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Question: Could PBS become "TV Land?"

C

CrankyYankee

It's no secret that PBS has been struggling for funding of late. Then again, who hasn't? While many PBS stations will now and then run a "classic" program like Burns and Allen, The Prisoner or even The Lawrence Welk Show, what if they did it more often, even, dare I suggest, regularly?

What if PBS ran an hour or two a week of classic programs like Medic, That Was The Week That Was, Route 66 or even shows from their past like The Great American Dream Machine?

Would viewers be more apt to support PBS with those shows rather than some of the newer, abit outstanding, but costly programs?

Or, what if there were different classic shows each week for an hour or two, maybe on the weekend? Might this be something PBS stations would consider doing with their new digital channels rather than endless showings of arts & crafts and other like shows?

Perhaps public television could become the place for what gave television of today it's birth, programs that were made to first, inform and entertain, while also making a few bucks at the same time?

What do you think?
 
I've always thought "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3) hosted by Linda Ellerbee would be a natural for PBS and/or the History Channel.
 
landtuna said:
I've always thought "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3) hosted by Linda Ellerbee would be a natural for PBS and/or the History Channel.
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...actually, all they'd really have to do is pick up This Hour Has 22 Minutes from the CBC. Mary Walsh is pretty much a Canadian Ellerbee analogue, and I'm sure Linda is quite happy maintaining her news-for-kids show on Nickelodeon...
 
How about Linda Ellebe Our World that ran on ABC and the long running Hee Haw , Pbs use to run grand ole opry on saturday nights in 80's maybe they can revive Hee Haw.
 
I don't see this happening in the way that some of you guys are imagining. PBS is too high-brow to be positioned as "that sort of network." Sure, they show country music type shows now and then....but always in a "cultural" context.

That being said, they would be wise to show more of those British comedy classics that they have the rights to. Some PBS affiliates show them quite frequently, others less so. Of three PBS affiliates in the Chicago market, I only count 60 minutes of British comedy per week. Other markets see that much every day. There is a pretty sizable catalog of old BBC and ITV Britcoms out there.

Anyhow, it's a good niche and those shows bring in viewers that rarely tune in to PBS for any other reason. Promote good shows at the beginning and end of each Britcom and some of those viewers may be apt to stick around and watch more PBS.
 
Last season WKNO channel 10 in Memphis was showing reruns of Mission Impossible, The Twilight Zone, Matlock, and Little House on the Prarie on weekends, but they have all been dropped this season. I don't know if the TV snobs complained and threatened to pull their support, but it wouldn't surprise me.
 
One of the L.A. market PBS stations, San Bernardino's KVCR, has a show on Sunday nights called "I Remember Television". They air shows primarily from the 1950s, even some shows that survived from the 1940s. Following that show, the station airs reruns of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. They (along with KOCE in near-by Orange County) have run episodes of The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights ever since I could remember.
 
the former WQEX-TV 16 (Quite EXtraordinary Television) in Pittsburgh used to run
an eclectic mix of programming that ranged from an afternoon bloc of Britcoms, to
reruns of Dr. Who, The Prisoner, The White Shadow and The Honeymooners. It
was a very popular station until the parent company WQED took the boat into a
financial iceberg. It is now a leased signal with full-time home shopping.
 
In the 90's WKNO in Memphis had a show called TV to Remember on Saturday nights, which was mostly made up of public domain shows like Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and You Bet Your Life that are on dollar DVDs now. The most interesting thing I recall seeing was the original pilot for Lost in Space, which had some differences from the one that is shown as the first episode on ALN.
 
It would be WONDERFUL if PBS became "TV Land." That way, they could air classic episodes of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.
 
Dave Allen at Large would be another...as well as "The Waltons", "Andy Griffith", the Electric Company & maybe even some Banana Splits.
 
ssetta said:
It would be WONDERFUL if PBS became "TV Land." That way, they could air classic episodes of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.
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When Noggin signed on ten years ago it was a "TV Land" of sorts. I seem to remember it was a joint project between Nickelodeon and The Children s Television Workshop. They aired early Sesame Street and The Electric Company along with other CTW and early Nickelodeon programming. Today, it's Degrassi: The Next Generation for what seems like around the clock.
 
radiorob2.0 said:
When Noggin signed on ten years ago it was a "TV Land" of sorts. I seem to remember it was a joint project between Nickelodeon and The Children s Television Workshop. They aired early Sesame Street and The Electric Company along with other CTW and early Nickelodeon programming. Today, it's Degrassi: The Next Generation for what seems like around the clock.
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Noggin started as a 24 hour preschool channel, but went to 12 hours of preschool shows and 12 hours of teen shows, which was called The N. Beginning the first of this year they split and became separate 24 hour channels.
 
It didn't start out as a 24-hour preschool channel, it had various programming for children of ages 2-12 all day. Though they did have preschool shows on in the morning, and older kids shows in the afternoon. The "TV Land"-like retro block of programming took place during the wee hours.
 
I doubt it as well..Something kind of odd, Several years ago WNEO/WEAO Channels 45/49 PBS Alliance/Akron, Ohio ran the Burns and Allen Show weeknights at 5:30..after which they ran the 1964-65 sitcom Wendy and Me in the 5:30 slot, originally on ABC, with George Burns and Connie Stevens..I am not sure Wendy amd Me was ever in syndication otherwise..
 
Back in the '80s, WVIA in Scranton (technically, Pittston) ran reruns of "I Love Lucy", "Dick Van Dyke", "Leave it to Beaver", "The Honeymooners". They were usually scheduled from 5:30-7:00pm. It also ran "Dark Shadows" for awhile from 1985 to about 1988 or 1989. Also in 1989, they ran "The Waltons" at 4:30 and "All in the Family" at 6pm. I don't remember how long they ran AITF for, but "The Waltons" was on for 2 years, when it was replaced by "Little House on the Prairie" which is still running today.

And to cement my nerd status even further, I used to watch old episodes of "Star Trek" on Saturday nights on WVIA. I also seem to remember "ST: Next Generation" running on WVIA, even in first run.
 
harrisburgpatv said:
Back in the '80s, WVIA in Scranton (technically, Pittston) ran reruns of "I Love Lucy", "Dick Van Dyke", "Leave it to Beaver", "The Honeymooners". They were usually scheduled from 5:30-7:00pm. It also ran "Dark Shadows" for awhile from 1985 to about 1988 or 1989. Also in 1989, they ran "The Waltons" at 4:30 and "All in the Family" at 6pm. I don't remember how long they ran AITF for, but "The Waltons" was on for 2 years, when it was replaced by "Little House on the Prairie" which is still running today.

And to cement my nerd status even further, I used to watch old episodes of "Star Trek" on Saturday nights on WVIA. I also seem to remember "ST: Next Generation" running on WVIA, even in first run.
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I actually was able to watch WVIA/44 back in the late 80's and early 90's during tropo openings in the South Shore area of Massachusetts (after local WGBX/44 would shutdown for the night). WVIA used to run horror movies on Saturday nights/early Sunday mornings, back in the 80's. It was bizarre to see "I Love Lucy" on Channel 44 while living in Stoughton, MA. The signal was rather good for over 200 miles away!

Back in the late 70's, WGBY/57 in Springfield, MA actually used to run "George Burns and Gracie Allen" every night at 11:00 PM, right before "The Captioned ABC News" at 11:30 PM. WSBE-TV/36 from Providence used to run the vintage videotaped black and white "Jackie Gleason Show" every weeknight during the early 80's. Some PBS stations did break the format at times in running some mainstream programming. WQEX/16 in Pittsburgh did the same thing almost like an Indie, complete with live hosts and theme nights. It's a shame that it did not last.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
the former WQEX-TV 16 (Quite EXtraordinary Television) in Pittsburgh used to run
an eclectic mix of programming that ranged from an afternoon bloc of Britcoms, to
reruns of Dr. Who, The Prisoner, The White Shadow and The Honeymooners. It
was a very popular station until the parent company WQED took the boat into a
financial iceberg. It is now a leased signal with full-time home shopping.
Click to expand...

Now there's a great memory, I'd forgotten about them running those shows!
 
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