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TV Reruns That Need to be Shelved.

M

Mark Giardina

Just a few shows that come to mind which have been on TV for decades now.

I Love Lucy
The Andy Griffith Show
The Beverley Hillbillies
Gilligan’s Island
Gunsmoke.

I believe these shows need to be put on the shelf for a while and thus allow space for other programs that haven't been seen for a long time.

Feel free to add to the list.
 
Mark_Giardina, were you referring to TV programs that have been broadcast nationally on a regular basis for decades? If so, I believe you made a mistake in including "Gilligan's Island" since I have not seen any national or local broadcasts of that program in years (besides video clips for advertisements, news programs, and documentaries).
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Just a few shows that come to mind which have been on TV for decades now.
Gunsmoke.

I believe these shows need to be put on the shelf for a while and thus allow space for other programs that haven't been seen for a long time.

Feel free to add to the list.
Click to expand...

Don't say that to my father! He loves old Marshal Dillon and early 1-hr B/W Gunsmoke episodes that air on Encore Westerns. Same with Have Gun, Will Travel and Bonanza.

-crainbebo
 
Golden Girls.
Fraser
Both good shows but let 'em rest for a while.
 
Oddly enough "Golden Girls" was never popular in Chicago. It ran in reruns for one or maybe two seasons on WGN then was removed in favor of "Empty Nest," which also ran on WGN for a couple of seasons.
 
I have to dispute the whole premise of this thread. Shows stay on because people watch and keep watching. If people stopped watching Lucy, Andy Griffith or the rest, they would disappear. These shows continue to command and entertain an audience. Any show that got decent numbers and stayed on long enough to build a syndication package (allowing it to be shown daily) got a shot at syndication. If it didn't pull viewers, or ceased to pull viewers, it's gone. These shows are not being held back because Lucy does not allow room for them.

If you are tired of a show, stop watching.
 
WCTV has run Andy Griffith at 9 am on weekdays for a decade and it's won its time slot continuously. And they sell all the time (no barter) so it's making money.
 
WTTO-21 in Birmingham has run Andy from 10-11 p.m. for eons. At one time it outdrew the late news on the local CBS affiliate. It still must do pretty well.
 
I agree that if these shows weren't popular they wouldn't still be on TV. Instead is could be argued that in some cases they aren't on enough if at all. Andy Griffith is on WJKT in Jackson, TN, but otherwise none of the other shows listed in the original post are on anywhere in my area locally, and some are rare even on cable. I don't know of anywhere that Gilligan's Island is being shown.
 
Hi Mark and All,

Someone correct me please if this is wrong -->>

But I believe these stations purchase these programs by way of
a licensing 'key'. Kind of the same thing when you buy a computer
and it's Operating system that goes along with it. You purchase a
product key number. I believe these programs are contracted to
these stations and when the licensing key, if you will, expires then
the station renews the contract and airs it for x number of years.

Why do they keep showing these programs year after year?
Because maybe it's more expensive for example to buy the
'rights' to air...say... The Rockford Files. Maybe it's cheaper
for a station to buy the rights to air..let's say...Gunsmoke or
Andy Griffith. When they test other markets with these programs
perhaps it gives them a guage as to what programs to keep on
the air when it comes time to renew the license.

I remember for years - Leave it to Beaver was on TV Land.
When the series ended in '63 with Family Scrap Book, TV Land
was right back on the next day with the first show in '57 called
Beaver gets spelled. Then that would run for a good year or so.

Finally, they stopped showing LITB altogether. I thought I read
on a message board that TV Land didn't renew the license to air
the program.

As far as listener input goes - I don't know how much TV stations
really care about that other than considering us as 'suggestions'
to the department that looks at spending 'x' amount of dollars
on a license to air whatever program is being considered.

I miss the days of when TV Land first signed on the air. Then
they showed true classics. Now, they probably have young 'kids'
running the station that considers shows from the mid '90's when they were youngsters - true classics like Seinfeld, Raymond, King of
Queens, etc. Thanks for ME TV now.

Just my take on it but I could be completely wrong. If so, I'll retreat to the back of the class and keep my head down.
 
First remember this, not so long ago, TV station groups were limited to 12 stations. TV stations had little clout, and syndicators also had little clout, because of this.

Suppose MarkTV has 50 stations and in 40 of them "Two and A Half Men" will do well. It will tank in the other 10 markets where MarkTV has stations. Well I can get a rate because I have enough "clout." So I just air it in all 50 markets and take the loss in some, but overall it makes up for it.

Now just use this as a thought experiment and you can see why things today don't match up with yesteryear in a lot of ways.

I recall reading when Me-TV was still local, African American type reruns, "Good Times," "Sanford & Son," "The Jeffersons," "Amen" and so on were getting awesome numbers on the low power station. Now this makes sense, as WWME was a low power and limited to the city and near suburbs, over the air. African Americans have lower cable penetration.

I have a lot of black friends, and it would amuse me how their kids would rave to me how much they loved "JJ" and thought "Fred, Lamont and Aunt Ester" were so funny. I think it's odd they have no idea how dirty Redd could be. (And yes, I love Mr Foxx, he's what comics SHOULD be. They can be funny and clean and funny AND DIRTY, depending on their audience).

But a lot of localism dies. So when you think of over aired programs, try to remember, it may be more of a national/regional thing accounting for it.
 
I agree about Andy here are some others

Three's Company
The Cosby Show
 
WJKT in Jackson is in the same group as WATN (formerly WPTY) and WLMT in Memphis. They have all run Andy Griffith for years. For the past 4-5 years it has been on every night at 11 PM on WLMT, but in the past it has moved around at times. WLMT has a lot of shows targeted at African Americans since Memphis has more than any other race. Sanford and Son had originally aired on WHBQ Fox 13 in 2004, but it moved to its current home WLMT 30 and it has been on nightly at 10:30 PM for the past 4-5 years at least. In September 2011, WLMT acquired The Jeffersons and it airs nightly at 11:30 as well as two back to back episodes Saturday nights at 8. WLMT also airs newer shows, such as Tyler Perry shows and Are We There Yet, which replaced Everybody Hates Chris in September 2012 when that show left syndication.

I don't know why the first poster said Gilligan's Island has been overplayed because it hasn't been shown nationally anywhere since Hallmark pulled it in 2005. And the second poster had Who's the Boss, and that show is on some now on the Hub and TVGN but it really hasn't had much airtime in the past 10 years either.
 
'Three's Company' had a long run on TV Land up until the last year or so, although it was increaxingly harder to find, buried in late nights or weekends.
 
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