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changing the names of primetime shows for syndication

T

Tim-In-Houston

It's very likely this had been discussed, but can anyone give me a coherent explanation of why network primetime shows were retitled for syndication (during the shows network run)?

Ie: Happy Days/Again // Marcus Welby, MD/Robert Young, Family Doctor, etc.

Specifically, what I don't understand is if & why network programmers and/or syndicators believed viewers would confuse a syndicated rerun with a first-run episode.

And why this didn't apply to the network rerunning it's own programming outside of primetime (ie: why didn't ABC retitle "The Love Boat" when it aired during daytime or CBS retitle "Alice")?
 
At one time, CBS repeated 'The Andy Griffith Show' in daytime as 'Andy of Mayberry', and that version eventually went into syndication before the original title reappeared(this could have been while 'Mayberry RFD' was in first-run on CBS).
The title change was something of a 'bait and switch'. The distributors figured people would tune in something with the star's name in the title, without knowing it was a rerun of the star's TV show...and, for the most part, people who were 'hooked' that way continued to watch.
That gave way to adding a word to a title ('Emergency One!', 'Happy Days Again!", 'Laverne and Shirley and Co.', and even 'Three's Company and Friends', when episodes of 'The Ropers' and 'Three's a Crowd' were part of the original show's syndication in the mid-late '80s; before long, 'TC' was out of syndication, and its two spinoffs have rarely been on since).
In some markets, stations that had the rights to both 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and 'The Bionic Woman' aired the shows on alternating days, and inserted the title 'The Bionic Hour' prior to the credits, but this did not replace the original titles; 'Six Mil' proved more popular, and not many stations carried both shows, anyway. I recall KICU in San Jose, around 1985, phased out Six Mil by using the 'Bionic Hour' title, and alternating it with...'The Incredible Hulk'! ('Mr. McGee, don't make me bionic...you wouldn't like me when I'm bionic!')
 
When "Dragnet" was re-launched in 1967, the show added the year to the title so that it wouldn't be mistaken for the original "Dragnet" from the 1950s. This, even though Harry Morgan's character was never seen in the original and the new version was in color. Then again, many people had B&W TVs. For a while in syndication the title changed to Sgt. Friday's badge number.
 
Also: Bonanza was syndicated at first as The Ponderosa. And ABC ran repeats of Wagon Train (which they acquired from NBC in 1963) daytime as Major Adams, Trailmaster.
 
I can somewhat understand the relaunch of Dragnet by using the year.

It just seems rather patronizing to think a viewer wouldn't know the difference between a rerun and a first run network episode, especially when one aired outside the 8-11 (ET) schedule (or on a different channel altogether.

So when did this practice stop? I vaguely recall seeing "M*A*S*H" listed as just that in the early 80s in TV Guide. As I mentioned earlier neither "Love Boat" nor "Alice" were retitled when repeated on daytime on the respective networks in the early 80s.
 
I can remember as a kid seeing the CBS daytime reruns where the Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke (Called The Dick Van Dyke Daytime Show or something similar) shows were renamed, but even as a kid I knew they were reruns. But that was never done with The Beverly Hillbillies, even though it would have been from the same period.

Antenna TV is currently running Three's a Crowd reruns under the original name in the same time slot that Three's Company had been running, so I assume it's part of the same syndication package. I don't know for sure, but reruns of The Ropers may be part of that package as well.
 
anotherguy said:
Antenna TV is currently running Three's a Crowd reruns under the original name in the same time slot that Three's Company had been running, so I assume it's part of the same syndication package. I don't know for sure, but reruns of The Ropers may be part of that package as well.
Click to expand...

The Ropers is part of Antenna's package and ran earlier this year. Antenna picks up The Ropers and Three's a Crowd at the same point that they started during Three's Company's original run. So for example, Antenna runs two back-to-back episodes of Three's Company from 1977 up to the point in 1979 that The Ropers debuted, and then The Ropers occupies the second slot through its conclusion. Afterward, it goes back to two episodes of Three's Company until Three's a Crowd is ready.
 
Found some information at another site that coincides with what I remember at the time, which was that back then FCC regulations formerly dictated that TV shows be re-titled if they ran in syndication while new episodes were still being produced for a network. I'm not sure when it stopped either, though if I were forced to guess under pain of death I'd say sometime in the late 80s.

There's also "Jim Rockford, Private Investigator," and "The McCoys," renamed from "The Real McCoys." Guess the daytime ones weren't that real...
 
Mitchell H said:
Found some information at another site that coincides with what I remember at the time, which was that back then FCC regulations formerly dictated that TV shows be re-titled if they ran in syndication while new episodes were still being produced for a network. I'm not sure when it stopped either, though if I were forced to guess under pain of death I'd say sometime in the late 80s.

There's also "Jim Rockford, Private Investigator," and "The McCoys," renamed from "The Real McCoys." Guess the daytime ones weren't that real...
Click to expand...

That might be possible, but I don't remember seeing some other shows from that period change their names, like The Beverly Hillbillies or The Lucy Show. Could it possibly have depended on the production company or distributor that they came from?
 
I don't believe that it was the FCC.
As I recall, the Producers of the programs demanded that the titles of the TV shows be changed.
The didn't want to pay royalties to the Actors when the TV shows were re-run in daytime syndication.
The Producers lost the battle.
 
Reruns of The Carol Burnett Show were re-packaged as "Carol Burnett and Friends", while "Real People's" was "More Real People" for syndication.
 
In answer to Tim in Houston's question, I think 'More Real People' is the last case (or one of them) of a title being changed for syndication. I vaguely remember this airing a weekend filler, while 'CHiPs Patrol' was the last one I can think of for a show that was rerun 5 days a week.
 
"Carol Burnett and Friends" and "More Real People" were half-hour edited versions of what were originally hour shows; in the case of the Burnett show, all the songs and musical numbers were edited out. In the case of MCA-Universal series like Rockford and Marcus Welby, I believe that they had to change the titles because they started selling the reruns in syndication while the shows were still on the network, and due to their network contracts could not offer the shows to local stations under the same titles. Some examples from other companies would include Fox's "MASH 4077th," and Paramount's "Happy Days Again" and "Laverne & Shirley & Company." (Thanks, crainbebo...) As soon as the shows were off the network, all reverted to their original titles.

The daytime version of the Andy Griffith show was retitled "Andy of Mayberry." Some others: "The Best of Groucho" (You Bet Your Life,) "Love That Bob," (The Bob Cummings Show,) "Marshall Dillon" (the half-hours of Gunsmoke,) "Crisis," (Kraft Suspense Theatre,) "Universal Star Time" (Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre,) and believe it or not, "The Raymond Burr Show" (Ironside...sounds more like a variety hour!) :)
 
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No one's mentioned "Jim Rockford, Private Investigator" yet - the late 1970s/early 1980s syndicated name of "The Rockford Files".
Laverne & Shirley was actually called Laverne & Shirley & Company in syndication, not Friends. There was also a few syndicated cartoons with the "friends" title in the name.

-crainbebo
 
I've been a major MASH fan ever since I discovered the series early on, but I don't remember seeing it titled MASH 4077th in reruns anywhere that I saw it. I'm not saying it didn't happen somewhere, but the main places I would have seen reruns while the series was still in production would have been CBS daytime, and locally from WREG in Memphis and WBBJ in Jackson, TN, and I don't recall it happening there. Could it have been used in selected areas?
 
In the mid-1980s or so, CBS aired late-night reruns of the last season of "Hawaii Five-O" under the title of "McGarrett." I believe this had something to do with the fact that the earlier seasons of 5-O were already in off-net syndication and using the original title.
 
To crainbebo: Mitchell H on page 1 did mention "Jim Rockford," and thanks for the correction on Laverne & Shirley, duly noted. To anotherguy: It could be that the "MASH 4077th" title was used regionally, or on non-CBS stations; it was used on the rerun prints aired by NBC affiliated KBJR-TV in Duluth, MN and undoubtedly appeared elsewhere as well. And thanks, SteveRichards, I'd forgotten about "McGarrett." Then there are mash-ups (no pun intended) like the "Sixth Sense" episodes cut up by Universal and mixed in with "Rod Serling's Night Gallery," and the mix-and-match packages of Jay Ward and Total Television cartoon shows bartered by General Mills.
 
A Total Television example: the Saturday morning cartoon King Leonardo And His Short Subjects was syndicated as The King And Odie Show.
 
Other examples of Jay Ward/Total TV re-titles: "Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show" (Hoppity Hooper,) "The Dudley Do-Right Show," "The Go-Go-Gophers Show." "Cartoon Cut-Ups" (literally!) and the combining of "Underdog" and "Tennessee Tuxedo" into one series. General Mills also owns Hanna-Barbera's "The Space Kidettes," and has combined it in syndication with various Ward and TTV segments.
 
Aside from those already mentioned:
Badge 714 (Dragnet - the '50s episodes)
If You Had a Million (The Millionaire)
Susie (Private Secretary)
Federal Men (Treasury Men in Action)
 
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