Stations/Networks who withheld certain episodes from the runs (1 Viewer)

[Lord Dalek]

The fifth season episode "The Encounter" from The Twilight Zone never aired because of the historical overtones.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734637/reference

There were initially five episodes of the Twilight Zone omitted from syndication. Three (the hour long episode "Miniature", "Sounds and Silences", and "A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain") were for legal disputes (all resolved by 1984). "An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge" due to it being a foreign production that William Froug bought the rights to for two broadcasts only as a budget saving measure. And "The Encounter" which was banned from ever airing again until it reemerged in 2016.

 

[Scott511]

They used to show this in school on the old film projector. Can't remember which class or subject it was in, but I remember my teachers showing it at least twice. didn't know at the time it was a TZ episode. Anyone else remember seeing it at school???

Yep, 5th grade. Film on a 16mm projector.

 

[phillyrobt]

Aspire skipped several episodes of Room 222 but I think it was because of the poor condition of the film stock

 

[BobO'Link]

Just showing the color seasons of shows that had switched from BW to color was quite common in the 70s/80s. The perception by the syndicators and local TV folks was people didn't like or want to see BW episodes of series that had switched to color. Because of that they either withheld those seasons, if the show had enough color ones for syndication, or only ran color episodes during "sweeps" periods (the thinking being more people would watch if they saw a color show). Some stations went so far as to never air a BW series at all. IMHO that was, and remains, total idiocy. In the 70s/80s there were still lots of people who still owned, and used, BW sets. They couldn't care less if a show was BW or Color and most of those with color sets didn't care either.

 

[ScottRE]

For whatever reason, Me-TV keeps skipping one of Guy Williams' episodes as Will Cartwright. I'm pretty sure they never seem to run The Companeros.

This is a shame, as this little series of episodes is among Guy's best dramatic work.

 

[ScottRE]

One in reverse. Not shown on the Network but included in reruns.

In the UK, not sure about the USA, screenings of the original 'V - The Series' from 1984, not the recent remake, in the first TV tx omitted the third episode

1. Liberation Day
2. Dreadnaught
(3. Breakout)
4. The Deception

Yep, they dropped it from the original airings here as well. They ran it during the summer reruns when the series was moved to 9 pm...opposite Dallas, because you know V totally stood a chance against that series in its prime...

The following season, Marc Singer joined the cast of Dallas as Matt Cantrell and I was so mad at him.

 

[Jay_Z_525]

The Donna Reed Show ran for eight seasons, all of which were rerun by ABC as part of their daytime schedule. After that seasons four, five, six, and seven were held back from syndication save for a few episodes which explain major changes in the casting and storylines. Within the last 10 years seasons four and five have been put back into rotation but seasons six and seven are still in Sony limbo.

 

[Mark Y]

Just showing the color seasons of shows that had switched from BW to color was quite common in the 70s/80s. The perception by the syndicators and local TV folks was people didn't like or want to see BW episodes of series that had switched to color. Because of that they either withheld those seasons, if the show had enough color ones for syndication, or only ran color episodes during "sweeps" periods (the thinking being more people would watch if they saw a color show). Some stations went so far as to never air a BW series at all. IMHO that was, and remains, total idiocy. In the 70s/80s there were still lots of people who still owned, and used, BW sets. They couldn't care less if a show was BW or Color and most of those with color sets didn't care either.

"My Three Sons" had the B&W episodes missing in syndication back in the 1970s -- but the color episodes only went up to a certain point, which IIRC was like in the middle of a season or something. Then in the 1980s Nick At Nite picked up a version of the series which consisted of the B&W episodes, then jumped to later color ones that were never syndicated.

I lost track of which episodes various other channels (including Nick and TV Land) ran later.

 

[RBailey]

When CBN carried GREEN ACRES many years ago, four episodes were skipped over due to controversial content …
From Season One..."The Ballad of Molly Turgiss" (ghosts)
From Season Three..."The Hungarian Curse"
From Season Four..."The Blue Feather" (another Gypsy curse episode)
From Season Five..."Four of Spades" (fortune telling)

 

[Wiseguy]

There were initially five episodes of the Twilight Zone omitted from syndication. Three (the hour long episode "Miniature", "Sounds and Silences", and "A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain") were for legal disputes (all resolved by 1984). "An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge" due to it being a foreign production that William Froug bought the rights to for two broadcasts only as a budget saving measure. And "The Encounter" which was banned from ever airing again until it reemerged in 2016.

Those episodes have never been seen in syndication. I haven't even seen Twilight Zone in syndication since 1994 when the then Sci_fi Channel got exclusive rights. Syndication is series shown on local TV. Networks like Syfy and MeTV are not syndication. There are different contracts involved which may allow the showing of different episodes and different versions of episodes.

 

[Wiseguy]

They used to show this in school on the old film projector. Can't remember which class or subject it was in, but I remember my teachers showing it at least twice. didn't know at the time it was a TZ episode. Anyone else remember seeing it at school???

You may have seen the original version which would probably be more likely to be released to a school than a Twilight Zone episode. The original was basically the same but of course with no TZ theme or Rod Serling. The credits were in French and it was slightly longer than the TZ episode and the mid-film song that was heard was only heard once while it was played twice during the TZ version. Showtime showed it in the early 1980s and identified it as Twilight Zone in listings but showed the original with no mention on screen of TZ.

 

[Wiseguy]

Two episodes of Alice shot in 1977 - "The Reporter" and "The Bus" - never aired on the network (primetime, daytime or late night) and premiered in syndication in 1982, but with the Season 4 opening credits. Those along with "The Earthquake" and "The Pharmacist" were produced by Chris Hayward and are all dark and strange and out of sync with the series. Also, "Pilot" and "Alice Gets a Pass" never aired in the daytime reruns.

One episode of Laverne & Shirley - "Citizen Krane" - is not included in syndication.

As far as I can tell I saw "The Reporter" on 2/12/78 and "The Bus" on 3/26/78. Where would I get these dates from if I didn't? I see epguides.com leaves the airdate for these two blank and don't have episodes for these two dates.

There's a possibility that the episodes were only seen in some time zones and not others and I saw them and whoever compiles the dates were in an area that didn't. These airdates correspond with the times Alice was shown on Sundays where sports presentations may have overrun in some time zones.

I was a regular viewer of Alice back then and I always made sure I saw every episode of certain series at least once. I would have noticed episodes shown in reruns for the first time that weren't on the network (such as in series like Mr. Belvedere and Dinosaurs) and I can assure you these episodes were shown on CBS.

 

[Wiseguy]

Decades just showed Sledge Hammer on its Weekend Binge. However, I've noticed five episodes were skipped: Witless; The Color of Hammer; Play It Again, Sledge; They Call Me Mr. Trunk; and The Secret of My Excess. Lack of time wasn't the problem since Decades showed all the episodes they showed twice and some three times.

The problem is I've been trying to catch the last episode listed since the local station pre-empted it during the original run and it was never repeated and it seems every time someone shows the series that episode and apparently others are skipped.

Does anybody know why? I can imagine there were some non-PC humor and/or violence in the series.

 

[Lord Dalek]

You may have seen the original version which would probably be more likely to be released to a school than a Twilight Zone episode. The original was basically the same but of course with no TZ theme or Rod Serling. The credits were in French and it was slightly longer than the TZ episode and the mid-film song that was heard was only heard once while it was played twice during the TZ version. Showtime showed it in the early 1980s and identified it as Twilight Zone in listings but showed the original with no mention on screen of TZ.

I used to watch Twilight Zone on KOFY in San Francisco in the early 90s. They aired the other three. Colorized Minature included

 

[Randy Korstick]

In southern california area in the 1970's they always removed all the Christmas episodes from shows. This may have occurred everywhere as it would be a bit weird watching a christmas episode in April or July or whenever they would come up. I watched the Flintstones regularly in the 1970's and after about 5 years I had seen most of the episodes. One Christmas break I believe 1979 they added the Christmas episode that I didn't know existed from the original show since they had obviously been skipping it. I only knew the 1977 Christmas special so that was a really special memory seeing the Christmas episode from the original series for the 1st time.

 

[Jeff*H]

Decades just showed Sledge Hammer on its Weekend Binge. However, I've noticed five episodes were skipped: Witless; The Color of Hammer; Play It Again, Sledge; They Call Me Mr. Trunk; and The Secret of My Excess. Lack of time wasn't the problem since Decades showed all the episodes they showed twice and some three times.

The problem is I've been trying to catch the last episode listed since the local station pre-empted it during the original run and it was never repeated and it seems every time someone shows the series that episode and apparently others are skipped.

Does anybody know why? I can imagine there were some non-PC humor and/or violence in the series.

I think it has to do with clearances for music and other material. “Color of Hammer”, “Secret of My Excess” both feature covers of popular songs as I recall. I think “Play It Again” may have “Casablanca” music or other material. “Witless” (my favorite episode) may have “Witness” music or other material. As for ”They Call Me MISTER Trunk”, there may have been some military music, a la “Patton” in there...I need to watch that one again to be sure.

All the episodes were included in the home video releases, and as far as I can recall, they were all uncut. It’s possible that some of the music licensing recently expired, as the show is approaching its 35th anniversary and it’s had a few ownership changes over the years.

 

[sjbradford]

Citizen Krane is back in the syndication package for “Laverne & Shirley”, though it was removed for a while due to music issues.

The initial syndication package for “Donna Reed” did have season 5, but was missing seasons 4, 6, and 7. VERY strange. It wasn’t uncommon to not try to sell everything into syndication when there were over 250 episodes (Make Room for Daddy, Bonanza, etc). But why remove those seasons, as opposed to just removing the ones after Shelley Fabares left? Weird.

Now, the Reed estate controls seasons 1-5 and Sony controls the remaining seasons. So Reed’s estate added season 4 back in when they leased the show to MeTV/Decades. and a few years ago, MeTV/Decades got hold of season 8 from Sony (though they do skip over some season 8 episodes). And they even have an episode of season 6 in the rotation now. But the rest of season 6 and all of season 7 are still MIA.

 

[Wiseguy]

I used to watch Twilight Zone on KOFY in San Francisco in the early 90s. They aired the other three. Colorized Minature included

OK, I stand corrected, but I think it's odd that the CBS Syndication Bible (which overall has been updated 8/24/2019 and a Twilight Zone update of 1/05/2017) still states that "One of the 1-hour episodes (008-H) and four of the half-hour episodes (114, 125, 130 and 133) were not previously available for domestic syndication but may be now."
You would think they would know for sure and update that part. Of course, there is no mention of Miniature being shown partly colorized:

"008 H MINIATURE * 02/21/63

Note: The “H” is used to differentiate the 1-hour episodes from the 30-minute episodes.

Episode 8-H might not be available in syndication."

 

[MatthewA]

Yep, they dropped it from the original airings here as well. They ran it during the summer reruns when the series was moved to 9 pm...opposite Dallas, because you know V totally stood a chance against that series in its prime...

The following season, Marc Singer joined the cast of Dallas as Matt Cantrell and I was so mad at him.

And then the whole world got mad when Dallas tried to retcon that season.

 

[Wiseguy]

An example of a network withholding all episodes:

The Amos 'n' Andy Show, which will "celebrate" the 70th anniversary of its TV premiere on June 28, 2021 (predating the premiere of I Love Lucy in October 1951).

Think CBS will release a surprise restored complete DVD set?