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Best TV Station

KDOC/Channel 56

Before the sugar flows, we must squeeze some lemons. First, KDOC shows too many goddamn infomercials, the revenues from which obviously aren't trickling down to original programming such as DayBreak OC. What's the deal with the set for this show? Looks like a wood-paneled, suburban-den wall circa 1972. Okay, enough of that. Let's exhale the bad air so we can breathe in the good. Like basic cable's TV Land, KDOC brings to the screen many classic television shows from the past. But the Santa Ana station goes above and beyond in how and when those episodes are packaged. As a result, when you're battling 157 Channels and Nothing's On Syndrome, you can punch the number 56 into your remote, and be taken to two straight episodes of Get Smart! or back-to-back airings of The Twilight Zone, a Cheers/Frasier sandwich or a morning marathon of Hogan's Heroes (a great way to fall in and out of sleep while home sick). Sure, you've seen 'em all before, but it's amazing how much you've forgotten after all these years of mind-polluting reality TV. Remember Jim Rockford getting his ass kicked weekly? Or the cocktail-soaked skits Johnny Carson did after his monologues? Or Hawaii Five-0's Jack Lord giving the most stoic reading of cop lines ever? More changes are coming, promises Ellis Communications, which in 2006 bought the station from the original ownership group that included Pat Boone. It'll never be the same as the early 1980s, back when KDOC started with its star attraction, the late Wally George. Which is why we'll be watching.

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