TV Land Ultimate Fan Search

[Jamey Greek]

How come the TV Land "Ultimate Fan Search" is not going on anymore?  It went on for two years 1999 and 2000 and stopped in 2001 what happened?

[DjohnsonCB]

I'd like to believe it's because no one cares anymore.  TV Land is now mostly the home of the same tired old repetitious reruns from the '70s and '80s we've seen on about a half-dozen other channels we paid too much for...or nothing.  The '60s stuff they stayed with is, of course, the stuff everyone remembers.  "Gilligan's Island" has gone from local stations to the Turner Networks to TV Land to Hallmark, and now you can buy all the BW eps with few extras for about $40.  

Meanwhile, Bob Denver's follow-up series "The Good Guys"--which I would kill for in reruns--continues to sit there and gather dust in some vault as it's done day after day since mid-January 1970 when CBS dumped it.  No DVD release, no broadcast station reruns (which Denver could have collected handsome residuals from), no cable, and the one time TV Land was going to schedule a single episode as part of Ultimate Fan Hour, they scratched it without offering any explanation whatsoever.

OBGameShows:  I wonder if the continued apathy toward this and other less-remembered series will someday lead to the sort of mass-erasure/tape disposal that a lot of great, irreplacible game shows suffered?  Those shelves get more and more crowded with each passing season, and something may have to give.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jamey Greek\' date=\'Apr 19 2004, 06:19 AM\'] How come the TV Land "Ultimate Fan Search" is not going on anymore?  It went on for two years 1999 and 2000 and stopped in 2001 what happened? [/quote]
 Ya know, call me crazy, but if you put a gun to my head, I'd have to go out on a limb and suggest it might have been a little thing called "ratings".

[Ian Wallis]

OBGameShows: I wonder if the continued apathy toward this and other less-remembered series will someday lead to the sort of mass-erasure/tape disposal that a lot of great, irreplacible game shows suffered? Those shelves get more and more crowded with each passing season, and something may have to give.

I have a hard time believing that would ever happen.  Although there have been a few exceptions to the rule, for the most part all past primetime programming still exists.  I don't think they'd ever erase previous primetime shows because they've always been considered "big money".  The networks obviously didn't care as much about daytime shows because they've always made less money.

Having said that, I can understand the thought.  I'd like to see some of those shorter-run shows on TVLand too - but I guess they're almost in the same position as GSN in staying with the more popular shows.  If a station like TVLand won't air them, who will (where have I heard that kind of line before?)

I'm surprised that some of those "more popular" series haven't "burned out" faster though.  When you look at shows like "Gilligan's Island" (98 episodes), "I Dream of Jeannie" (139 episodes), "Andy Griffith" (249 episodes) or even "Bewitched" (252 episodes), they repeat a lot quicker than game shows, are heavily edited for syndication and have been run many many times already.  It's not that I don't like them, but I've already seen all of them more than once.  TVLand does add shows now and then (such as "Green Acres", which just joined their schedule) to keep things fresh, but most of their lineup seems to be the same old same old.  Maybe we could use the same complaints about GSN when describing TVLand - although TVLand does at least try (witness the TVLand Kitschen).

When you look at GSN's library, you'd figure it should hold up much better.  After all, it would take years for the same episode of a show like "Match Game" to pop up again, rather than just a few months for a sitcom rerun.  Even running a short-run game show, the same episodes would pop up about as quickly as syndicated sitcom episodes.

It's too bad, but maybe those older short-lived shows are destined to remain just memories - nobody seems interested in running them (too bad VCRs didn't exist back in the '60s!!)

[rigsby]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Apr 19 2004, 03:01 PM\']

OBGameShows: I wonder if the continued apathy toward this and other less-remembered series will someday lead to the sort of mass-erasure/tape disposal that a lot of great, irreplacible game shows suffered? Those shelves get more and more crowded with each passing season, and something may have to give.

I have a hard time believing that would ever happen.  [/quote]
Why not?  If an obscure primetime show from the 1970s hasn't been seen anywhere in thirty years, what likelihood is there that it ever will be shown again?

That said, I believe that like many old primetime shows, there are a lot of short-run game shows that we will never see again.  Given that there isn't really a market for game show DVD sets, which, as far as I can tell, would be the only other way for consumers to see them (unless we move to getting TV shows on demand, in which case someone could view a marathon of Just Men if they wanted), why should these dead programs take up storage space?

Granted, I'm not saying I like the idea of erasing old history, but we are talking about practicality here.

A bit off-topic but Ian might find it interesting:  I caught TV Land's 1 am (CDT) airing of I Love Lucy last night and was quite surprised to find that TV Land has restored at least some of the original opening (which did not have a large heart), editing it only to replace the Philip Morris brand with a TV Land logo.  If TV Land could dig that up, who knows what other surprises might be found...

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'rigsby\' date=\'Apr 19 2004, 04:22 PM\'] A bit off-topic but Ian might find it interesting:  I caught TV Land's 1 am (CDT) airing of I Love Lucy last night and was quite surprised to find that TV Land has restored at least some of the original opening (which did not have a large heart), editing it only to replace the Philip Morris brand with a TV Land logo.  If TV Land could dig that up, who knows what other surprises might be found... [/quote]
 Woolery left Wheel!

No offense...I've just always wanted to say that

Anyway, TV Land started doing this back in the fall of 2001, when they started showing the reruns (at 9 p.m. even, same time as Lucy used to air on Monday nights back in the '50s).

[Ian Wallis]

Anyway, TV Land started doing this back in the fall of 2001, when they started showing the reruns (at 9 p.m. even, same time as Lucy used to air on Monday nights back in the '50s).

Yeah, I noticed that and I think it's kind of cool.  I wish they'd do that with other shows as well - I'd love to see the "Bewitched" original openings (the ones you see now are the syndication openings, and not the ones originally used).  There's always the hope that when these shows eventually appear on DVD they'll restore the original openings, but they haven't done that with every show - unfortunatly.

Speaking of "Bewitched", Elizabeth Montgomery was a frequent game show player, appearing on shows like "Password" and "Hollywood Squares".

[rigsby]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Apr 20 2004, 07:58 AM\']I'd love to see the "Bewitched" original openings (the ones you see now are the syndication openings, and not the ones originally used).  There's always the hope that when these shows eventually appear on DVD they'll restore the original openings, but they haven't done that with every show - unfortunatly.

Speaking of "Bewitched", Elizabeth Montgomery was a frequent game show player, appearing on shows like "Password" and "Hollywood Squares".[/quote]
Well, I guess we'll find out when the DVD comes out in 2005...but if not, I have four of the real openings already.  

And I may be trying for my second WLW in this topic (thx Aaron ), but www.bewitched.net has a few screen shots and audio clips of one of Liz's appearances on the lost ABC Password.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'rigsby\' date=\'Apr 20 2004, 10:12 AM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Apr 20 2004, 07:58 AM\']I'd love to see the "Bewitched" original openings (the ones you see now are the syndication openings, and not the ones originally used).  There's always the hope that when these shows eventually appear on DVD they'll restore the original openings, but they haven't done that with every show - unfortunatly.

Speaking of "Bewitched", Elizabeth Montgomery was a frequent game show player, appearing on shows like "Password" and "Hollywood Squares".[/quote]
Well, I guess we'll find out when the DVD comes out in 2005...but if not, I have four of the real openings already.  

And I may be trying for my second WLW in this topic (thx Aaron ), but www.bewitched.net has a few screen shots and audio clips of one of Liz's appearances on the lost ABC Password. [/quote]
 LOL you're welcome

To me the most interesting thing about the TV shows of the past like that (I hesitate to say "older TV shows", lest I offend some of our senior members is the product plugs a lot of them had, "Bewitched" definitely being one of them. I've seen screencaps of some of the ones on "Bewitched", where they're worked right into the theme.

[uncamark]

The problem with TV Land and Nick at Nite is the same that GSN, to a certain extent, still has--they are not "destination" channels but more like channels of last resort to most viewers--they're what people come to when there's nothing else on that they're interested in.  The hardcore vintage TV fans make up a small percentage of the viewership--most viewers only watch the channels once or twice a week and don't watch every day, in most cases.

Time and again, the research tells TVL/NAN that Joe Average Viewer only stops surfing when it's something or someone he's familiar with and that obscure programming only works when you have a hook for it, like a marathon of sitcom episodes with the cast of "Friends" doing guest shots, for example.  And if you're only watching a rerun of "Bewitched" now and then, most likely the next time you watch it you won't see the same episode again.

TVL/NAN would like to keep the vintage TV fans with them, but they also know that relying on them alone will not keep them in business.  It's the same problem GSN had and has.

[Don Howard]

The foregoing reasons are exactly why I recorded that channel's initial offerings upon thousands of hours of VHS tapes (as opposed to VHS records). I knew it couldn't last. In fact, the vintage programming ran a whole lot longer than I thought it would on a regular basis. When will I watch all this stuff? Good question. But, if ever I have a craving for an episode of Laredo to satisfy my Peter Brown jones, I'm good to go.
Happy Secretaries' Day.

[Jamey Greek]

I happen to like the reruns of Family Ties and Cheers when I first heard about Cheers coming to Nick at Nite I thought to myself, Hey Cheers is too recent for Nick at Nite now let's get back to Game Shows.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Jamey Greek\' date=\'Apr 21 2004, 02:18 PM\'] now let's get back to Game Shows. [/quote]
 I'd point out that you're the one who started this irrelevant thread to start with.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'DjohnsonCB\' date=\'Apr 19 2004, 10:44 AM\']

Meanwhile, Bob Denver's follow-up series "The Good Guys"--which I would kill for in reruns--continues to sit there and gather dust in some vault as it's done day after day since mid-January 1970 when CBS dumped it.  No DVD release, no broadcast station reruns (which Denver could have collected handsome residuals from), no cable, and the one time TV Land was going to schedule a single episode as part of Ultimate Fan Hour, they scratched it without offering any explanation whatsoever.

OBGameShows:  I wonder if the continued apathy toward this and other less-remembered series will someday lead to the sort of mass-erasure/tape disposal that a lot of great, irreplacible game shows suffered?  Those shelves get more and more crowded with each passing season, and something may have to give. [/quote]
 David, this is small consolation (and continued off-topic), but I have a DVD double feature of "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" and "The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West," which is a compilation of episodes from "Dusty's Trail," Bob Denver's followup to "The Good Guys."  Poor quality all around ("Dusty" was bad to begin with), but it was only $3.99 and it had the original show opening theme.  If "The Good Guys" ever falls into public domain, maybe it will see a DVD release.

[rugrats1]

If "The Good Guys" ever falls into public domain, maybe it will see a DVD release.

Chances are that it already is in the public domain, only that the cheap DVD companies either couldn't find any episodes in a suitable condition, or they're just unwilling to release it on DVD.