This on the surface will seem like a strange question, but then again what else would you expect from me?
In the 1976 portion of VH-1's I LOVE THE 70S, they devoted a few moments to GONG and FF (as discussed in a previous thread). One of the small clips used in the GONG segment was from a November/December 1977 episode in which Chuckie awards a dirty sock and the $516.32 check to \"Most Outrageous Act of the Week\" winner Elliott Apstein (forgive me if the spelling isn't correct). What's notable is that this particular episode never aired on GSN when they ran GONG on their regular schedule (several other eps from that week did air--the panelists were Pat Paulsen, Jaye P. Morgan and Pat McCormick), so I found it a little strange that VH-1 would have chosen a clip from this episode to put on (as an aside, Apstein's \"winning\" appearance also wasn't aired on GSN).
So how is it that VH-1 was able to acquire the license to air a small clip of that particular episode, while GSN was unable to clear the episode to air in its entirety? I know music clearance issues kept GSN from airing all episodes--I understand that. But it seems weird to me that of all of the episodes VH-1 could have chosen to showcase clips from GONG, they happen to pick one clip that hasn't been shown on TV since GONG's three-year rerun cycles on USA.
The bigger question is how exactly does licensing work when it comes to putting a program like I LOVE THE 70S together? Obviously VH-1 had to get the tapes from Sony/Liberty--so how exactly did they wind up with what they wound up with?
Like I said--strange question (consider the questioner
). But maybe someone here who's done TV production work can shed a little light on this. Please and thank you.
Doug -- soon to celebrate 100 posts
