A Question on a question...

[gamed121683]

Checking out my "Wipeout" tape the other day I was watching a show where a question was "Name a TV show that ran over 200 episodes" and one of the choices was "Petticoat Junction" in which I was surprised to here that it was wrong. They said that the show ran 176 shows. I always thought it was more (and so does a couple of websites I went to). So who's right, me or the show's research department?

EDIT (more like a correction): I just resaw the episode, they did say 148 episodes as a previous poster said. Yet as mentioned that's just the color shows. Add the B&W shows and your over the top. Also if I recall, when TV Land aired "Petticoat Junction" didn't they air both the B&W and color shows? Maybe our Canadian friends can help us for I think the reruns still air in cable up there.

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Jul 30 2004, 02:23 PM\'] Checking out my "Wipeout" tape the other day I was watching a show where a question was "Name a TV show that ran over 200 episodes" and one of the choices was "Petticoat Junction" in which I was surprised to here that it was wrong. They said that the show ran 176 shows. I always thought it was more (and so does a couple of websites I went to). So who's right, me or the show's research department? [/quote]
You are right; according to www.tvtome.com - which to me is the quintessential episode guide for TV shows - 222 episodes were made. 74 in B&W and 148 in color.

ObGameShow: Geoff Edwards was on some episodes of PJ.

[BrandonFG]

Possible scenario...only 176 episodes were viewable or offered in the syndication package, which is where Wipeout got their figures? I'm just speculating, but would it be likely, esp. since 1) Internet wasn't big in 1988, and 2) GSN has found numerous episodes of game shows that we thought were lost, and didn't have an estimate on?

[Steve Gavazzi]

I'm a big fan of Petticoat Junction, and I have no clue how they'd come up with 176 for the episode count.  There's only one syndication package for the show -- the 148 color episodes -- so that isn't it, and I don't think you can get that number by subtracting any combination of full seasons, either.  I'm sure there's some explanation, but it almost seems as though they came up with a random number.

[Matt Ottinger]

Still, I bet that the theory fostergray82 put forward has some truth to it.  It makes sense that someone would think of the shows as only being the color ones in syndication.  Another possibility is that Wipeout used a faulty reference book.  Remember, this was before you could look these things up on the internet.  

In particular, Vincent Terrace was churning out a ton of TV fact books back then (still does, actually) which were all about quantity over quality and which were full of pesky little errors while still getting the gist of it right (a lot like the IMDB is today). I'll go through some of mine and see if I can find a reference to 176 episodes.

[TV Favorites]

TV Land only aired the color episodes of Petticoat Junction except for the very first B&W episode which was aired in rotation with the color episodes.  Supposedly, TV Land was suppose to get the B&W episodes but for some reason, the deal fell through.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Jul 30 2004, 02:23 PM\'] EDIT (more like a correction): I just resaw the episode, they did say 148 episodes as a previous poster said. [/quote]
 Well, yeah, when you're going to criticize somebody for making a mistake, it certainly helps to get your own facts straight.

Many reference books (including at least one by Vincent Terrace) erroneously list the 148 color episodes as being all that were made.  So the Wipeout people weren't making up a completely random number, and can almost be excused for the mistake.  When a "fact" turns up in enough reference books, it takes a special kind of researcher to dispute it and go digging a little further.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'TV Favorites\' date=\'Jul 30 2004, 10:32 PM\']TV Land only aired the color episodes of Petticoat Junction except for the very first B&W episode which was aired in rotation with the color episodes.  Supposedly, TV Land was suppose to get the B&W episodes but for some reason, the deal fell through.[/quote]
What could go wrong between two Viacom divisions?  I think TVL just chose not to pick up the black-and-white episodes.

ObGameShow:  Linda Kaye Henning did a lot of "Password," Meredith MacRae did a lot of game shows period.

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'gamed121683\' date=\'Jul 30 2004, 02:23 PM\'] Also if I recall, when TV Land aired "Petticoat Junction" didn't they air both the B&W and color shows? [/quote]
 Nope.  Outside of two episodes that, to my knowledge, TVLand ran once each, the two B&W seasons have never been aired since 1965.

[Ian Wallis]

Nope. Outside of two episodes that, to my knowledge, TVLand ran once each, the two B&W seasons have never been aired since 1965.

I'm pretty sure you are correct.  TVLand actually aired the first B&W episode of "Petticoat Junction" just recently, and I noticed at the end they had to superimpose their logo in the bottom left of the screen blocking out the sponsored product for that show.  That seems to indicate the B&W shows were never prepared for syndication.

I guess I'm wondering why...almost every other show from that time that had both B&W and color episodes saw ALL of their episodes syndicated.  I wonder what it was with the "Petticoat Junction" episodes that they never syndicated the B&W shows.  Seems pretty odd to me.

"Petticoat Junction" was set in Hooterville, as was "Green Acres".  Eva Gabor, who starred in "Green Acres", was a guest on the CBS "Match Game" several times in the '70s.

[Jimmy Owen]

Though later aired on Nick at Nite, the B&W eps of "My Three Sons" (featuring TTTT80 guest panelist Lani O'Grady's brother Don Grady) weren't put into local syndication.  The package always started with the transitional show as Mike and wife played by Meredith MacRae(!) leave the show and Mike is replaced by Ernie as the third son. My guess is there were so many eps in color of PJ and MTS that stations didn't need the B&Ws, plus the cast turnover of the first few seasons might be confusing.  PJ was one of the few long running CBS sitcoms of that era that didn't get a network daytime strip run.  Ob game show: June Lockhart of PJ also appeared on the Jack Cassidy pilot of "Love Experts."

[Tim L]

I think Too that B&W was losing favor as more and more stations and networks went to color Broadcasting . Except for huge hits (I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, etc.) Stations would prfer Color over B&W If there are enough Episodes.
Also I have seen on some Cable Stations some B&W  Sitcom episodes where they (mistakenly or not) Show The product Tag at the end during the credits

Ozzie And Harriet-Kodak Film
Make Room For Daddy-Early episodes RJ Reynold Tobacco Company I saw One show where they even had a cast announcement on the next week's Sponsor-Dodge Cars

Dobie Gillis-Ivory soap and others

Andy Griffith-Maxwell House Coffee

Tim Lones

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Aug 3 2004, 10:30 AM\'] Though later aired on Nick at Nite, the B&W eps of "My Three Sons" (featuring TTTT80 guest panelist Lani O'Grady's brother Don Grady) weren't put into local syndication.  The package always started with the transitional show as Mike and wife played by Meredith MacRae(!) leave the show and Mike is replaced by Ernie as the third son. My guess is there were so many eps in color of PJ and MTS that stations didn't need the B&Ws, plus the cast turnover of the first few seasons might be confusing.  PJ was one of the few long running CBS sitcoms of that era that didn't get a network daytime strip run.  Ob game show: June Lockhart of PJ also appeared on the Jack Cassidy pilot of "Love Experts." [/quote]
 My Three Sons is another show with goofy episode groupings.  As I recall, there are now two syndication packages -- one with seasons 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and half of 11, and the other with seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the other half of 11, and 12.

And Petticoat Junction might not be too much less confusing without the B&W seasons; that show probably had the most bizarre cast turnover rate of any program ever.  There are several characters on there played by as many as four different people over the years, as well as several actors who portrayed multiple frequently appearing characters during the show's run.

And to make this at least mildly on-topic, one of Bobbi Jo Bradley's boyfriends was played by Geoff Edwards. :-)