As a teenager, I was a frequent viewer of Showcase Television. It was one of the only basic cable channels where you could find movies and series uncensored. It was an almost endless source of free nudity too. Friday nights on Showcase were a weekly event. Back in the day you could watch Oz, followed by Red Shoe Diaries - the Mona Lisa of soft-core porn. It was also the channel Canadians turned to if they wanted to watch Six Feet Under, The L Word, Rescue Me, and Weeds.
Showcase was also a place where you could catch independent films from around the world. David Cronenberg's Crash was aired almost once a month. And who can forget the slew of flesh flicks disguised as art films? (The raciest one I watched was from the Philippines, but God help me I can't remember the name of it)
The honeymoon came to an end, however, when Showcase started showing CSI. I don't know why or when, but soon the channel that brought you some of the grittiest, hardcore movies and series was showing repeats of popular network fare, including the CSI franchise, The Office, My Name Is Earl, and House. And forget watching any risqué cinema. Last Saturday I caught Batman Begins followed by freakin' Eurotrip. Blockbuster movies and tacky frat-boy comedy now make up a bulk of their programming.
I used to look forward to seeing a Coen Brothers movie or maybe some arty flick from overseas. You had the occasional Hollywood flick of course, but they were few and far between, and there was almost always a big deal about it (like the big marketing push for Se7en).
Pfft... Television Without Borders indeed.
i remember when that burst of new premium channels came out in the mid 90s. LIFE, SHOWCASE, BRAVO, Women's Television Network, etc. Almost none of them exist now as they originally were planned, if they exist at all.
I remember listening to the FAN 590 when George Stroumboulopoulos was co-hosting The Game and they had a "nudity on Showcase" alert which happened like seven times a night back then. I also remember Showcase would have some host give a brief introduction before The Showcase Revue. I had (and still have) no idea what meaningful function the host served.