Hope for long lost shows? (1 Viewer)

Just got sent this article. Apparently, one of the ideas that we have always bounced around on the Forum might actually be coming to fruition - decades TV channels similar to what satellite radio provides. Great idea but I would be guarded in my optimism.

1 - They are saying advertiser supported as opposed to pay channels so that means shows will be edited for commercial time.

2 - Don't know if they will have it in their budget to purchase series which have no existing videotape masters and that need transfers from the original elements.

3 - No fifties channel, which I kind of understand as they probably feel that people who remember fifties shows at this point are too old and the shows are too dated. Would have been nice to see some of the great live anthologies broadcast but I guess they don't want to have an all black and white kinescope channel.

Well hell, that leaves out stuff like The Twilight Zone (started in '59), about a million westerns (including Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, HGWT, Wyatt Earp, WB westerns,etc), cop shows (Dragnet, Richard Diamond, The Lineup, etc), Sitcoms (Phil Silvers, Danny Thomas, Lucy, etc) as you mentioned great anthologies (Studio One, Westinghouse, US Steel, Playhouse 90, etc). Crap, a HUGE number of great old shows left out if there is no 50's channel. I wouldn't subscribe, I don't think, without one.

Garth Ancier himself responded in the comments on the Variety article and he claims they will go back to the "original network-length masters" and everything will be broadcast in HD. Sounds nice.

Is there a link to the article? I don't see one.

PaulaJ said:

Is there a link to the article? I don't see one.

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Here is the link
http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/garth-ancier-lines-up-tv-vets-to-launch-four-retro-cable-nets-exclusive-1200490723/

Here is the relevant portion of the article:

Longtime TV exec Garth Ancier is going retro with a new cable networks venture, and he’s brought industry veterans Diane Robina, Alan Goodman and Michael Ross along for the trip.
Ancier, CEO and partner of newly formed Zeus Media Partners, is in active discussions with pay-TV operators to carry a suite of four channels stocked with TV shows from four decades — the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

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Here's my reply to the article:

Garth, I love, LOVE, the idea!!! TV Land has became a also-ran over the years starting with edited shows and now its so-called original "programming." I would implore you to give coverage to shows that have been stalled out on DVD: The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, My Three Sons, Barnaby Jones and so many others.

I'm also pleased you're going back to the unedited masters. It's about time someone did this. Again, this was a turn-off with TV Land and other stations. I was privileged to see 6 1/2 seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies in syndication unedited (for some reason the station didn't have all of S7 and never showed S8 or S9) and I can always tell where the show was cut. Personally, I refuse to watch any show that's edited unless the original source material was lost and that's all that is available.

How about some one-hit wonders? Enos (spin-off from The Dukes of Hazzard), Flo (spin-off from Alice) Three's A Crowd and The Ropers (both spin-offs from Three's Company), Joanie Loves Chochi, Goodnight Beantown (starred Bill Bixby), After-Mash and probably a lot of others I could think of. It would also be nice to see the cult classics B.J. and the Bear and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.

Thank you for what you're doing!!!!

He mentions Lost in Space and Three's Company in the article as not being in syndication but we all know Three's Company was rerun to death on TV Land in 3-hour blocks recently and Lost in space is on Me-TV, as well as both shows are on DVD so if anyone really wants to see them they are available. I would have been more excited if he specifically mentioned long-lost shows like Farmer's Daughter, Ben Casey, or Nanny and the Professor, etc. I guess I don't want to get my hopes up because I'm skeptical after the whole Antenna TV experience when said they were going to air The Farmer's Daughter, and they never did.

FanCollector said:

Garth Ancier himself responded in the comments on the Variety article and he claims they will go back to the "original network-length masters" and everything will be broadcast in HD. Sounds nice.

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"EVERYTHING" will be broadcast in HD? Guess they don't plan on showing any TV series originally shot on videotape from most of those decades then! Those will NEVER be HD.

Albert71292 said:

"EVERYTHING" will be broadcast in HD? Guess they don't plan on showing any TV series originally shot on videotape from most of those decades then! Those will NEVER be HD.

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I've seen Hee Haw (originally done on video) "cleaned up" for DVD and it looked pretty astounding compared to what is being aired on RFD-TV.

Albert71292 said:

"EVERYTHING" will be broadcast in HD? Guess they don't plan on showing any TV series originally shot on videotape from most of those decades then! Those will NEVER be HD.

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Garth didn't say everything would be broadcast in HD. What he actually said was:

Yes, Project Zeus will go back to the network length masters, air those masters in HD (upconverting and restoring color from the best possible sources).

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This is similar to what Hallmark HD does with shows like Murder She Wrote. It does look better than SD, but you're right, it's not as good as film.

With no 50's shows, this would be a little less interesting to me. Aren't there still alot of "baby boomers" out there who still remember those old shows?

LouA said:

With no 50's shows, this would be a little less interesting to me. Aren't there still alot of "baby boomers" out there who still remember those old shows?

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Yes, but they are considered unimportant by advertisers because they aren't easily bamboozled by commercials.

Neil Brock said:

Yes, but they are considered unimportant by advertisers because they aren't easily bamboozled by commercials.

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In my experience (in my own family), senior citizens are more easily bamboozled than younger folk (especially by those commercials that are meant to look like news reports, etc).

FanCollector said:

Garth Ancier himself responded in the comments on the Variety article and he claims they will go back to the "original network-length masters" and everything will be broadcast in HD. Sounds nice.

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Unfortunately, it also sounds like a pipe dream. I doubt it ever happens or if he does get something off the ground, it not what he's originally planned (i.e. one channel instead of four, edited-for-syndication instead of uncut, etc).

Those with long-enough memories will recall when first announced (before it was ever picked up for broadcast), the Sci-Fi channel was going to run all sorts of shows, unedited (including Doctor Who from the very beginning). Between the initial announcemens and them actually getting launched, they were acquired by USA Networks (which is probably what got them carriage on cable/satellite), and the whole "uncut" thing immediately flew out the window, as did other things (such as early Doctor Who).

It's one thing to announce you're doing four retro channels, and all of them will be uncut, but if you can't sell them to the major cable systems (and Dish/DirecTV), you're probably going to have to make compromises.

Richard V said:

Well hell, that leaves out stuff like The Twilight Zone (started in '59)

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Just because a show started in the late '50s wouldn't preclude it from a '60s channel. Most people consider Twilight Zone a product of the '60s. I don't think the fact that 1/2 of the first season belonged to the 1950s would make any difference in whether the show is on such a channel or not (I think cost and/or whether contracts with other broadcasters like MeTV would be more important factors to consider).

Neil Brock said:

Yes, but they are considered unimportant by advertisers because they aren't easily bamboozled by commercials.

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Yeah, right. That's why CBS (who has a median viewer age of 60 and is by far the highest rated channel on TV) has the highest ad rates because advertisers love spending all that money on commercials for people they don't care about and that are too smart to be suckered in by those ads.

I would buy all of those in a minute!!

Ron1973 said:

How about some one-hit wonders? Enos (spin-off from The Dukes of Hazzard), Flo (spin-off from Alice) Three's A Crowd and The Ropers (both spin-offs from Three's Company), Joanie Loves Chochi, Goodnight Beantown (starred Bill Bixby), After-Mash and probably a lot of others I could think of. It would also be nice to see the cult classics B.J. and the Bear and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.

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As suggested, it's all about the elements!

Neil Brock said:

3 - No fifties channel, which I kind of understand as they probably feel that people who remember fifties shows at this point are too old and the shows are too dated. Would have been nice to see some of the great live anthologies broadcast but I guess they don't want to have an all black and white kinescope channel.

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And yet, Antenna TV and Me-TV are showing several series from the 1950s (including those that at least began in that decade). But I just said to someone this very day that the 1950s are fading away now, given that those who lived through at least part of the decade are well over 50 now, and I guess we don't count any more.

On Antenna and Me-TV:

I Love Lucy
The Honeymooners
The Donna Reed Show
Leave It to Beaver
Perry Mason
The Rifleman
Wagon Train
Bonanza
The Phil Silvers Show
Dobie Gillis
Make Room for Daddy
Naked City
Peter Gunn
The Twilight Zone
Mr. Lucky
The Burns and Allen Show
The Jack Benny Program
Bachelor Father
Father Knows Best
Dennis the Menace
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin

That's a lot of shows from an era that isn't supposed to matter any more! (It's kind of creepy to think, though, that the 1950s are to today what the 1890s were to the 1950s, and that seemed really old!)

Yes, but so many others are buried:

Life of Riley
Private Secretary
The Ann Sothern Show
My Little Margie
Oh Susanna
Love That Bob
The People's Choice
Our Miss Brooks
December Bride
Trackdown
Sheriff of Cochise (U.S. Marshall)
The Lineup
Whirlybirds
Science Fiction Theater
I Married Joan