Letter to ViacomCBS About Old Short-Lived Shows (1 Viewer)

[Pmprod7]

I just wrote a long letter to Viacom/CBS asking them to make available short lived shows from the 70's/80's era that they have in their library on streaming sites like Paramount Plus or Pluto TV or on MOD DVD distribution. I practically begged them to air or distribute many of their vintage short lived shows to the public again. I also told them about how the Canadian site CTV has been streaming some of their old obscure shows.
I don't know if it would help--but if many people on this site that also want ViacomCBS to distribute their older short lived shows would also write to them they would see there is an influx of requests about them putting out their old more obscure library.
The email I used to reach them is [email protected]

 

[Neil Brock]

CTV Throwback seems to have Sony shows. What short-lived CBS owned shows have you seen them offer?

Nothing that I see airing on Throwback or any other streaming service has required a costly transfer from 2-inch quad videotape or 35mm film elements. The shows running, short-lived or otherwise, are coming from already existing transfers so there's no cost involved. Most shows which saw no afterlife beyond there network run, do not have readily usable elements, that is unless they were part of the batch of shows that TV Land ran in its infancy.

 

[Pmprod7]

The CTV Canada site has Sony shows only --but I was asking ViacomCBS to put some of the old shows from their library-Paramount--on Paramount Plus or Pluto TV in similar fashion.
ViacomCBS (or CBSParamount) has a large array of old shows to put on their sites.
Some of the old shows they have must have usable elements to air the same way CTV has with some of those obscure Sony/Columbia shows.
If more people wrote in they would see there is an audience for them. How else will we ever see these shows again? They're just wasting these good old shows letting them stay in their vaults.
Personally I'm tired of the only "classic" shows they offer are the same long running classic shows I've seen all the time.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Which short lived non-classic CBS-owned shows are you thinking about in particular?

 

[Pmprod7]

There are many that are owned by CBSParamount like:
--Struck By Lightning 1979
--Star of the Family 1982
--Blanskys Beauties 1977
--Mr Smith 1983
--Working Stiffs 1979
--The Associates 1979
--Goodtime Girls 1980
--The New Odd Couple 1982
--The Renegades 1983--these are just some of the old short lived shows CBSParamount has in it's library. On the site FamousFix you can see a long list of CBSParamount distributed shows. Some I like better than the ones that Sony/Columbia has.

 

[JamesSmith]

I'm thinking:
My Word and Welcome To It 1969
The Governor and JJ 1970
Dirty Sally 1973
The Manhunter 1974
Domestic Life 1984

A few years later and earlier than your list. Hope springs eternal when it comes to video releases.
--jthree

 

[Neil Brock]

I'm thinking:
My Word and Welcome To It 1969
The Governor and JJ 1970
Dirty Sally 1973
The Manhunter 1974
Domestic Life 1984

A few years later and earlier than your list. Hope springs eternal when it comes to video releases.
--jthree

I can tell you that the middle 3 shows on your list have no tape elements and would require extensive transfer costs.

 

[Jim Reid]

I'd really like to see the two shows directly tied to the Batman craze. Mister Terrific and Captain Nice.

 

[JamesSmith]

I can tell you that the middle 3 shows on your list have no tape elements and would require extensive transfer costs.

Well, Neil. Thanks for letting us know the facts. I still like the shows, and maybe I'll still find a way to see them.
Some of it is sentimental nostalgia, We take what we can get.

==jthree

 

[rjd0309]

I'd really like to see the two shows directly tied to the Batman craze. Mister Terrific and Captain Nice.

Both of these series were released on dvd in Germany, with German and English audio tracks. Hopefully, you can play Region 2 PAL discs.

Two versions are available, and can be had from multiple sellers (Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, eBay...) Here are the URLs for Amazon USA.

Version 1 - Mr Terrific (2 discs, all 17 episodes)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DSYSP1G/

Version 2 - Mr Terrific (as above) plus Captain Nice (2 discs, all 15 episodes)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RQ3SZB2/

(Sorry for the weird CODE blocks, but the BB editor won't let me paste links)

 

[JamesSmith]

Forgot about the Chicago Teddy Bears (1970) Dean Jones and John Banner
and the King and I (1970) with Yul Brynner.

For some reason the short lived series from the sixties and seventies have my attention. Chicago Teddy Bears sort of was like Hogans Heroes set in 1930's Chicago. Why can't we have that kind of creativity with television today? Television had standards back then.

--jthree

 

[Sky King]

Hi all,

I might be off the mark here, but I was under the impression that CBS/Paramount was no longer in the DVD distribution business. This might also affect airings of the shows listed at the top of this thread.
BTW...still waiting for the remaining seasons of Ben Casey..a CBS /Paramount property to be released.
Guess pigs will fly before that happens.

John

 

[jcroy]

I am a dreamer at heart, even when pigs never fly.

 

[Neil Brock]

Forgot about the Chicago Teddy Bears (1970) Dean Jones and John Banner
and the King and I (1970) with Yul Brynner.

Forgot about the Chicago Teddy Bears (1970) Dean Jones and John Banner
and the King and I (1970) with Yul Brynner.

For some reason the short lived series from the sixties and seventies have my attention. Chicago Teddy Bears sort of was like Hogans Heroes set in 1930's Chicago. Why can't we have that kind of creativity with television today? Television had standards back then.

--jthree

CTB is Warner and King and I is Fox.

 

[Guardyan]

I can tell you that the middle 3 shows on your list have no tape elements and would require extensive transfer costs.

What if they outsourced those transfers by allowing students of Film Preservation to work on them? Students fulfill their internship requirements, get a lil' pay, great credits for their resumes, and fans get the chance to buy the shows while studios have a new transfer in their vault.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It seems unlikely to fly. I hate to say this because I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but the demand for that content just isn’t there.

The cost of physically going into the vault, looking for the film elements, pulling them and shipping them to a post house, in and of itself, is probably more than the best case scenario for what some of these titles can bring in.

 

[Pmprod7]

I found an old short article about this topic from 2010:

Many good TV shows locked in studios’ vaults

A website at the intersection of popular culture, entertainment, personal technology and media by tech business journalist Patrick Seitz.

techmediatainment.blogspot.com

I wish this wasn't the case

 

[Neil Brock]

Ask 10 people you know who aren't TV collectors or historians about short-run shows that aired 50 or more years ago, and you'll get blank stares. I'm not saying that many of these shows don't have value. They are just not commercially viable.

 

[MatthewA]

How would they know about these shows if there is no place to see them now?

 

[jcroy]

How would they know about these shows if there is no place to see them now?

Sounds like a chicken or the egg type of problem.