RE: Comcast - My Idea for a Black-Owned TV Station

Hi Comcast!

My name is Larry West, and I am an illustrator/designer from Philadelphia, PA. While surfing the net, I saw a post saying that you were looking for ideas for one of two stations to be owned by African-Americans. Despite not being born in Africa myself, I have been told I'm somehow of African dissent. As such, I feel I should apply.

That being said, my idea would be perfect: A 24-Hour Cartoon Channel!

OK, OK! I know exactly what you're thinking! "We've already got one!" NO, you don't! What you have is a kids channel that shows a lot of cartoons but also a bunch of live-action shows! The cartoons on the channel SUCK, and some of them look like they were done by people on acid (I'm looking at YOU, Problem-Solverz!).

No, I want a REAL 24-Hour Cartoon Channel! 

My idea is simple: Nothing but cartoons. Period. OK, except for commercials and any movie that features both cartoons with Live-Action! At the same time, I want to start hiring talented cartoonists who either had a break and lost it or people who never got the one they deserve. Think about it: Comcast supports the arts!

Who's on my list?

John K.
Harry Partridge
Peter Chung
Joe Murray
Mike Judge
Joseph Krzemiensk
Swinton Scott III

Some of these names may be familiar. Some are not. Click on their name and you'll learn more about who these awesome people are! John K, for example, created Ren & Stimpy and is a remarkable cartoonist! Harry Partridge is well known for his Watchmen and Akira parodies, while Peter Chung (my HERO!) created Aeon Flux, one of the greatest cartoons to ever make it to mainstream TV! Joe Murray created Rocko's Modern Life as well as Camp Lazlo, while Mike Judge created King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-Head! Meanwhile, Joseph K is a talented animator I knew in college adn Swinton Scott III has worked on The Simpsons, Futurama, and Static Shock.

Also, I want get the rights to a bunch of old cartoons, like The Critic, Animaniacs, Duckman (ESPECIALLY Duckman!), Dilbert, Pinky & The Brain, Swat Kats, Aeon Flux, Drawn Together, and a bunch more! Not to mention show movies like Akira, Wallace and Grommit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Cool World.

Yes, "What the HELL You Starin' At? indeed!

In the morning we would show some classic funnies, like Tex Avery cartoons, and then just show some random stuff during the day (some re-runs of cartoons made by our talented staff would be great!), and during the afternoon have a block of cartoons by our in-house staff for 2 hours! Prime time would allow for more new programs, while the hours of 10PM to 5AM would compete against Adult Swim and WIN! Yes, WIN! How? By having the best classic cartoons and adult-themed animation around!

Yes, Reel Toons (TM! TRADEMARKED!!!!!) would be on from 10PM to 5AM showing the more adult of cartoons we have! Aeon Flux and Duckman would be a given, but we could also get whatever we could from Mike Judge's connections! Its perfect! The man helped to host the Animation Show and the Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation!

Yeah.... LOTS of Aeon Flux!

Meanwhile, we would have a bunch of awesome bumps and promos, and attract the key 5 - 35 age demographic! WE WOULD MAKE MILLIONS!!!!


-Wait, really quick... were you expecting this to just be "Hi, I'm black, so lets make it an 'urban' network by showing a bunch of old black sitcoms, toss in a bunch of sexist and homophobic rap videos, never show anything without black people, and treat our audience like uneducated cattle?" Sorry, dude, but I think trash like The Parkers and Soul Plane are nothing more than modern-day minstrel shows while anything by Tyler Perry continues to prove that he hates black people.

Why DO So Many People Hate Comcast?

Comcast was named the worst company in America last week, and I have no idea why.

I never understood why people hate Comcast. For years online, I've seen a constant flow of posts from people about how "Comcast Sucks", but NEVER have I seen a reason that was actually decent.

"They're expensive!" Well, yeah, I don't doubt that. For my expanded cable package and internet, it's about $135+ a month. If you call them up and ask them to lower your bill, they will. In fact, my bill is down to $80 a month until September. In September, I'll call and ask them to lower it again and, you guessed it, they will.

"Their customer service sucks!" ...um, NO? In the many years I've been a customer, the only time I've complained about their customer service is when I have to deal with someone face-to-face, and even then its about once out of 10 times I've gone. They actually have some of the nicest reps I've ever talked to, and as long as you're nice to them, they tend to be incredibly nice to you.

In fact, I'll tell you a quick story: My internet went out once in 2008 and I had to call tech support. After being put on hold for 30 minutes I finally got to talk to someone for some help. I asked why the wait was so long... turns out she was the only rep in my area at the time. I told here what I had tried, and we had it fixed in 5 minutes. Really nice, didn't make me jump through hoops... I was pleased.

"Their service sucks!" I guess that one literally depends on where you live. I live in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia and have cable and internet with them. In the nearly 5 years I've had their internet service, it has gone out a grand total of 3 times. I was with Verizon before, and that was a monthly average. Same deal with the cable.



Personally, I don't get why people hate Comcast. They tend to be nice, kind, polite, offer great service and even if you hate the price they're willing to LOWER THEIR PRICE IF YOU ASK.

Now, that's not to say it's been great, there have been problems. I don't like the fact that it is so expensive to have cable ($75+ for expanded basic, which is a little more than 100 channels [but a TON of movies]). It took about 3-4 different boxes to get one to work when I had to get a new digital receiver in 2008. I don't like the fact that they have throttled people's internet service, or the fact that they want to buy NBC (which I'm 100% against).

Are they perfect? God no. Are they pretty damn good on a whole? Yes.


If I could take my pick for worst company, it would be Goldman Sachs, but that's for another day. But to me, a close second is Verizon. Why? Find out tomorrow.