Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 I'm not surprised "thirtysomething" has not been seen much in reruns. Not only did they have some music rights issues, but the show also became more serialized as time went on. Another series: "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd." They SAY music rights are to blame for the lack of DVD releases, but I don't buy it. For one, I don't remember many popular songs playing on that show; and for another, it wasn't as if music was integral to stories. (Again, not by my recollection.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 Aside from "All in the Family," I don't think Norman Lear's shows from the '70's rerun all that well. Not because of the topical nature of stories, but because the acting style tended to be so loud and strident. Even the early years of AITF are hard for me to take. I much prefer the latter seasons, after production had moved from CBS Television City to Metromedia Square, and the writers began to de-emphasize topical stories in favor of more character-driven ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted October 8, 2013 Author Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 Good Times seemed to do well (it's run for years - has it ever been off the air?), but I agree about his shows. I think most Gary Marshall shows are annoying too, although they do much better in syndication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 It could be that "The Wonder Years" was more popular in its day than "China Beach." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 I wish I felt the same. I watched the entire run on Antenna TV last year while I still lived in NYC. I was stunned to realize what I thought was funny as a kid was no longer as an adult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted October 8, 2013 Author Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 The Wonder Years has much easier subject matter than China Beach. Doogie Howser is another show that seemed to fall off the radar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soaplovers Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 I read an article somewhere awhile back that Serial shows do better in terms of DVD sales then when they are re-run on tv. Hence why you see NCIS, CSI, etc re-run to death while shows like Knots Landing, Friday Night lights, etc don't rerun. Though Knots Landing was rerun on TNT for several years during the 90s. I remember it re-ran in the early 90s for the first 7 seasons on TNT then was pulled.. after a huge viewer write-in, TNT obtained the full series run in 1993 and ran it twice in the 90s before SoapNet took over running it in the early 2000s. Dynasty was re-run on FX in the 90s as well while Dallas was re-run on TNN in the late 90s (how I was introduced to it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 True. But I think African-American audiences are responsible for their longevity. There's enough of us out there, I think, to keep Black-oriented sitcoms going for years in local syndication and on niche networks such as TVOne and Centric, where the audience number expectations are lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soaplovers Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 I was happy when Gimme A Break started re-running on TV one earlier this year, and I love 227, Living Single, and Amen too I agree that African american audiences are a power-ful audience hence why I can watch tv-movies as well as comedies quite frequently on TVOne. Are there any good African american dramas from the 70s, 80s, or 90s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 KNOTS LANDING's DVD sales were poor, though, in comparison to DALLAS and DYNASTY's. Not even the "original 'Desperate Housewives'" buzz-words seemed to help. And as for FALCON CREST -- oh, brother! Last I heard, that series was an "on-demand" title on Amazon -- meaning, "We're not wasting any more manufacturing time and equipment than we have to." Maybe they could do the same for KL? Well, there's "Soul Food" and...that's it. Oh, wait, you meant "good," didn't you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members applcin Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 Taxi is airing on Me-TV. MTM was but I'm not sure if it's still on. Ellen is on FX. I agree that the serialized dramas don't repeat too well but certain of the self-contained ones do quite well. I think Perry Mason is one of the highest-rated (if not THE highest) programs on Me-TV. The westerns seem to play quite well. People were begging Me-TV and/or Antenna TV for Emergency and Me-TV put that on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soaplovers Posted October 8, 2013 Members Share Posted October 8, 2013 But they only released KNOTS LANDING's first two seasons on DVD.. which were mostly self-contained episodes. Had Warner Brothers released up to season 4 or 5, then sales might have been better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khan Posted October 9, 2013 Members Share Posted October 9, 2013 I wouldn't argue with you there, Soaplovers. IA that WB exercised poor strategy in their releasing schedule. Doing a season-by-season schedule never would have worked for KNOTS since (IMO) it was a series that didn't kick off with fans until the end of its third season. Perhaps WB should have released S's 1&2 as one set, followed immediately with S3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members All My Shadows Posted October 9, 2013 Members Share Posted October 9, 2013 Kate & Allie also had a healthy run on Oxygen about ten years ago. They also aired Love, American Style at some point around that time. I know FX had Family at some point, some of the episodes on YouTube are taped from those airings. It's kinda frustrating because a bunch of old random shows on YT will have the bug from a familiar network in the corner, and it's hard to conceptualize FX or USA ever airing an obscure medical drama from the early 70s. HSB was on the AmericanLife Network, which had previously been GoodLife TV. They aired tons of shows that weren't on anywhere else over their lifetime: Flamingo Road, Homefront, Combat!, The FBI, a bunch of westerns, Finder of Lost Loves, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, F Troop, Welcome Back Kotter, Chico and the Man, and then later Lou Grant, Rhoda, Phyllis, Tarzan, etc. Honestly, I think the main four Norman Lear shows have been extremely successful in syndication. All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, and Sanford and Son were all on locals here as recently as maybe two or three years ago, and they've all had successful TV Land runs. Only The Jeffersons isn't on Antenna TV now. Those four are usually every easy to find, and the DVDs have been released consistently. Home Improvement is on Hallmark Channel now, airing in the afternoons. Taxi and MTM are on Me-TV, and MTM is also on one of those random "family" channels. What about Here's Lucy and The Doris Day Show? Oldies, definitely, but I can't believe with I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show regularly getting play in syndication that Here's Lucy never really shows up anywhere. Was Falcon Crest ever reran before SOAPnet? CHiPs hasn't been seen nationally since it was late night filler on TNT ten or so years ago. I'd faithfully check the onscreen guide to see when it'd show up so I could set my VCR. Silver Spoons is nowhere. Charles in Charge and Webster, as well. My Two Dads was on USA at one point in the early mornings, and I'd watch before school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Chamberlain Posted October 9, 2013 Members Share Posted October 9, 2013 Don't know if it's been listed yet. But, Perfect Strangers. Ran 8 seasons. Spawned an extremely popular spin off (Family Matters) and was part of the TGIF lineup for 5 years. Balki. Fvck yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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