Pre-emptions you didn't mind happening

[anotherguyTN]

In the pre-emption thread I mentioned that WMC NBC 5 in Memphis used to pre-empt Notre Dame football and carry the syndicated SEC package instead, which I really didn't mind since I'd usually rather see the SEC game. Another case of pre-emptions I didn't mind was with WREG CBS 3, who didn't carry CBS's late night programming until David Letterman moved there. Instead they carried reruns of MASH and later Cheers.

Does anyone else have times when they actually preferred the local show to the one that was pre-empted?

 

[briancraig]

It kind of bugged me that in the 1970s, WHBQ in Memphis didn't carry American Bandstand in order to show the local wrestling show. But in reality, I would have rather watched local wrestling than kids in California dancing. The Memphis wrestling show was the best.

But when wrestling moved over to WMC, I didn't understand why WHBQ showed old movies instead of Bandstand.

 

[FreddyE1977]

WIIC-TV in Pittsburgh pre-empted the first few classic years of Saturday Night Live
because the time slot had long been filled by a local institution, Chiller Theater, hosted
by local legend Chilly Billy Cardille. (if you really preferred to see SNL you could catch
it on WPGH or on WSTV out of Steubenville, Ohio)

 

[cwf1701]

in Detroit, People would rather watch Sonny Elliot host the thanksgiving Parade on WWJ/WDIV from the old J.L. Hudson store than the Macy Parade (on NBC) in New York.

 

[firepoint525]

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

 

[Mike Stroud]

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

Jackson is dead smack in the middle of the "Bible Belt." There was no way in Cain WBBJ was going to get all the preachers and church-going folks (who were customers of advertisers, of course) riled up over the raunchy-for-the-time subject matter of Soap. Same story for other parts of the South and lower Midwest.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

I had forgotten about that and I live in the Jackson area. Looking back I'd think I'd rather see The Gong Show as well.

 

[azumanga]

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

I had forgotten about that and I live in the Jackson area. Looking back I'd think I'd rather see The Gong Show as well.

Of course, along the lines came "The Popsicle Twins" -- I wonder if WBBJ aired that episode, and if they did, wished that they did show "Soap"?

 

[hipman2]

Jeannie and My Favorite Martians were pre-empted by KFMB 8 in favor of Chester the Jester showing old Yogi Bear cartoons in 1976. Preferred Yogi over those poorly made CBS cartoons.

Many of NBC's game shows in the AM were pre-empted by KCST/KNSD in the 80s and 90s for Donahue and Sally Jesse Raphael. Many NBC game shows during that time were not as good as those they had in the 60s and early 70s. All Star Secrets was probably the worst of them all.

10 News, reruns of Laverne and Shirley, Dukes of Hazzard, Rockford Files, and Eight is Enough, etc., preferred over ABC's Ryan's Hope, Loving, and the Edge of Night, Double Talk, revival of Match Game in 1990, reruns of Webster, and Mr. Belvedere.

Football runs in prime-time meant that some Western affilliates carried a syndicated movie at 9pm after the game instead of showing the 8pm-9pm ET network showing that was fed then.

 

[rgseark2009]

KATV (Little Rock -ABC) used to preempt the Professional Bowlers Tour for syndicated TVS college basketball games from the late 60's(?) to 1976.

A couple of notable games carried was the UCLA@Notre Dame game (1974) where UCLA' 88 game winning streak was broken. I watched that game as an 8 year old (in color) at the parents. The other notable game of that era was the regionally televised SMU@Arkansas game (in 1973). The only reasons I remember that game was that we were at my maternal grandfather's house watching on his B&W console and that a Razorback player set a long-standing single game scoring record that held until last season. (I would love to see a color videotape of that game, but I doubt any recordings exist).

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Of course, along the lines came "The Popsicle Twins"

Or, as they were formally known, "Have You Got A Nickel?" Was that on the TV show or the Gong Show movie?

 

[firepoint525]

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

Jackson is dead smack in the middle of the "Bible Belt." There was no way in Cain WBBJ was going to get all the preachers and church-going folks (who were customers of advertisers, of course) riled up over the raunchy-for-the-time subject matter of Soap. Same story for other parts of the South and lower Midwest.

Channel 7 (WBBJ) in Jackson, TN, aired The Gong Show in place of Soap. Hey, I was 14 at the time! ;D 8)

I had forgotten about that and I live in the Jackson area. Looking back I'd think I'd rather see The Gong Show as well.

We could just about start a thread of our own for all the pre-emptions on WBBJ!

I remember that in the '80s, they routinely pre-empted various prime-time programming for Solid Gold! Since I was a fan of the Solid Gold Dancers (and who wasn't?), I certainly didn't mind that pre-emption at all! ;D Although there was no rhyme or reason for it; they just did it!

 

[azumanga]

Of course, along the lines came "The Popsicle Twins"

Or, as they were formally known, "Have You Got A Nickel?" Was that on the TV show or the Gong Show movie?

It was both on the show and the movie -- and on the show, it was on both the NBC and syndicated versions. The segment was seen on NBC's East Coast Network, but after the programmers saw what the performance was about, the segment was pulled from the West Coast feed, with the time after the show filled with PSAs.

Word has it that that episode was also included in full in the syndicated version.

 

[MattParker]

in Detroit, People would rather watch Sonny Elliot host the thanksgiving Parade on WWJ/WDIV from the old J.L. Hudson store than the Macy Parade (on NBC) in New York.

WWJ-TV, the Detroit News, did not pre-empt Macy's. They carried both Hudson's and Macy's parades but before video tape, they often did join Macy's "in progress." Now, Hudson's downtown store is gone and the suburban Hudson's stores are now "Macy's."