It's amazing what you can find on the Internet. I remember flipping through this exact tiny HBO book

Written: July 21, 2026

It's amazing what you can find on the Internet. I remember flipping through this exact tiny HBO booklet thinking "Wow! All these whole real movies just play all the time" like it was yesterday.
The year was 1981. Cable TV had just been installed, and suddenly we had something like 13 crystal clear channels, no more rabbit ears. What we didn't get was HBO. That was an extra $20 a month I think, which would be roughly $75 today.
The Cable company needed a way to convince people to pay even more for one extra channel, so they decided to give everyone a taste. They had a big boxing match coming up, and the first Free Preview Weekend was born.
News spread through the classroom fast. Every kid knew what was happening that weekend.
We were all going to be watching Smokey and the Bandit II on Saturday night.