some of their programming to MeTV's library.
Starting out as a local television station exclusive to Chicago (much to the rejoice of the people living in the Windy City), MeTV soon expanded to nearby Milwaukee (where Weigel owns a few stations), before becoming a national network. Since then, it has quickly become a national sensation through word of mouth.
A spin-off TV channel focused on animation, called MeTV Toons, debuted in June 2024 due to the success of classic animation on the main MeTV channel. Featuring classic animated television spanning from the 1930s to as recent as the late-1990s/early 2000s, the channel features content from a variety of studios, such as Warner Bros. (including Hanna-Barbera), Terrytoons, Jay Ward Productions, among a host of others.
Compare Turner Classic Movies, which does something similar but for movies.
Original programming:
- Collector's Call
- Svengoolie
- House of Svengoolie
- Sventoonie
- Toon In With Me
Other current programming:
- Adam-12
- The Adventures of Superman
- All in the Family
- The Andy Griffith Show note Most airings consist of only Black and White episodes (except for some Sundays where a Color episode airs)
- Barnaby Jones
- Batman (1966)
- The Beverly Hillbillies
- The Big Valley
- Bonanza
- The Brady Bunch
- Cannon
- The Carol Burnett Show note Episodes edited down to a half-hour, with the Carol Burnett and Friends episodes also in rotation
- Charlie's Angels
- The Dick Van Dyke Show
- Dragnet
- Emergency!
- Everybody Loves Raymond
- Fantasy Island (1977)
- The Fugitive (1963)
- The Golden Girls
- Gunsmoke (1955)
- Harry O
- Hart to Hart
- Have Gun – Will Travel
- Hawaii Five-O
- Hogan's Heroes
- The Honeymooners note The "Classic 39" filmed episodes
- I Love Lucy
- The Invaders (1967)
- Land of the Giants
- Leave It to Beaver
- The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
- Lost in Space
- The Love Boat
- M*A*S*H
- Mannix
- Matlock
- Mission: Impossible
- Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom note E/I programming
- Perry Mason
- Petticoat Junction
- Rawhide
- The Rifleman
- Star Trek: The Original Series note Remastered versions
- The Three Stooges
- The Time Tunnel
- The Twilight Zone (1959)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
- Wagon Train
- The Waltons
- Wanted: Dead or Alive
- The Wild Wild West
Former programming:
- The Abbott and Costello Show
- The A-Team
- The Addams Family (1964)
- ALF
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- Bat Masterson
- Battlestar Galactica
- Beakman's World note E/I programming
- Bill Nye the Science Guy note E/I programming
- The Bob Newhart Show
- Branded
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
- Car 54, Where Are You?
- Cheers
- Columbo
- Combat! (1962)
- Daniel Boone
- Diagnosis: Murder
- Diff'rent Strokes
- The Donna Reed Show
- Edgemont note E/I programming
- The Ed Sullivan Show note Compilation show, as "The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show" and "Ed Sullivan's Rock 'n' Roll Classics"
- F Troop
- The Facts of Life
- Family Affair
- The Flintstones
- Full House
- Get Smart
- Gilligan's Island
- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
- Green Acres
- Green Screen Adventures note E/I programming
- The Guns Of Will Sonnett
- Happy Days
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983)
- Highway Patrol
- H.R. Pufnstuf
- I Dream of Jeannie
- The Incredible Hulk (1977)
- In the Heat of the Night
- The Invisible Man
- Ironside (1967)
- The Jeffersons
- The Jetsons note First season only
- Kojak
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker
- Land of the Lost (1974)
- Laverne & Shirley
- The Lone Ranger note Aired on some local stations in place of E/I programming
- The Lucy Show
- MacGyver
- Make Room For Daddy
- Mama's Family
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
- The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Maverick
- Mayberry R.F.D. note Aired on some local stations in place of The Andy Griffith Show
- McCloud
- McMillan & Wife
- The Mod Squad
- Monk
- The Monkees
- Mr. Lucky
- My Three Sons
- Naked City
- Night Gallery
- The Outer Limits (1963)
- Peter Gunn
- The Phil Silvers Show
- The Pink Panther
- Planet of the Apes
- The Powers of Matthew Star
- Quincy, M.E.
- The Rebel
- Remington Steele
- Rhoda
- The Rockford Files
- Route 66
- The Saint
- Saved by the Bell note E/I programming
- She-Ra: Princess of Power
- Sledge Hammer!
- The Streets of San Francisco
- Swamp Thing
- Taxi
- Thriller
- Thunderbirds
- Touched by an Angel
- Trackdown
- Twelve O'Clock High
- The Untouchables
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Wonder Woman (1975)
ME TV provides examples of:
- As Himself: The network has been able to get surviving cast members to record promos for their old shows."Watch me on Me."
- Though a few promos have the actors as their old characters, including Lou Grant, Sue Ann Nivens, and Alan Brady.
- Bowdlerize: As is the norm, MeTV's classic cartoon progams edit certain cartoons for 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
racially insensitive jokes. At the same time, they very seldom edit cartoons for violence, and are overall more lenient about censorship than ABC, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Boomerang were. - Fake Crossover: Some of their ads have them use footage from the shows to create this, like the gang from Mayberry meeting the Enterprise Crew.
- In Memoriam: Actors who have just passed are honored with an "in memory of" card and often a whole evening (or even week, in the case of M*A*S*H 's Wayne Rogers) their best appearances from one of many shows currently featured on the network.
- In the Style of: They've aired promos which redo the opening credits of one of their shows in the style of (and to the theme music of) a different show. For example, The Andy Griffith Show in the style of👁 Image
CHiPs. - Made-for-TV Movie:
- The channel has aired them occasionally, but in Fall 2013, they began devoting a Friday night time slot to airing TV-Movies.
- For Veteran's Day, they annually air the M*A*S*H finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen". Usually the series skips over it and loops right back to the pilot episode after "As Time Goes By" in regular rotation.
- Occasionally, they air The Andy Griffith Show reunion special (and Finale Movie) Return to Mayberry.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: "America's #1 all-classic-TV network." While there is a field of all-classic-TV networks in America, none of them have particularly high ratings.
- Pop-Up Texting: Seems to be using a campaign of TV promos featuring this.
- Spin-Off:
- Weigel currently leases a TV station that is audible on FM radio called MeTV FM in Chicago, which plays an oldies/beautiful music mix format of music from the 1960s and 1970s. Considering the TV-as-a-radio-station complexities, it's pretty well-rated (eighth in the market as of the fall of 2018) and compared to the current state of "oldies in name only" radio stations that actually play classic hits, faithful to the format. The format is now also aired on stations in Milwaukee and Flint, Michigan.
- Inspired by the success of its cartoon offerings, Weigel partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to create an all-animation spin-off channel called MeTV Toons, which launched on June 25, 2024.
