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Decades format
- Thread starter Fakeem
- Start date
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
It's an interesting concept, harkening back to the early 1980s when they tried to operate CBS Cable as a cultural network. Then, it was a three-hour block which ran twice in prime-time and repeated in the afternoon the next day (no overnight/morning programming).
What I think will meet with viewer resistance (as in "I'm not going to bother watching anymore") is the customized choice of shows for each individual date. The Bill Kurtis-hosted show, even though customized in content, is still on at the same times every day and therefore viewers know when to tune in to see it. But what are the viewers to make of (to give an example of the 6pm/midnight hour next week) a Marilyn Monroe tribute on Monday, two episodes of The Donna Reed Show on Tuesday, Naked City on Wednesday, two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies on Thursday and Combat! on Friday ... and an entirely different set of shows the following week? IMHO, viewers to classic-formatted channels expect consistency weekday to weekday and week to week, which seems to be precisely what Decades is not.
BTW, in checking the schedule on TitanTV I note that the Saturday/Sunday mini-binges appear to be the weekend format. June 6-7-8 is The Beverly Hillbillies.
What I think will meet with viewer resistance (as in "I'm not going to bother watching anymore") is the customized choice of shows for each individual date. The Bill Kurtis-hosted show, even though customized in content, is still on at the same times every day and therefore viewers know when to tune in to see it. But what are the viewers to make of (to give an example of the 6pm/midnight hour next week) a Marilyn Monroe tribute on Monday, two episodes of The Donna Reed Show on Tuesday, Naked City on Wednesday, two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies on Thursday and Combat! on Friday ... and an entirely different set of shows the following week? IMHO, viewers to classic-formatted channels expect consistency weekday to weekday and week to week, which seems to be precisely what Decades is not.
BTW, in checking the schedule on TitanTV I note that the Saturday/Sunday mini-binges appear to be the weekend format. June 6-7-8 is The Beverly Hillbillies.
I hope it's not the same old public domain episodes that ME-TV keeps airing...
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
It's not MeTV that airs the PD episodes, it's Retro.
And since Decades is a CBS joint venture, they have full access to the licensed syndication episodes in the Paramount library.
(There wouldn't be enough PD episodes to run for 42 straight hours anyway.)
It is a new concept that you never know what's going to show up from week to week. I've been looking at the assortment of shows popping up on Decades and there doesn't seem to be any pattern, except certain shows I suppose are favored by whoever is doing the selecting.
For instance, this week will be the first time I've seen "The Millionaire" airing. It was a 30 min. anthology series, with a very wealthy man, who is never seen on camera, just his chair, telling his aide Michael Anthony, who he's decided to anonymously give a million dollars to. Then we see the person or couple get the money and the happiness and sorrow it creates. I guess CBS has this show in its archives but only now is one episode airing on Decades.
Some shows on Decades are already seen on other Classic TV channels, such as "Gunsmoke," which airs on two other services. Some like "Route 66" and "Naked City" air only once a week on Me-TV overnight on Sundays. I noticed Me only runs the 60 min. version of "Naked City," while Decades runs both the 60 and 30 min. shows. (I wonder if they'll get around to the 30 min. version of "Gunsmoke/Marshall Dillon"?) Some like "Newhart" used to air elsewhere but are only seen now, and only occasionally, on Decades. And there are some shows like "The Millionaire" that I've never seen on any classic network.
It's interesting that Decades invests in numerous self-produced shows. But will they keep repeating over and over? And how about the one-minute introductions? It's interesting to hear before the "Doris Day Show" airs about how it started as a rural family comedy. Yet after the CBS rural show purge, Doris' character became a career woman in San Francisco. But will they do that every time they air an episode of the show?
And did I see a few shows on the schedule that I don't remember airing on CBS?
For instance, this week will be the first time I've seen "The Millionaire" airing. It was a 30 min. anthology series, with a very wealthy man, who is never seen on camera, just his chair, telling his aide Michael Anthony, who he's decided to anonymously give a million dollars to. Then we see the person or couple get the money and the happiness and sorrow it creates. I guess CBS has this show in its archives but only now is one episode airing on Decades.
Some shows on Decades are already seen on other Classic TV channels, such as "Gunsmoke," which airs on two other services. Some like "Route 66" and "Naked City" air only once a week on Me-TV overnight on Sundays. I noticed Me only runs the 60 min. version of "Naked City," while Decades runs both the 60 and 30 min. shows. (I wonder if they'll get around to the 30 min. version of "Gunsmoke/Marshall Dillon"?) Some like "Newhart" used to air elsewhere but are only seen now, and only occasionally, on Decades. And there are some shows like "The Millionaire" that I've never seen on any classic network.
It's interesting that Decades invests in numerous self-produced shows. But will they keep repeating over and over? And how about the one-minute introductions? It's interesting to hear before the "Doris Day Show" airs about how it started as a rural family comedy. Yet after the CBS rural show purge, Doris' character became a career woman in San Francisco. But will they do that every time they air an episode of the show?
And did I see a few shows on the schedule that I don't remember airing on CBS?
Last edited:
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
All of the episodes ran at one point during the five-month sequence of "series binges" that led up to the launch of the network. I caught a couple of them ... they are a fairly good example of the anthology format from that period in television history.
The program selection is supposed to have a common theme to them, either by some event that happened on that day in history or by that episode's original air date. Or so said Weigel/CBS when they announced the concept.
I must correct you that "Newhart" has been running on Antenna TV for several months now.
If Newhart and the MTM Show are being shown, does that mean that they're running shows that are owned by other distributors that ran on CBS? Since they're both owned by Fox now, could that mean that they could also run MASH at some point in time?
They very well could...yesterday, Decades was running another show from the 20th Century Fox TV library in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Unless Me-TV has some type of exclusivity with "M*A*S*H", we probably could see it on Decades in the future.
It is an interesting concept. I almost wonder if it would make more sense as an app/VOD service. Like, eventually, maybe they would add Decades to CBS All Access? They might not offer quite as much content as the OTA network does each week, but they could offer a few of the original shows and then a select set of the reruns that go with them.
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