Episodes of Classic TV Shows Out Of Syndication (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

It's a little bit of a tangent, but I always kinda wondered about the rationale the networks had at the time to film some of the very first seasons of those 1965 shows in b/w. The 64 shows like UNCLE and Gilligan I can kind of understand as that was the last season many shows were still being filmed in b/w, but by 65 when most shows were either debuting in color or switching to it, why on earth would they put out brand new shows they are trying to build an audience for like Jeannie, F Troop and Wild Wild West in b/w which was quickly becoming obsolete at the time. What was the rationale at the time? I mean what genius decided, "OK, we film Hogan's and Get Smart in color (sans pilots) but Jeannie and Wild Wild West in b/w."? What was the arbitrary criteria to decide? Just a thought.

 

[LouA]

Season two the show was a half hour.

So conceivably , season 2 at least could be released on DVD and wouldn't be compromised.

 

[Ron1973]

From my own recollection, for some unknown reason their seems to be an arbitrary "line of demarcation" in sydication packages around 1980 for shows that had both color and b/w seasons. As a kid in the mid to late 70's, I vividly remember watching Jeannie, Wild Wild West, Hillbillies, UNCLE, Gilligan, Bewtitched, etc with all seasons included in the syndicated packages. All of a sudden around 1980, it appears most syndicators pulled the b/w seasons out of the syndicated packaging and ran color seasons only for many dual color/b/w shows. I remember not seeing the first season of I Dream of Jeannie in syndication from about 81 or so, until Nick At Nite began running it around 1990, same with Gilligan. About 15 years went by where I never was able to see uncolorized season1 epsiodes. I'm not sure what the rationale was with the syndicators of the time but this seemed to be common practice then IMO.
Oddly enough, the only exception to this rule in my viewing rememberences was My Three Sons. Till Nick At Nite started running the b/w episodes in the late 80's, I had never seen one b/w episode. I didn't even know Frawley had ever been on the show. They apparantly were never part of the syndicated package in the mid 70's unlike the aforementioned shows.

Oddly enough that was not generally the case in the Memphis market. Other than Gunsmoke and Bewitched, if it started in B&W, we saw it that way. The weird thing is that the full last two seasons of The Hillbillies were missing as well as parts of S6. They finally obtained them in the late 80's but they were butchered. Oh, we never got the B&W seasons of Petticoat Junction but I don't guess anyone did for that matter.

 

[oldtvshowbuff]

I remember from way back in the 80s when a St. Cloud, MN Independent station, KXLI-41 aired only the color episodes of Daniel Boone from seasons 2-6, leaving the S1 B&W eps. out of the syndication package from Fox.

 

[BobO'Link]

From my own recollection, for some unknown reason their seems to be an arbitrary "line of demarcation" in sydication packages around 1980 for shows that had both color and b/w seasons. As a kid in the mid to late 70's, I vividly remember watching Jeannie, Wild Wild West, Hillbillies, UNCLE, Gilligan, Bewtitched, etc with all seasons included in the syndicated packages. All of a sudden around 1980, it appears most syndicators pulled the b/w seasons out of the syndicated packaging and ran color seasons only for many dual color/b/w shows. I remember not seeing the first season of I Dream of Jeannie in syndication from about 81 or so, until Nick At Nite began running it around 1990, same with Gilligan. About 15 years went by where I never was able to see uncolorized season1 epsiodes. I'm not sure what the rationale was with the syndicators of the time but this seemed to be common practice then IMO.

Oddly enough, the only exception to this rule in my viewing rememberences was My Three Sons. Till Nick At Nite started running the b/w episodes in the late 80's, I had never seen one b/w episode. I didn't even know Frawley had ever been on the show. They apparantly were never part of the syndicated package in the mid 70's unlike the aforementioned shows.

From what I observed It was local stations desire for better ratings coupled with what they saw as the public perception of those BW programs. The TV station I worked for in the late 70s would not air *any* program in BW during a sweeps period. We ran Gilligan, Hillbillies, and others which had 1 or more BW seasons but during sweeps they only ran color episodes. Management felt they'd get higher ratings that way as people wouldn't change the channel from a color program. They'd actually be in the middle of a story arc and jump out of sequence just for those color episodes. I'd guess that as time went on the syndicators saw this and took it as a sign that no one actually wanted those BW episodes so just stopped offering them.

 

[BobO'Link]

It's a little bit of a tangent, but I always kinda wondered about the rationale the networks had at the time to film some of the very first seasons of those 1965 shows in b/w. The 64 shows like UNCLE and Gilligan I can kind of understand as that was the last season many shows were still being filmed in b/w, but by 65 when most shows were either debuting in color or switching to it, why on earth would they put out brand new shows they are trying to build an audience for like Jeannie, F Troop and Wild Wild West in b/w which was quickly becoming obsolete at the time. What was the rationale at the time? I mean what genius decided, "OK, we film Hogan's and Get Smart in color (sans pilots) but Jeannie and Wild Wild West in b/w."? What was the arbitrary criteria to decide? Just a thought.

It was a combination of network and $$. NBC, the parent company of RCA, a major color TV manufacturer, had lots to gain and was pushing the switch to color. When they announced most of their 65/66 schedule would be in color CBS and ABC had little choice but to follow in spite of the vast majority of the country still viewing on BW sets. Color was expensive and both based their orders on program production cost coupled with the additional expense of color film stock frequently trying to get the production companies to eat the additional expense. Shows that cost less to produce or existing shows which had higher ratings tended to get color orders before expensive and/or unproven shows. Others that didn't get a switch to color ended their runs that season.


You'd have thought the first season of I Dream of Jeannie would have been a natural for color, especially airing on NBC, but those visual effects were expensive in BW and would have cost far more in color. So it was a expensive unproven product. It and Convoy (due to use of BW stock footage) were the only two programs NBC aired in BW that season, both new shows.

 

[DeWilson]

The only syndicators to pull B&W shows from mixed B&W/Color series was Columbia/Screen Gems when Program Exchanged took over (and offered as Barter) syndication of "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" in 1984.

Viacom did spit the "Beverly Hillbillies" into 3 packages - B&W Episodes with some early color, Later Color Shows, and and all B&W/Color package. "Gunsmoke" was always a split packages of the half-hour,hour B&W and hour Color. But both series had long runs so splitting is as much getting value for the shows as it was for splitting them into smaller packages due to format. "The Andy Griffith Show" was never split for instance, and it was another show where B&W episodes were more popular than the later ones.

Viacom,Warners,20th,MGM/United Artists Television,MCA TV didn't pull any B&W episodes from the mix format series. Meaning if a station opted not to run them, they still had to pay for them! (Not 100% sure what Colpix TV did with Hazel)

 

[Frank Soyke]

The only syndicators to pull B&W shows from mixed B&W/Color series was Columbia/Screen Gems when Program Exchanged took over (and offered as Barter) syndication of "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" in 1984.

Viacom did spit the "Beverly Hillbillies" into 3 packages - B&W Episodes with some early color, Later Color Shows, and and all B&W/Color package. "Gunsmoke" was always a split packages of the half-hour,hour B&W and hour Color. But both series had long runs so splitting is as much getting value for the shows as it was for splitting them into smaller packages due to format. "The Andy Griffith Show" was never split for instance, and it was another show where B&W episodes were more popular than the later ones.

Viacom,Warners,20th,MGM/United Artists Television,MCA TV didn't pull any B&W episodes from the mix format series. Meaning if a station opted not to run them, they still had to pay for them! (Not 100% sure what Colpix TV did with Hazel)

What about Gilligan? I seem to recall a period of time between about 1980 that they stopped running season 1 until that idiot Ted Turner colorized them in the late 80's.

 

[Ron1973]

The only syndicators to pull B&W shows from mixed B&W/Color series was Columbia/Screen Gems when Program Exchanged took over (and offered as Barter) syndication of "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" in 1984.

Viacom did spit the "Beverly Hillbillies" into 3 packages - B&W Episodes with some early color, Later Color Shows, and and all B&W/Color package. "Gunsmoke" was always a split packages of the half-hour,hour B&W and hour Color. But both series had long runs so splitting is as much getting value for the shows as it was for splitting them into smaller packages due to format. "The Andy Griffith Show" was never split for instance, and it was another show where B&W episodes were more popular than the later ones.

Viacom,Warners,20th,MGM/United Artists Television,MCA TV didn't pull any B&W episodes from the mix format series. Meaning if a station opted not to run them, they still had to pay for them! (Not 100% sure what Colpix TV did with Hazel)

The color episodes of Jed and his kin were S4-6 and about half of S7. There's no rhyme or reason as to how they split up S7. Story arcs for Petticoat Junction and England episodes were fouled up for instance but the episode with Pat Boone was included as well as the jogging episode and other late S7 episodes.

 

[Neil Brock]

So conceivably , season 2 at least could be released on DVD and wouldn't be compromised.

Actually I checked and it was half an hour for the first part of season 2 and then returned to an hour the second half of the season.

 

[DeWilson]

What about Gilligan? I seem to recall a period of time between about 1980 that they stopped running season 1 until that idiot Ted Turner colorized them in the late 80's.

Nope, those were still in the syndication package - MGM/UA never pulled them. The B&W Episodes aired in Boston though the mid-1980's for instance.

Again, if a local station didn't want to run them, that's was their choice.

 

[Neil Brock]

The following Love American Style segments are not in the syndication package:


Love and a Couple of Couples

Love and the Militant

Love and the Single Couple

Love and the Wild Party

Love and the Uncoupled Couple

Love and the Hip Arrangement

Love and High Spirits

Love and the Bonded Separation

Love and the Persistent Assistant


Luckily the first 5 were all from season one so they are on the DVD set, leaving only the last 4 as M.I.A.

 

[LouA]

The following Love American Style segments are not in the syndication package:

Love and a Couple of Couples
Love and the Militant
Love and the Single Couple
Love and the Wild Party
Love and the Uncoupled Couple
Love and the Hip Arrangement
Love and High Spirits
Love and the Bonded Separation
Love and the Persistent Assistant

Luckily the first 5 were all from season one so they are on the DVD set, leaving only the last 4 as M.I.A.

I enjoyed the show back in the 1960's when I was in college . If Paramount wanted to release another DVD package and it was missing a few segments , I could live with that .

 

[Brian Himes]

I remember when TV Land was running The Brady Bunch, they always skipped the episodes My Sister's Shadow (the Marcia, Marcia, Marcia episode) and The Subject Was Noses (Marcia gets it with the football). I don't know why they kept skipping these two particular episodes. I watched the series (at least three times through the entire cycle) and these two episodes never showed up. I taped the series at the time and the only way for me to get these two episodes was to buy the VHS tape that was released. Two of the most famous Brady Bunch episodes and TV Land doesn't show them? Weird.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I remember when TV Land was running The Brady Bunch, they always skipped the episodes My Sister's Shadow (the Marcia, Marcia, Marcia episode) and The Subject Was Noses (Marcia gets it with the football). I don't know why they kept skipping these two particular episodes. I watched the series (at least three times through the entire cycle) and these two episodes never showed up. I taped the series at the time and the only way for me to get these two episodes was to buy the VHS tape that was released. Two of the most famous Brady Bunch episodes and TV Land doesn't show them? Weird.

Maybe it's like when GSN skips episodes of game shows...perhaps two or three episodes were on each broadcast tape and those two episodes contained tape damage and were the last episode on each tape, so rather than having to order up (and I assume, pay for) new tapes for the sake of just two episodes, they just took the cheap/lazy option and skipped those?

 

[darkrock17]

Maybe it's like when GSN skips episodes of game shows...perhaps two or three episodes were on each broadcast tape and those two episodes contained tape damage and were the last episode on each tape, so rather than having to order up (and I assume, pay for) new tapes for the sake of just two episodes, they just took the cheap/lazy option and skipped those?

GSN skips certain episodes usually not because of damage but for the content instead. Match Game has a few missing for that very reason. I've seen some of these episodes on YouTube and I personally don't see why they would be skipped, but apparently some of the questions and answers aren't quite PC enough for today's viewing audiences.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I remember when TV Land was running The Brady Bunch, they always skipped the episodes My Sister's Shadow (the Marcia, Marcia, Marcia episode) and The Subject Was Noses (Marcia gets it with the football). I don't know why they kept skipping these two particular episodes. I watched the series (at least three times through the entire cycle) and these two episodes never showed up. I taped the series at the time and the only way for me to get these two episodes was to buy the VHS tape that was released. Two of the most famous Brady Bunch episodes and TV Land doesn't show them? Weird.

Not sure why, but my theory is that it was a marketing strategy? Paramount wanted people to buy the tapes, so they withheld the episodes.

Similarly, Me-TV always used to skip over the first two b&w seasons of Petticoat Junction even though they were available on DVD. Maybe they wanted to sell the DVDs??

 

[AndyMcKinney]

GSN skips certain episodes usually not because of damage but for the content instead. Match Game has a few missing for that very reason. I've seen some of these episodes on YouTube and I personally don't see why they would be skipped, but apparently some of the questions and answers aren't quite PC enough for today's viewing audiences.

Although they do sometimes skip for content, it has been well-documented (on their own forum, before it was closed down a few years back) that they also (quite frequently) skip for tape damage reasons. The Fremantle (Goodson-Todman) library shows on digital tape are three episodes per cassette. So, if a tape is damaged, GSN will skip anywhere between one and three episodes, depending on where the damage is. If the damage only occurs somewhere during the last episode on the tape, they only skip that one episode (so the machine won't have to run forward or backward through the damaged spot). If the second episode contains damage, they skip both of the last two episodes (again, so their expensive playback equipment doesn't have to pass the damaged section through the mechanism). If the first episode has damage, then all three are skipped.

 

[TheLogoGuy94]

UPDATES:

•So far, nothing new about the normal culprits (My Three Sons, etc).
•Our Miss Brooks has finally been transferred to tape. They are syndication masters instead of network masters and are not listed as HD, which is strange (I still believe the transfers are NOT HD).Since the transfer of the series about a few months ago, it hasn't aired anywhere. What are they waiting for?

 

[Lord Dalek]

The Dick Ebersol SNL Seasons (7-10). Last time Comedy Central ran them was in 1997.