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MDA telethon moves to ABC

I'm ready for the half-hr infomercials now. Jerry Lewis has been GONE for three years now and all elements of the 21-hr telethon are GONE, so sorry ABC, you've lost a viewer on Labor Day Weekend.

And now it's 2 hours!

-crainbebo
 
It might probably be hurt to a lot of viewers AND stations who have been covering The MDA Telethon for so many years, and The majority of the stations that carried The MDA Telethon were mostly NBC stations, and NBC has committed to do golf coverage on Labor Day-which happens to be the DeustchBank Invitational.
 
For many years, the telethon was aired by CBS of Hartford. The last few years were aired by FOX of Hartford. It was never on ABC of New Haven, from what I can remember.
 
Here in Atlanta The CW 69 aired the Telethon for the past 13 or so years after moving from it's longtime home of WAGA Fox 5 but they still used Ken Cook and Russ Spencer from Channel 5 along with CW 69's Public Affairs Director Keisha Lancelin for the local cut-in's. I guess if they are still doing the cut-in's they will now be handled by the Channel 2 folks Atlanta's ABC station.
 
I think KPRC-Channel 2 (NBC) has carried the Labor Day telethon since The Early 60's back in Houston. I think The MDA will probably use ABC-13's talents to stage the local portion. Instead of Bill Balleza & Dominique Sasche, We might be getting Tom Cook & Gina Gaston.
 
Will the 2-hour ABC show even have the local element the telethon has had in the past? I'll bet they go with one national show and one toll free phone number. They'll probably encourage the affiliates to run a couple of MDA-related packages (local or national) in their newscasts in the days leading up to the show.

On the upside, in a two-hour format, maybe ABC can make it a must-see event, much like an awards show.
 
I'm thinking "it's on ABC" is a better answer for those wondering if it's worth doing the Telethon; altruism is one thing, but exposure is another...
 
If you think about recent one-night relief specials (Oklahoma tornadoes, Hurricane Sandy relief, Haiti earthquake, Stand Up To Cancer), its probably easier in 300 channel+Netflix+Facebook+Twitter world to rally support in one specific primetime window than an all day telethon.

Sunday night primetime on ABC Family would be a pretty good national spot, and MDA's getting time on real deal ABC.
 
Personally, if the telethon is to be only two hours, it should air on Monday evening of Labor Day weekend, since a lot more people will be home than on Sunday evening.

Besides the fact that people will be home from their Labor Day weekend activities, in most areas, the day after Labor Day is also the start of the new K-12 school year. Thus, parents will be home from their Labor Day travels in plenty of time to tuck the kids away to make sure they have a good sleep before they send their little ones off for the first day of school next morning and then watch the rest of the telethon.

If the telethon can't go back to it's old 21-hour format, I would prefer it going for four hours on Monday (Labor Day) evening from 8 P.M. to 12 Midnight EDT, live in all time zones.

Even if it goes back to the traditional 21-hour format, perhaps it could run from 12 Midnight EDT Sunday through 9 P.M. EDT Monday (instead of the traditional 9 P.M. EDT Sunday through 6 P.M. EDT Monday), again to catch people coming home from their Labor Day weekend activities.

Even an expansion to four hours could allow for plenty of "A-List" stars without having to resort to "B-List", "C-List" or "Z-List" stars.
 
I'm not 100% certain, but I thought that sometime in the mid-1950's (this would be before my time), shortly after Jerry Lewis began volunteering for MDA, that he and then-comedy partner Dean Martin co-hosted an MDA fundraising special on ABC-TV.

If that's the case, then this is a case of the telethon going "Back To The Future".
 
I'd like to see ABC really run with this and do 24 hours straight on their LiveWell network with ABC running it in prime-time and the affiliates given the option to simulcast (on the x.1) at their discretion. The affiliates can do local hours as well.

Just saying. ;)
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Personally, if the telethon is to be only two hours, it should air on Monday evening of Labor Day weekend, since a lot more people will be home than on Sunday evening.

Besides the fact that people will be home from their Labor Day weekend activities, in most areas, the day after Labor Day is also the start of the new K-12 school year. Thus, parents will be home from their Labor Day travels in plenty of time to tuck the kids away to make sure they have a good sleep before they send their little ones off for the first day of school next morning and then watch the rest of the telethon.

If the telethon can't go back to it's old 21-hour format, I would prefer it going for four hours on Monday (Labor Day) evening from 8 P.M. to 12 Midnight EDT, live in all time zones.

Even if it goes back to the traditional 21-hour format, perhaps it could run from 12 Midnight EDT Sunday through 9 P.M. EDT Monday (instead of the traditional 9 P.M. EDT Sunday through 6 P.M. EDT Monday), again to catch people coming home from their Labor Day weekend activities.

Even an expansion to four hours could allow for plenty of "A-List" stars without having to resort to "B-List", "C-List" or "Z-List" stars.
Click to expand...

It is never going back to its 21-hour format.

It'll be interesting to see if it stays on the air in a 2-hour format for more than a couple of years.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
I'm not 100% certain, but I thought that sometime in the mid-1950's (this would be before my time), shortly after Jerry Lewis began volunteering for MDA, that he and then-comedy partner Dean Martin co-hosted an MDA fundraising special on ABC-TV.

If that's the case, then this is a case of the telethon going "Back To The Future".
Click to expand...


No idea if it was on ABC, but the 1953 Martin/Lewis MDA show survives: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOhU-QjaF8&list=PL32BF8DA063C19F0F&index=1

The telethon as we've come to know it didn't begin until 1966. It aired on a single independent station (WNEW, New York).
 
newsmark said:
Will the 2-hour ABC show even have the local element the telethon has had in the past? I'll bet they go with one national show and one toll free phone number. They'll probably encourage the affiliates to run a couple of MDA-related packages (local or national) in their newscasts in the days leading up to the show.

On the upside, in a two-hour format, maybe ABC can make it a must-see event, much like an awards show.
Click to expand...

maybe there will be local cut ins
 
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