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JERRY LEWIS: "THIS WILL BE MY FINAL LABOR DAY APPEARANCE"
- Thread starter gregg75
- Start date
crainbebo said:
Actually, Jerry hosted the telethons since 1954, when it began as a local program. It was 1966 when it became the Labor day tradition and 1968 when it went national.
Of course, every year Jerry would say that the telethons will end when a cure is found. Unfortunately, Jerry is leaving and the telethon may be dying -- but still no cure.
Considering Lewis' health problems and his advancing age, it is wise for him to call it quits.
One thing I liked about the MDA Telethon, at least back in the 1970's, was the fact it would broadcast during the overnight hours of Sunday Night/Monday Morning, when 99% of the nations TV Stations would sign off for technical purposes. In fact, while there were many 24/6 tv stations, there were very few 24/7 tv stations. Sunday Nights/Monday Mornings were the usual sign off day for 24 hour tv stations. So when the MDA Telethon was airing during those hours, there was no competition unlike today in this 500 TV Channel Universe.
I'm sure WGN and WGN America will show the six-hour telethon in its entirety.DToTheJ said:
But like I said before, it'll be a lot more easier now to record the whole six hours on DVR or DVD (since recordable DVDs can hold up to eight hours as opposed to six hours on a standard tape) now that "the Labor Day tradition" has been cut back. I pretty much knew 21 hours was passe when they didn't play "What The World Needs Now" for the final timp/toteboard tally last year.
johnnya2k6 said:
But don't say they haven't tried recording the whole long-form category -- back in 1989, I've recorded the whole 22 hours of the telethon off WWOR on VHS tape, which involved three T-160s recorded in EP mode, waking up in the middle of the night to change tape, then changed again in the early afternoon. The prior year (1988), I recorded the last few hours of the telethon off the then-Love Network affil for Tampa Bay, WTSP.
Videotape was cheap and, at the time, there was no other way to see old telethon footage.
johnnya2k6 said:
Well, "What The World Needs Now" did play that year, but as part of a medley of songs played during the closing credits.
Also that year, the telethon ended in Vegas at 5:30PM ET, leaving it up to the stations to fill the last 30 to 90 minutes themselves. Last year when I tuned in at 5:20PM, I've missed the final tote and almost missed "the song", because of the new timing.
Other signs that the telethon was passe -- it was practically all C- and Z-listers, has-beens and never-wuzzes; the jokes were stale, even by Jerry's standards (such as the joke involving a Jewish parenting magazine award that was actually a "bomb"); and Charo's performances were painful to watch. In fact, I almost fell to sleep watching the first hour on WGN America. In addition, it's funny to see the telethon in standard-definition only, while the local segments were in HD (as it was with WFTS; WGN America was all SD, even on its HD channel).
azumanga said:
Reagan deregulation also gave birth to the infomercial
With only a six-hour telethon, there will likely be only about $15 million on the final tote at the most, a flashback to the 70s when $15 million was the final tote of a 22 HOUR TELETHON!
Also in the past couple years, it seems that the recession has caused the final totes to go lower and lower and Jerry not getting his "buck more".
But don't say they haven't tried recording the whole long-form category -- back in 1989, I've recorded the whole 22 hours of the telethon off WWOR on VHS tape, which involved three T-160s recorded in EP mode, waking up in the middle of the night to change tape, then changed again in the early afternoon. The prior year (1988), I recorded the last few hours of the telethon off the then-Love Network affil for Tampa Bay, WTSP.
Videotape was cheap and, at the time, there was no other way to see old telethon footage.
WOW. You recorded the whole 22-hour telethon? Amazing-getting up at 3am to change tapes (1989) Looks like the tote was $42,737,219 that year according to Wikipedia.
-crainbebo
Also in the past couple years, it seems that the recession has caused the final totes to go lower and lower and Jerry not getting his "buck more".
But don't say they haven't tried recording the whole long-form category -- back in 1989, I've recorded the whole 22 hours of the telethon off WWOR on VHS tape, which involved three T-160s recorded in EP mode, waking up in the middle of the night to change tape, then changed again in the early afternoon. The prior year (1988), I recorded the last few hours of the telethon off the then-Love Network affil for Tampa Bay, WTSP.
Videotape was cheap and, at the time, there was no other way to see old telethon footage.
WOW. You recorded the whole 22-hour telethon? Amazing-getting up at 3am to change tapes (1989) Looks like the tote was $42,737,219 that year according to Wikipedia.
-crainbebo
crainbebo said:
However, when the Telethon ran 21.5 hours up through last year, much of the pledges were made on Labor Day, the bulk of them in the final few hours.
I don't know if there is anything out there that gives a "blow-by-blow" account of the tote boards of recent telethons, though chances are they can make half of what they previously make in six hours in prime-time this year, especially if the right mix of personalities, guests and station cooperation is used.
You are right but what i was trying to imply was that even 24 hour TV Stations in the 1970's would sign off on Sunday Nights/Monday Mornings. Most of the 24 hour TV Stations back in the day were Independent TV Stations that would broadcast All Night Movies like my local, KTXL TV 40 (Sacramento). There were a couple of TV Stations in the Bay Area, KEMO TV 20 & KGSC-TV 36, that were not 24 hours but still broadcast All Night Movies. They usually signed off at 6:AM or 7:AM and would sign back on the air, anywhere at 10:30am or as late as 2:30pm.azumanga said:
I think this is actually a good decision.
From the performers' perspective, it's more attractive - it's probably easier to say "yes" if you know you'll be on in prime time.
From the viewer's perspective, you're more likely to catch something interesting if the least interesting 15 1/2 hours are gone.
And from MDA's perspective, there's always urgency, so there's less time for stuff that isn't fundraising, but isn't entertaining either.
Last year's broadcast was an upgrade from previous years, but you still had a lot of Jerry being Jerry, and there are fewer people alive today that appreciate that. (I do, but I realize I'm very much in the minority.)
From the performers' perspective, it's more attractive - it's probably easier to say "yes" if you know you'll be on in prime time.
From the viewer's perspective, you're more likely to catch something interesting if the least interesting 15 1/2 hours are gone.
And from MDA's perspective, there's always urgency, so there's less time for stuff that isn't fundraising, but isn't entertaining either.
Last year's broadcast was an upgrade from previous years, but you still had a lot of Jerry being Jerry, and there are fewer people alive today that appreciate that. (I do, but I realize I'm very much in the minority.)
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