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Archive 1Archive 2Archive 3

Question about Cinemax's launch

Question: Does anyone know what the very first program broadcast on Cinemax when it launched on August 1, 1980 was, and at what time did the network formally launch? (TVtonightOKC (talk) 23:03, 28 January 2011 (UTC))

It'd probably be in the TV Guide archive (if there is such a thing). TomCat4680 (talk) 23:48, 28 January 2011 (UTC)
I don't think TV Guide Magazine has an archive, and I seriously doubt if Cinemax was included in TV Guide or any newspaper TV listings in 1980. I have/had a couple of copies of TV Guide from October 1980, and the only cable channels listed at that point in time were regional or national superstations from that time (KSHB-TV, WTBS, KTVT, etc.) I don't think TV Guide added conventional cable channels (HBO, Nickelodeon, ESPN, etc.) until about the mid-1980s. Cinemax's program listings would probably be listed in those specialized premium cable guides or something like that. TVtonightOKC (talk) 12:50, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
Didn't they used to publish satellite television guides with listings for every satellite channel? Maybe it'd be archived in one of those. TomCat4680 (talk) 23:51, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
There's a 1980 NY Times article about its launch on the main page but its behind a pay wall. Buy a subscription and maybe it'll tell you. TomCat4680 (talk) 00:43, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
Thank you, but I don't think I want to get the information to come from an article with a pay wall. I wanted info on what the first Cinemax program largely to include in the beginning of the history section of the article... and maybe a bit *(squenches thumb and index finger together)* for plain pure curiousity. Did Cinemax have one of those print program guides like HBO did when it launched, or were its listings included in a pay TV listings guide listing multiple premium nets like CableView or something like that? (TVtonightOKC (talk) 05:49, 2 February 2011 (UTC))
I wouldn't know, I was a newborn in September 1980. TomCat4680 (talk) 05:57, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
I just saw that someone posted on the article for The Movie Channel that its first feature when it "launched" in 1979 was Roman Holiday, maybe the person who got that info can find out what Cinemax's inaugural presentation was. If any Wikipedia user knows what Cinemax's first program is, include it on the main article's history section, on the talk page of the article or my own user talk page. I'd appreciate the help. Also @TomCat4680, I was also born after 1980, and I only know about the existence of CableView magazine because I found one in my house a few years back (but it only has listings for HBO, Showtime and the now-defunct Spotlight), along with some other TV guides that feature only local broadcast channel and superstation listings from 1980. (TVtonightOKC (talk) 19:39, 7 February 2011 (UTC))
I think your best bet is to buy this NY Times article from 1980. It's only USD $3.95 TomCat4680 (talk) 19:48, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Questions about Cinemax

Here are a few questions about Cinemax that I would like answers to for anybody who can find out about them:

  • 1. What month and year did Cinemax's late night adult programming block debut under the original "Friday After Dark" name?
  • 2. When did the late night block start becoming known under the umbrella "Max After Dark" name on a nightly basis? As I believe Fridays were the only night originally that had the adult programming under a branded block name.
  • 3. Was the "Cinemax Comedy Experiment" block that apparently aired during the mid/late 1980s, consist of just comedy films or were comedy specials included as well?
  • 4. And I found out very recently that in the early 1980s, Cinemax once aired a music special featuring Duran Duran, did Cinemax air any other concert specials outside of their late '80s "Cinemax Sessions" series and the MaxTrax interstitials?
  • 5: When did the network's late night adult programming first expand outside of the "Friday After Dark" block?

TVtonightOKC (talk) 13:46, 7 August 2011 (UTC) Amended: TVtonightOKC (talk) 02:18, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Here is some information I found (searching through old HBO and Cinemax Guides):
For item 1: ‘’”Friday After Dark”’’ debut in May 1984 with the first Friday showing the title “Young Lady Chatterley” on May 4, 1984.
For item 4: One program on Cinemax which premiered in 1983 was the "Album Flash", a 30 minute series which featured "Cinemax Premieres the Hottest New Albums!". Select songs from the new album were highlighted showing one artist each show. Artists included Linda Ronstadt (premiere show in Sept 1983), Olivia Newton-John, John Cougar Mellencamp, Pat Benatar, Teddy Pendergrass, Waylon Jennings, The Go-Gos and Alabama are a few I found they had shown. They also had a show about the same time period called “MaxTrax” which format was somewhat similar to HBO’s Video Jukebox (TV series).
I also found Cinemax (outside the Cinemax Sessions series) had a music special “Daryl Hall & John Oates: Rock ‘N Soul International” which premiered on April 27, 1984. There may be other ones as well. Msw1002 (talk) 01:17, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Scott Nemes: Former Film Department exec Scott Nemes will shepherd the development and production of original series for Cinemax, reporting to HBO Miniseries president Kary Antholis, who has been overseeing Cinemax’s original programming efforts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.148.25.42 (talk) 04:32, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

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HBO is just as much a classic movie network as Cinemax

so why is it just shown as a Cinemax thing? The Godfather Part 2 was played on HBO as late as 1987 on one timeslot. And the movie was 13 years old at that point. No disrespect to a timeless beloved classic loved by gazillions of people, but if we're gonna make that argument let's show HBO's record. RupertNY245 (talk) 20:36, 14 September 2024 (UTC) At the risk of breaking the rules, the notion that Cinemax was not a prestigious channel is just stupid altogether, and it's not an understandible misconception. Cinemax had the hit premieres more than HBO until recently, and even then they're about on par with each other today. Lethal Weapon (which btw is a UPN and a UPN station staple, the network that stomped The WB in the ratings) premiered on CINEMAX in 1988, not on HBO. Code of Silence (Chuck Norris movie) premiered on Cinemax too.

Only time Cinemax ever was a "genre" network was during the mid to late 90s (and even then HBO was that too; at least in the 80s, HBO had different genre opens during the 70s and 80s, and I don't mean just shows, there was one for movies, that had a drama somber musical tone, if we're gonna go that route, Cinemax was far more elitist). If we're talking original movies/original shows, I wouldn't even say HBO has an edge. They're on par with each other. HBO's only edge is sports (and even then boxing is not indigenous to the network either). Back to Cinemax, the "classic movies" network era was during the late 90s (and that was only on the main network itself - for instance, OuterMax and WomanMax and ThrillerMax never put the years or "Did you know?" trivia of the titles being shown on their "next"/"tonight" bumpers). All the networks did that eventually in 2003 or 2004, and that was the standard of the Cinemax network family until the late 2000s. It ended in 2008. Even then I'd surmise, even in the classic movies era (1997 - 2008), that Elf made the big network premiere on Cinemax in 2004, not HBO. I don't recall that movie ever playing on HBO or the HBO family of networks, at least not that much.

Cinemax is also far more a prestige network than HBO. Usually it's been that Cinemax had the hit premieres and had quality original programming long before HBO did. And yes Cinemax doesn't act like a HBO-originated network, but that's another subject. PS, in my opinion, much like UPN is as opposed to The WB, Tribune's failure of a network, Cinemax was more a true Warner Bros. network than HBO.