Photo: Showtime
Sure, these days HBO and Showtime are known for their amazing original series and (in the case of HBO) Emmy-magnet TV movies. But at the dawn of the cable era in the late seventies and eighties, premium cable meant something much different. You still paid your $10 or so per month, but rather than Homeland or Game of Thrones, you got a mix of theatrical films from a year or two earlier and some really not-very-good attempts at series programming. Here’s a look at five on-air promos various premium cable networks used back in the day to convince subscribers they were getting their money’s worth.