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Switching Teams-er, Networks

C

Corky Marlowe

The recent announcement that "Scrubs" is moving from NBC to ABC got me thinking...How many prime time TV shows have jumped networks over the years? Here are the ones I can think of:

"Make Room For Daddy" (ABC to CBS)
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (CBS to NBC)
"Leave it To Beaver" (CBS to ABC)
"Wagon Train" (NBC to ABC, I think)
"My Three Sons" (ABC to CBS)
"Hazel" (NBC to CBS)
"The Joey Bishop Show" (NBC to CBS)
"Get Smart" (NBC to CBS)
"The Red Skelton Hour" (CBS to NBC)
"Taxi" (ABC to NBC) (I even remember the promos thereof, which featured Danny De Vito saying, "Same Time, Better Station!")
"Unsolved Mysteries" (NBC to CBS)
"In The Heat Of The Night" (NBC to CBS)
"Matlock" (ABC to NBC, I think)
"JAG" (NBC to CBS)
"The Wonderful World Of Disney" (NBC to CBS...Was there a gap of some years before it came to ABC?)

And for good measure, a few daytime shows:
"The Price Is Right" (Bill Cullen years) (NBC to ABC)
"Let's Make A Deal" (NBC to ABC)
"The Edge of Night" (CBS to ABC)
"Search For Tomorrow" (CBS to NBC)

Anyone able to think of any more?
 
I believe the "Wonderful World of Disney" was originally on ABC in the 50s, then made the switch in the early 60s to NBC - and a title change for awhile to the "Wonderful World of Color." This title was often ironic, since the show frequently re-played old black and white Disney movies, like Davy Crockett.

When was the show on CBS?
 
You have Matlock the other way around, Corky....started on NBC, finished up on ABC.

Other shows...

Family Matters (ABC to CBS)
Step by Step (ABC to CBS)
Daytime Wheel of Fortune (NBC to CBS, back to NBC)
Roswell (The WB to UPN)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB to UPN)

If you wanted to extend this to shows that started in network primetime and finished up in first-run syndication (and could have aired in primetime in certain markets), four shows immediately come to mind...

Hee Haw (originally on CBS)
21 Jump Street (originally on Fox)
Mama's Family (originally on NBC)
Charles in Charge (originally on CBS)
 
ShawnHill1 said:
If you wanted to extend this to shows that started in network primetime and finished up in first-run syndication (and could have aired in primetime in certain markets), four shows immediately come to mind...

Hee Haw (originally on CBS)
21 Jump Street (originally on Fox)
Mama's Family (originally on NBC)
Charles in Charge (originally on CBS)
Click to expand...

add "Baywatch" (originally on NBC) to that list...

Andrea
 
Very true! It was on NBC for the 1989-90 season. Diff'rent Strokes was an NBC show that had its last season on ABC (1985-86). Now I may have the title wrong, but I know for certain that Valerie Harper had an NBC sitcom called Valerie's Family, which she left and then went to CBS and Sandy Duncan starred in it, changing the name to The Hogan Family. Then there was Roswell with Katherine Heigl, Adam Rodriguez and Shiri Appleby. It started on WB and then finished on UPN for its third and final season.
 
KML-224 said:
Now I may have the title wrong, but I know for certain that Valerie Harper had an NBC sitcom called Valerie's Family, which she left and then went to CBS and Sandy Duncan starred in it, changing the name to The Hogan Family.
Click to expand...

Yes - I remember that one...

Andrea
 
Mike said:
About The Wonderful World of Disney on CBS: I'd say early '80s (maybe 1981).

Also, the original Bionic Woman series switched from ABC to NBC for the 1977-78 season. And finally, I can only think of one more, but it is up for debate: American Family from one of the commercial networks to PBS (as I said, memory's a bit fuzzy on that one, so correct me if I'm wrong).
Click to expand...

There have been a few movies and TV shows called American Family, but I assume you're referring to the very early "reality" series (1971) that chronicled the lives of the Loud Family in Santa Barbara. By my memory (confirmed by a number of online sources) it was always a PBS series. I think it would have been considered too controversial for network TV in that era. For one thing, the oldest son (Lance) was an "out" gay man. PBS followed up much later with other documentaries on the family, including one that covered Lance's death from HIV and hepatitis C in the mid 80s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Family

Early SNL shows parodied the series with recurring "Loud Family" skits - about a family that talked really loudly.
 
andreajesus said:
KML-224 said:
Now I may have the title wrong, but I know for certain that Valerie Harper had an NBC sitcom called Valerie's Family, which she left and then went to CBS and Sandy Duncan starred in it, changing the name to The Hogan Family.
Click to expand...

Yes - I remember that one...

Andrea
Click to expand...

While it's true that The Hogans moved from NBC to CBS...it didn't happen immediately after Valerie Harper left. The show lasted another three years on NBC after Harper left (and of course was replaced by Sandy Duncan in season two). Its final season aired on CBS (1990-91).

By the way, Andrea, thanks for the heads-up on Baywatch...I totally forgot that one.
 
Father Knows Best switched networks a couple of times during primetime years:

The series started in 1954-55 on CBS. After almost being cancelled, it switched to NBC for 1955-56 and remained there through the 1957-58 season. It then returned to CBS beginning in 1958-59 where it remained through 1961-62 (the last two seasons were re-runs of previous shows). For the 1962-63 season, the series was on ABC again showing re-runs of previous shows. After all of these years in primetime, re-runs of the show were then shown daytimes on ABC from 1963 into 1967.
 
Y'all are good...

On shows going from network to syndication, there's at least one that did the opposite: "Mr. Ed" was syndicated its first year, then it was picked up by CBS.

Edit: How could we all miss the mother of all network-to-syndication juggernauts, "The Lawrence Welk Show"?

PS...Anyone remember the final year of "The Hogan Family", where they all ended up in a Luftwaffe pris...uh, never mind.
 
Also, other shows that went from prime time to first run syndication:
It's A Living
9 To 5
We've Got It Made
Fame
Shows that went from netwrok prime time to first run cable:
Days And Nights Of Molly Dodd
Unsolved Mysteries went from NBC to CBS and had reruns with updates on Lifetime in the late 90s.
 
Queen For A Day moved from NBC to ABC in 1960.
Two years prior to that, Beat The Clock moved from
CBS to ABC. Also, CBS's Do You Trust Your Wife?
moved to ABC and was retitled Who Do You Trust?

Four shows played on four networks (ABC, CBS,
DuMont, and NBC):

The Original Amateur Hour
The Arthur Murray Party
Down You Go
Pantomime Quiz

And if you want to get picky, Guiding Light moved
from NBC to CBS in radio days--1947, to be exact.

Also, did anyone mention Too Close For Comfort,
which moved from ABC to syndication and was
eventually retitled The Ted Knight Show?
 
ShawnHill1 said:
andreajesus said:
KML-224 said:
Now I may have the title wrong, but I know for certain that Valerie Harper had an NBC sitcom called Valerie's Family, which she left and then went to CBS and Sandy Duncan starred in it, changing the name to The Hogan Family.
Click to expand...

Yes - I remember that one...

Andrea
Click to expand...

While it's true that The Hogans moved from NBC to CBS...it didn't happen immediately after Valerie Harper left. The show lasted another three years on NBC after Harper left (and of course was replaced by Sandy Duncan in season two). Its final season aired on CBS (1990-91).
Click to expand...
The title of the show was Valerie while Valerie Harper was on it, Valerie's Family right after she left, and The Hogan Family sometime after that. With all those name (and network!) changes, shark jumps were inevitable! ;D
 
Didn't The Golden Palace run on CBS after The Golden Girls ended on NBC? Not a true network switch, but the continuation kept 3 of the 4 stars of the previous series.
 
Corky Marlowe said:
"Taxi" (ABC to NBC) (I even remember the promos thereof, which featured Danny De Vito saying, "Same Time, Better Station!")
Click to expand...

I remember those however in some cases it wasn't always meant for ABC either.

Around the same time as this ( Taxi moving to NBC ), Hampton Roads' NBC affiliate WAVY-TV 10 used the slogan "Same Time, Better Station" in ads against WTKR (CBS), and the area's two indies as well, WYAH and WTVZ and of course WVEC (ABC). For example in the Fall of 1982 WAVY snagged The Peoples Court away from WYAH using the slogan "BETTER Time, Better Station".

One such ad featured a pic of WYAH founder 700 Club host Pat Robertson with a black X across his face and under that, WAVY's logo. The ad actually appeared in TV Guide. Wonder what Pat thought of that? He must have since forgiven WAVY since that station today airs the 700 Club.
 
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