Complete Carson Tonight Shows coming to Antenna TV (1 Viewer)

Starting January 1st, Antenna has struck a deal with the Carson people to start airing shows from the last 20 years of the show from 1972-92. One-hour shows Mon-Fri night with the 90 minute ones airing on the weekends. Supposedly they struck deals on the music as well. Here's the full article: http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/johnny-carson-tonight-show-full-episodes-antenna-tv-1201568250/

Neil Brock said:

Starting January 1st, Antenna has struck a deal with the Carson people to start airing shows from the last 20 years of the show from 1972-92. One-hour shows Mon-Fri night with the 90 minute ones airing on the weekends. Supposedly they struck deals on the music as well. Here's the full article: http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/johnny-carson-tonight-show-full-episodes-antenna-tv-1201568250/

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My DVD recorder and blank DVD-R discs are given new purpose.
Thanks for that.

Now if they could only pick up The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder to run after it!

That's great news! It seems to be the only way we'll see these type of shows intact since licensing music for DVD is too expensive.

Bryan^H said:

My DVD recorder and blank DVD-R discs are given new purpose.
Thanks for that.

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Speaking of dvd recorders it's a shame what happened to them in the USA. Ten years ago you had many brands making dvd recorders including Panasonic which made the best but now only Toshiba & Funai makes them and it's hard to buy a blu-ray recorder at a local store. I still have my Panasonics and still make recordings a few times a week and i do like having my own disc copy in my collection instead of having them all in a dvr.

atcolomb said:

Speaking of dvd recorders it's a shame what happened to them in the USA. Ten years ago you had many brands making dvd recorders including Panasonic which made the best but now only Toshiba & Funai makes them and it's hard to buy a blu-ray recorder at a local store. I still have my Panasonics and still make recordings a few times a week and i do like having my own disc copy in my collection instead of having them all in a dvr.

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Yeah. DVR in America killed the DVD Recorder.

My Panasonic still works great...after 11 years. If it breaks I will have it serviced to hopefully get many more years of use.

My Panasonic dvd/vhs recorder broke a few years ago and when i sent in for a repair quote it would cost me $400 to get the part from Panasonic and fix it. Still have my 8 year old recorder working great so far and a new one in a box i bought from Panasonic website before they stopped production on them.

That's great news, thanks. I think the re-broadcast fees are a better way to go than anything the estate was going to get from that trickle of DVD releases, which were a bit much for fans to bite on. And as long as it's on, who needs 'em?

When I heard Panasonic was stopping production of DVD recorders I stocked up - 2 EH75s and 3 EH55s. Now if there were only more on TV that is worth recording!

Wish we had an Antenna TV affiliate in my area. Doubt it'll happen though. Only three companies own all the channels in this area, and the subchannel space is pretty nearly maxed out already.

It will be interesting to see which episodes they show…and which ones they don't.

I do have to wonder if the deal does include the small number of pre-1972 shows that do still exist complete (like the June 1968 show made available on Digital Download, or the Tiny Tim wedding show).

This is the kind of vintage programming like GSN in its prime, is what I always enjoyed doing and for which it didn't matter if there was ever an "official" DVD release or not.

Great, completely unexpected news! (Are you sure this isn't a very belated April Fool's Day trick?)


I never thought a channel would air anything other than the Carson's Comedy Classics show. Hopefully Antenna TV can resist the urge to crush the closing credits, at least for awhile.

I always watched Carson, Snyder, and Costas. Late night talk hasn't seen their equal.

I noticed the article said this:

Because NBC owns the rights to “The Tonight Show” moniker, Antenna TV’s episodes will be billed simply as “Johnny Carson.”

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I hope that doesn't mean they're going to change the opening title sequences. I'm hopeful they're just saying that's how it's going to be billed in on-air promos and in the TV listings, not that they're going to replace the opening titles.


I have an Antenna affiliate in my area. I just hope there isn't a lot of overlap with these and the DVDs/digital downloads. Surprised they're announcing it this far ahead. They must really want to spread the word and build up as much publicity as possible!


As for Carson's Comedy Classics, I don't remember MeTV running that. Maybe someone mis-remembered the fact that it ran on TV Guide Channel a few years back, which was, I think, the first time it had been played since the '90s on Family Channel.


Maybe they could also licence that Late Night With David Letterman package that used to run on A&E (and later, TrioTV)...

I would think that the rights issue will preclude them from airing the opening titles intact. If they can't call it The Tonight Show, they aren't going to be able to air opening credits pronouncing it as such.

I just saw a quick promo for it on Antenna TV but they didn't say or show the title or name. They just showed a close up of a microphone on Johnny's desk, and audio of Ed McMahon asking Johnny a question, and Johnny saying, "I would do it all over again." Then they show the words, coming Jan. 1, or something to that effect.

When the Family Channel ran some of the anniversary specials years ago, they were retitled "Johnny Carson's XXth Anniversary Special." I would imagine this will be something similar.

Its really nitpicking to be worrying about what the title sequence looks like. The fact that uncut Tonight Shows will be airing 7 nights a week is something I don't think any of us ever imagined would occur. Its a shame that the first 10 years are essentially gone (same goes for the Steve Allen and Jack Paar versions). Perhaps if this does well, maybe we could see some of the other talk shows which DO still exist like Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen (Westinghouse shows), David Frost and Dick Cavett. Maybe even my favorite, Joe Pyne!

Neil Brock said:

Maybe even my favorite, Joe Pyne!

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This site says only two of Joe Pyne's episodes from his 1960's talk show were transferred from analog to digital.


http://www.filmsaroundtheworld.com/Joe_Pyne_TV_Show.html