Long Lived Network Shows That Quickly Died in Syndication

[Tim from Springfield IL]

I can easily name two of the biggest syndication duds: the repackaging in the 1980's of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and the syndication of The Dean Martin Show in the late 1970's/early '80's. And both shows were the biggest thing since sliced bread when they were originally on.

"Carson's Comedy Classics", the repackaging of the comedy sketches from the 1970s episodes of "The Tonight Show", also didn't do very well in syndication, either.

I'm surprised to hear that. I think most people found the skits out of date by then current standards. But I always liked Johnny Carson and he was very funny. Both KCRA 3 here in Sacramento and WGN had the reruns, as did KTLA 5. Today, they areon the Reelz channel, which is on Dish Network, DirecTV and most cable systems.

I remember seeing "Carson's Comedy Classics" in reruns as recently as early 1997 (probably on WGN on weekends). I did not know about the repackaging of classic Carson skits for syndication before that time--apparently "Carson's Comedy Classics" was not even cleared in my local markets when it first was syndicated around 1985 (Peoria and Quad Cities IA/IL). (Unless, of course, it was on past my bedtime as I was still a kid then ;D ;D)

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Although it was tried several times, WKRP never seemed to last very long in syndication or on cable. It would run about a year or two and then drop off, at least in the Memphis area.

I wonder if the music licensing rights issue might have had something to do with the lack of WKRP in syndication. And lest we forget the "New WKRP in Cincinnati" (1991-93).

I think the music rights is also a problem for "The Wonder Years" as well.

Also I remember during the early '90s (at least my local markets at that time--Peoria and Davenport/Rock Island/Moline) that shows like "Perfect Strangers," "Who's the Boss" and "The Hogan Family" were syndie staples for several years--then ironically these shows haven't even aired on cable in years.

 

[azumanga]

Although it was tried several times, WKRP never seemed to last very long in syndication or on cable. It would run about a year or two and then drop off, at least in the Memphis area.

I wonder if the music licensing rights issue might have had something to do with the lack of WKRP in syndication.

The first time around, when Jim Victory syndicated WKRP, the music was relatively intact -- but when MTM, then under Pat Robertson, resyndicated the series, much of the music has been replaced.

 

[Bob1370]

Some shows had trouble in over-the-air syndication because of grownup content--let's face it, your broadcast station can't show Sex In The City in 7 PM prime access without a lot of bluenoses writing mad messages to the FCC, unless you cut it to ribbons and make some episodes almost meaningless. But cable channels like E! can give it a new life at 9 PM Eastern/Pacific.

Got a feeling that shows with a life cycle like Seinfeld, which have a long run topping the prime time Nielsens followed by a seemingly never-ending syndication afterlife in prime access, are going to be rarer and rarer. Then again, that's as much a function of how rare great shows like Seinfeld are...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Some shows had trouble in over-the-air syndication because of grownup content--let's face it, your broadcast station can't show Sex In The City in 7 PM prime access without a lot of bluenoses writing mad messages to the FCC, unless you cut it to ribbons and make some episodes almost meaningless. But cable channels like E! can give it a new life at 9 PM Eastern/Pacific.

Got a feeling that shows with a life cycle like Seinfeld, which have a long run topping the prime time Nielsens followed by a seemingly never-ending syndication afterlife in prime access, are going to be rarer and rarer. Then again, that's as much a function of how rare great shows like Seinfeld are...

Here in Springfield, IL since IIRC fall 2007 "Seinfeld" reruns on WICS-20 (ABC) have been relegated to late night (originally 10:35 and now 11:05) except for a 6:30 rerun on Saturday evenings. The reason--[cough, cough] "Entertainment Tonight" was moved to 6:30.

 

[firepoint525]

Night Court
The Love Boat
Ironside
The FBI
Mission: Impossible
Mod Squad
Hill Street Blues
Lou Grant
St. Elsewhere
Marcus Welby MD
Medical Center
Trapper John MD
77 Sunset Strip
Dallas
Dynasty
Knots Landing
Beverly Hills 90210
Melrose Place
Northern Exposure
Empty Nest
Blossom

90210 still airs on Soapnet.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

Ironside, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad, Marcus Welby, The FBI and others probably did well in syndication initially when they first started reruns but they seemed to fall off the radar after the 1980's. Mission: Impossible seemed to be a fixture on TBS during the early 1980's airing either on the weekends, the wee hours of the morning or after Braves or Hawks games but I have never seen it on a schedule on a local station after the late 1970's. I don't remember seeing a schedule featuring The Mod Squad, The FBI, Adam-12 and Ironside after the late 1970's other than in California. Marcus Welby was seen on Lifetime very briefly when Lifetime first started running reruns of shows in the mid and late 1980's as did Medical Center when it aired on CBN in the 1980's and then on TNT in the mid 1990's but anywhere after the early 1980's did you see both shows on local stations.

When I lived in Michigan, WILX-Tv Lansing had Adam-12 and also Emergency! reruns first on weekdays then weekends from 1975 to about 1981 or so. Marcus Welby was on 10 til about the same time, and later WWOR had him in place of a show affected by Syndex rules. WWOR also had the two mentioned Jack Webb productions as well as Dragnet 1967-70 on the lineup.

 

[easttxtv]

Taxi never seemed to do well as a syndie in the DFW market. Every time KDFW/4 tried to run it, it never lasted long, and they would start airing something else.

 

[Hal Erickson]

Despite several efforts by its distributor, THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW (1961-65) was never syndicated locally. Rumor has it that NBC kept the show on the air because of Danny Thomas' clout, but that they dropped it as soon as they could. Also, ony 2 of the four seasons were filmed in color--seasons 2 and 3.
I can recall reading trade ads virtually begging local markets to pick up the Bishop reruns. No sale.

Both JULIA and THE BILL COSBY SHOW (the 1969 version in which he played a high school gym coach) tanked in syndication too.
There was some rumbling that audiences didn't want to see black sitcoms. Actually they didn't want to see unfunny black sitcoms.

 

[jwk1979]

After "Wings" left the NBC line-up in the mid tolate '90's, the only place I can ever recall seeing it in syndication was on USA, but only if you were home from work that day. I don't recall ever seeing it in syndication any where else. That would also hold true for both "One Day At A Time" and "Alice".

 

[onairb]

Surprised nobody mentioned 'The Cosby Show'. When that series went into syndication about halfway through its original network run, many people were expecting it to become the 'next big thing' in syndicated sitcom reruns, as successful as shows like 'M*A*S*H' and 'Cheers' had been(or 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends' would be). Instead, the Huxtables barely made a ripple in reruns, and in markets such as San Francisco, the series had a short run in the 'prime access' spot(in fact, in SF, the reruns aired on KPIX, a CBS affiliate, late in the afternoon, becaue the station had a nightly 'Evening/PM Magazine' in the early-evening time slot).

 

[cd637299]

Surprised nobody mentioned 'The Cosby Show'. When that series went into syndication about halfway through its original network run, many people were expecting it to become the 'next big thing' in syndicated sitcom reruns, as successful as shows like 'M*A*S*H' and 'Cheers' had been(or 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends' would be). Instead, the Huxtables barely made a ripple in reruns, and in markets such as San Francisco, the series had a short run in the 'prime access' spot(in fact, in SF, the reruns aired on KPIX, a CBS affiliate, late in the afternoon, becaue the station had a nightly 'Evening/PM Magazine' in the early-evening time slot).

I myself thought that "The Cosby Show" did quite well, especially considering that it was shot on videotape....outside of "All in the Family" and rare others, videotaped shows don't last too long in reruns. I thought I saw "Cosby Show" at a hotel just the other week.....cannot remember the channel.

cd

 

[Markieo]

My vote goes to "The Rookies", due to the fact that syndicator Viacom took it among themselves to edit out all the violence from the episodes (this was in 1977, friends, Family Hour, Peggy Charren, etc.). And it was any and all violence. Gunshots, threats, car crashes, fistfights, you name it, all sloppily edited. And according to ad in Broadcasting Magazine, this was also offered in a half-hour version! Would have loved to see how scissor-happy the Viacom censors must have been! Anyway, "The Rookies" didn't last very long, in New York anyway...

 

[LKellerIII]

Despite several efforts by its distributor, THE JOEY BISHOP SHOW (1961-65) was never syndicated locally. Rumor has it that NBC kept the show on the air because of Danny Thomas' clout, but that they dropped it as soon as they could. Also, ony 2 of the four seasons were filmed in color--seasons 2 and 3.
I can recall reading trade ads virtually begging local markets to pick up the Bishop reruns. No sale.

Both JULIA and THE BILL COSBY SHOW (the 1969 version in which he played a high school gym coach) tanked in syndication too.
There was some rumbling that audiences didn't want to see black sitcoms. Actually they didn't want to see unfunny black sitcoms.

If you read the title of this thread - it is long lived network shows that quickly died in syndication. The 69 Bill Cosby Show ran only 2 seasons, and Julia ran 3 seasons - hardly "long lived" in either case.

While both shows could hardly be considered "ground-breaking" by current standards, they were considered so then - not just because they starred African-Americans, but also because had no laugh-tracks, and didn't rely on typical sit-com comedic situations - they were more story-driven. So they weren't exactly the kind of show that typically did well in mid evening on independent stations, when a lot of kids were watching, and everybody expected light-weight entertainment.

In those days, Short-lived shows that did well in syndication (Gilligan, Munsters, Addams Family, F Troop, etc.) were kid friendly light weight programming full of easy laughs, sight-gags, and slapstick.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

After "Wings" left the NBC line-up in the mid tolate '90's, the only place I can ever recall seeing it in syndication was on USA, but only if you were home from work that day. I don't recall ever seeing it in syndication any where else. That would also hold true for both "One Day At A Time" and "Alice".

I've seen syndicated reruns of "One Day at a Time" and Alice run for several years during the mid-to-late '80s in one of the local markets I grew up in (Peoria/Bloomington, IL). But I think by 1990 those syndicated reruns of those series were off my local stations of that time.

I don't think "One Day" has been anywhere on reruns since its E! run in the late '90s--and also around 1999 the former TNN (in its pre-The National Network/Spike glory days) started airing "Alice" reruns for at least a year or two. (This was in the midst of when TNN was adding country/rural-related sitcom/drama reruns to their lineup e.g. "Dukes of Hazzard," "Dallas"--and IMO TNN SHOULD HAVE BEEN where reruns of "Andy Griffith" went rather than TV Land in 1999).

 

[BobbyNBC10]

WGN and TBS should've kept Andy Griffith. I hate it when TV Land cuts the show to ribbons by leaving out scenes. Like the ep. where Barbara Eden (pre-Jeannie) plays a manucurist in Floyd's Barber Shop, and they leave out the part of her figure walking down the street. This never happened when Chicago's Very Own Channel 9 or Super 17 Atlanta had AndyGriffith or when the reruns were on CBS in the AM's.

 

[71dude]

Webster
Designing Women
Good Times
Eight Is Enough
Rhoda

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Do any of you remember a May 1980 TV Guide article on syndicated off network shows like I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island,Star Trek and MASH that at the time, did well in syndication, while others like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres and Marcus Welby did not?.

For a time Hillbillies did not do well in syndication, but thanks to WTBS and later WGN and also WSBK Boston, they did well, and as for Acres it did well thanks to WTBS and later CBN ,Nick At Nite and TV Land among others.

KSHB (before it was NBC) aired Beverly Hillbillies for a long time, and after it went to NBC, it aired on KMCI for a few years. Maybe Beverly Hillbillies was show that did not do well in syndication outside "Real America"?

 

[nomadcowatbk]

I can easily name two of the biggest syndication duds: the repackaging in the 1980's of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and the syndication of The Dean Martin Show in the late 1970's/early '80's. And both shows were the biggest thing since sliced bread when they were originally on.

"Carson's Comedy Classics", the repackaging of the comedy sketches from the 1970s episodes of "The Tonight Show", also didn't do very well in syndication, either.

I'm surprised to hear that. I think most people found the skits out of date by then current standards. But I always liked Johnny Carson and he was very funny. Both KCRA 3 here in Sacramento and WGN had the reruns, as did KTLA 5. Today, they areon the Reelz channel, which is on Dish Network, DirecTV and most cable systems.

I remember seeing "Carson's Comedy Classics" in reruns as recently as early 1997 (probably on WGN on weekends). I did not know about the repackaging of classic Carson skits for syndication before that time--apparently "Carson's Comedy Classics" was not even cleared in my local markets when it first was syndicated around 1985 (Peoria and Quad Cities IA/IL). (Unless, of course, it was on past my bedtime as I was still a kid then ;D ;D)

I think that it also aired on the Family Channel in last days under Pat Roberson's control

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Although it was tried several times, WKRP never seemed to last very long in syndication or on cable. It would run about a year or two and then drop off, at least in the Memphis area.

I wonder if the music licensing rights issue might have had something to do with the lack of WKRP in syndication. And lest we forget the "New WKRP in Cincinnati" (1991-93).

I think the music rights is also a problem for "The Wonder Years" as well.

Also I remember during the early '90s (at least my local markets at that time--Peoria and Davenport/Rock Island/Moline) that shows like "Perfect Strangers," "Who's the Boss" and "The Hogan Family" were syndie staples for several years--then ironically these shows haven't even aired on cable in years.

"Who's the Boss" is currently on Hallmark, ION tried "Perfect Strangers" a few years ago, "The Hogan Family" aired for about a week on ABC Family a few years ago