What about Bachelor Father? (1 Viewer)

[Elena S]

Since it was mentioned on the GE thread, I thought it deserved its own. I really wish this show would be released.

 

[Neil Brock]

Well, you know Universal isn't going to do it. They gave up on Leave it to Beaver, which is the most popular sitcom they own. They licensed out McHale's Navy. And they won't touch Jack Benny or Love That Bob, which along with Bachelor Father are about the only popular sitcoms that they own. Those aren't Timeless kind of shows. So really the only hope is Shout Factory. Or that Virgil company that keeps changing its name every few months.

 

[Corey3rd]

but at least RTN is showing Bachelor Father so it's at least gaining new eyeballs.

 

[Elena S]

Would be nice if I could pick up an RTN station.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corey3rd

but at least RTN is showing Bachelor Father so it's at least gaining new eyeballs.

Until RTN goes national and is carried by the satellite providers, it's not going to make a huge impact by way of new viewers.


Gary "I wish we could get one or two national stations similar to what the local RTNs are like now" O.

 

[Corey3rd]

Originally Posted by Gary OS

Quote:


Until RTN goes national and is carried by the satellite providers, it's not going to make a huge impact by way of new viewers.


Gary "I wish we could get one or two national stations similar to what the local RTNs are like now" O.

When was the last time you saw Bachelor Father on any TV channel? This is proof that Universal didn't completely forget the title is in their vault.

RTN is never going to be run as a national station on Dish or Direct TV because that's not how it has been sold to TV stations as a great way to do something cheap with their substations. I know enough people around the country who enjoy watching RTN on their local station - even a few markets have it as the prime viewing and not merely the substation. I believe that's happening in Boston - thus RTN is having a big impact getting a show like Bachelor Father. If you care about such programming, you should email your local stations wondering if they'll be picking up on RTN.

 

[Jeff*H]

As nice as having an oldies station like RTN is (and we have one where I live), the programming comes from a national feed that has some issues I have noted over the last year:

*they time-compress a lot of the shows
*they air chopped-up versions of some shows (although in their defense I have noticed many are also uncut too)
*local station sometimes cuts in late to national feed after local commercials, missing small portions of episodes
*shows sometimes do not air at the time they are scheduled

and the biggest complaint I have about them:
*they air episodes randomly in no particular order, jumping quickly through a series that may last several seasons, then repeat most of those same episodes the next several times through, along with a sprinkling of episodes that they didn't air before. This makes it extremely frustrating if you are trying to make a complete series of home recordings for a show. Also, they will sometimes air the same episode the very next day or week again.

However, the main thing I do like about them is that they will run shows like Bachelor Father (and Sheriff Lobo, Buck Rogers, Ironside, Peter Gunn, Emergency!, I Spy) and many other old shows that have very little if any syndication exposure on either local or cable networks these days. I sincerely hope they get their scheduling issues worked out, but it's been a year and I have seen no improvements despite the fact they have received numerous emails about the issues.

 

[Neil Brock]

Agree on the scheduling. I have a friend who gets the station (I don't) recording a few of the series for me and its frustrating the amount of duplication. They really don't seem to run anything with any rhyme or reason. Kind of like someone just goes to the shelf and pulls out an episode randomly and that's what runs that day. Also, it would be nice if they dealt with other distributors besides Universal.

 

[Statskeeper]

I receive 2 RTV stations (Boston and Providence) and there are two separate feeds. In addition the Boston station is on a primary channel (as opposed to a digital subchannel) and preempts 6a-noon for infomercials. Their sister station in Bridgeport CT (technically serving NYC) has already pulled RTV and put infomercials back on 24/7. I was real upset when I couldn't see "Ironside" every morning! Providence preempts 9p-11p for Oprah reruns, news and a half hour weather loop. There are times when they show the same episode 2 days in a row (happens with "Emergency!" a lot). This is really bad with the Mystery Movies (McMillen, Banachek, McCloud) on Saturdays. They've been showing the same 4 episodes of McMillen and Wife for the last 3 months.

 

[Jeff*H]

Purely a guess on my part, but I don't think the RTV scheduling screw-ups are due to programming guys making rookie mistakes. Instead, I'm guessing RTV doesn't get access to a whole library of shows for each series they license from Universal. Perhaps instead they bought a package of episodes from Universal comprised of X number of shows, each with a handful of episodes.
When people have questioned RTV about this (on their Facebook page), either they don't get any response, or the response they do get falls along the lines of "We simply air what Universal sends us".

The worst instance of this problem occurs when they show Part 1 of a two-part show several times but never show Part 2. It happens with a lot of their shows and it makes no sense at all.

Here's a look at some of the comments...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Retro-Television-Network/94253503953?ref=nf

So anyone hoping to get a complete run of 'Bachelor Father' episodes is likely to be sorely disappointed by RTV. You will most likely end up with a handful of episodes that they keep in rotation.

 

[Corey3rd]

RTN - which is now going by RTV, used to have a deal with Paramount until about a year ago. The thing is the other studios had deals with other channels such as Fox with American Life and Sony/Warners with Ion. MGM/UA has their shows on THiS. It's all segmented when you want to put together a nationwide package.

 

[DeWilson]

RTN's issues stem from the split with their partner over a year ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro_Television_Network#Contractual_problems_with_Equity

 

[Regulus]

I haven't bothered to see if RTN/TV is here in Central Florida (I've been too busy watching my DVDs!

 

[Corey3rd]

florida has 7 stations. and it's free over the air programming so it's not like you have to get cable if you have an antenna.

 

[johnrunion]

shout factory is set to release season 3 and the entire series of leave it to beaver this summer!
universal did not wish to release the remaining seasons due to a dispute over actor's residuals.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428

 

[DeWilson]

Originally Posted by johnrunion

shout factory is set to release season 3 and the entire series of leave it to beaver this summer!
universal did not wish to release the remaining seasons due to a dispute over actor's residuals.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428

Did the settle the residual issues?