Broadcasting Magazine

[johnnya2k3]

Speaking of American Gladiators...the franchise was still chugging along as it headed into Season 4 with a 5.6 rating (among first-run weeklies) against Star Trek: The Next Generation; even then-President George H.W. Bush was into it and they mentioned the UK version among other international versions popping up (pages 6-7, September 7, 1992)!

/The feature film and animated series never came to fruition, by the way
/KEVN in Rapid City, S.D. (where I lived for a happy 1991-92), carried both Gladiators and ST: TNG at the time

[TLEberle]

Speaking of American Gladiators

We weren't.

[BrandonFG]

<snip>

I'm sorry, but where were you going with this? What makes this thread fun is the quirky, obscure stuff, or behind-the-scenes details. You buried the lead; saying American Gladiators was a hit in 1992 is like saying water is wet. Just tell us there were plans for a U.K. version and possible movie, and spare us everything all the fluff, please. It's getting tired.

[aaron sica]

I'm sorry, but where were you going with this? What makes this thread fun is the quirky, obscure stuff, or behind-the-scenes details. You buried the lead; saying American Gladiators was a hit in 1992 is like saying water is wet. Just tell us there were plans for a U.K. version and possible movie, and spare us everything all the fluff, please. It's getting tired.

And while we're at this, stop the bold text too. I'd say that no one cares about Atlanta, either, but there's other people from there. Cincinnati, on the other hand......yeah. No one cares.

[BrandonFG]

One thing I noticed in reading these magazines and watching Youtube, is that there were quite a few short-lived sitcoms (<50 episodes) that went into daily syndication in the early/mid-80s. So far, I've seen TV or print ads for On the Rocks*, Carter Country, House Calls (57 eps. actually), I'm a Big Girl Now, It's/Making a Living, Private Benjamin, and It Takes Two. What's interesting to me is that, some of these shows aired reruns in prime access time slots, which seems odd, considering they didn't run very long.

Any rhyme or reason to this "trend", seeing as how you'd prolly never see this happen today? Perhaps they were testing the waters for syndication; It's a Living did start making new episodes in 1985? Cheaper alternative for stations that couldn't afford the juggernauts like M*A*S*H or Wheel? Or is the answer simply "because it could make a little money"?

Then again, USA and GSN aired the same 65 Hot Potato eps. for years, so maybe this is all moot.

*Mid-70s prison sitcom. I cannot find any syndication info about this one, but there's a promo on YT from WTAF in Philly. Apparently they aired the show c. 1985. I'm very intrigued by this one.

ObGameShow: I could name at least one star of each of those shows who appeared on a game show.

ETA: I got a partial answer. Golden West syndicated Big Girl, Living, and It Takes Too as one cumulative package, airing over summer of 1984.

[Jimmy Owen]

I would say there are a number of reasons for the trend and that is that many new Independent stations came on the scene in the early eighties. There was no Fox network at the time so they had time slots to fill and these programs provided a cheap way to get relatively recent programming on their schedules also there were no infomercials allowed in the early eighties. It wasn't until 84 that the rules on program length commercials were abolished.  Stations also needed summer replacement shows for their major hits to extend their runs.  Barter was not a factor for off-network reruns so that is why each market had somewhat different configurations of programs than is the case today.  Many more "boutique" syndicators who maybe had rights to one or two shows and that was their means of staying afloat.  The networks were forbidden from syndication then too.  Now everything is attached to the networks.  Cable nets were not as big a factor.  Running a show more than once a day was unusual then as well, unlike today.  Etc.

[BrandonFG]

I would say there are a number of reasons for the trend and that is that many new Independent stations came on the scene in the early eighties. There was no Fox network at the time so they had time slots to fill and these programs provided a cheap way to get relatively recent programming on their schedules also there were no infomercials allowed in the early eighties.

Thanks! I forget FOX was still a couple years away, so this makes total sense, and kinda goes with my theory of more inexpensive programming. From what I've seen, in my area, the big names in mid-80s syndication (M*A*S*H, Wheel, Feud, TTD) were all on (then-)Big-3 affiliates. The indies had a few hits here and there like The Jeffersons, Barney Miller, or Solid Gold, but I imagine it wasn't much different across the country.

I can't remember where I read this, but there was a book written around 1984 or so, that talks about shows that did well on network TV, but came and went very quickly in syndication, and vice versa. Gonna have to look it up now.

ETA: I think this was it...that didn't take long at all!

[johnnya2k3]

When I lived in Phoenix from 1983-85, then-indie KPHO had M*A*S*H, Alice, and The Jeffersons...which isn’t ironic because a decade later, they would affiliate with the very network that aired them: CBS.

But off-network reruns in syndication were so hot, People magazine ran a cover story on it in 1985.

Back to the ads: In between Hollywood Squares and Fantasy, Peter Marshall pitched "Peter Marshall and the Big Band" for syndication (page 103, March 8, 1982); it got bupkis interest.

[aaron sica]

Back to the ads: In between Hollywood Squares and Fantasy, Peter Marshall pitched "Peter Marshall and the Big Band" for syndication (page 103, March 8, 1982); it got bupkis interest.

You're slipping. You completely missed "That Awful Quiz Show" on page 79. How can I trust you as a reliable source for these ads if you don't get all of them?

[Steve Gavazzi]

When I lived in Phoenix from 1983-85, then-indie KPHO had M*A*S*H, Alice, and The Jeffersons...which is isn't ironic because a decade later, they would affiliate with the very network that aired them: CBS.

Fixed that for you.

[BrandonFG]

When I lived in Phoenix from 1983-85, then-indie KPHO had M*A*S*H, Alice, and The Jeffersons...which is isn't ironic because a decade later, they would affiliate with the very network that aired them: CBS.

Fixed that for you.

Thank you.

[TLEberle]

Nice stealth edit by Steve.

/was five years old in 1985.
//off-air syndication is a person?

[johnnya2k3]

Back to the ads: In between Hollywood Squares and Fantasy, Peter Marshall pitched "Peter Marshall and the Big Band" for syndication (page 103, March 8, 1982); it got bupkis interest.

You're slipping. You completely missed "That Awful Quiz Show" on page 79. How can I trust you as a reliable source for these ads if you don't get all of them?

That Awful Quiz Show — which did get sold, by the way — lasted only 13 weeks and, yes, stood true to its title, so I didn’t even bother.

And both shows were by a syndicator that wasn’t Viacom, Worldvision (which were the biggies at the time), Group W, or the studios.

[BrandonFG]

I'd rather see an ad for an obscurity like That Awful Quiz Show than another ad for Feud or Tic Tac Dough. That's just me, though.

[gamed121683]

Back to the ads: In between Hollywood Squares and Fantasy, Peter Marshall pitched "Peter Marshall and the Big Band" for syndication (page 103, March 8, 1982); it got bupkis interest.

You're slipping. You completely missed "That Awful Quiz Show" on page 79. How can I trust you as a reliable source for these ads if you don't get all of them?

That Awful Quiz Show — which did get sold, by the way — lasted only 13 weeks and, yes, stood true to its title, so I didn’t even bother.

And both shows were by a syndicator that wasn’t Viacom, Worldvision (which were the biggies at the time), Group W, or the studios.

"That Awful Quiz Show"...wasn't that the show that had The Rice Twins (a bit of a staple in Guinness' Book of World Records in the 80s)?