NBC’s Classic Soap THE DOCTORS To Run On Retro TV Later This Year!

[NothinButAttitude]

According to WLS, The Doctors will debut on September 29th. They'll start from 1967, the year the show transitioned to color.

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2014/08/the-doctors-debuts-on-retro-tv_30.html

[Khan]

I pray someone will be able to upload these episodes on YT. Because I doubt we will ever get Retro TV in my area.

[NothinButAttitude]

I hope someone posts them on YT too because I doubt we'll get Retro TV here either. Ugh. I so wanna see The Doctors.

[amybrickwallace]

I don't get the channel, either. I too hope some kind soul will post them up on YT.

[All My Shadows]

We used to get this channel not like I'd be able to watch at the time it'll be airing, anyway.

[edgeofnik]

If Retro TV was smart, they would create their own YouTube channel just for this show or even post on their own web site. They have nothing to lose because the reach of RTV is still lacking so many major markets examples - NY, Boston, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Denver, Miami, Detroit, Seattle, Tampa, Sacramento and Orlando - that's 13 of Top 20 TV markets!

[amybrickwallace]

From your keyboard to their ears, edgeofnik!!!!

[All My Shadows]

If they have the distribution rights (and the means), they should definitely consider putting the episodes on their website on a day or week behind basis. They have to know how many people want to see this and will watch it in any available format!

[Chris B]

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure they've said they don't have rights to air it online.

[KMan101]

Happy to see a start date. I think Retro TV will be the best chance we get at seeing classic soaps being rerun. They seem impressed and happy with the positive response as said in the WLS article, so hopefully it leads to them picking up more. But I won't get greedy. This is a great great start.

[NothinButAttitude]

I hope they pick up other classic soaps too. I wouldn't be surprised if they did though. I think that they are using The Doctors as the prototype to measure the audience's reaction though. I hope the ratings soar, so this'll lead to more soaps being added to the lineup along with it becoming easier for more people access their channel.

[allmc2008]

Plus this may help increase the demand for more affiliates picking them up. Maybe Retro TV will eventually become part of a cable package.

[applcin]

Retro's lost affiliates over the last few years...some of those lost stations became Antenna TV, Me-TV, Live Well, etc. Luken, the parent company, filed for bankruptcy last year...they lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit against them. I would love to get the station but if it hasn't been in a major city like NY all this time except on a low frequency station a lot of us don't get, I'm not hopeful. Everything I've heard about it has made it seem this station/company is on a downward trajectory. Also, as far as them streaming shows online, they may not be allowed to. I've noticed they have no videos of anything whatsoever on their website.

[amybrickwallace]

Why were they sued?

[applcin]

They were sued by the company they bought Retro TV from, on a claim of fraud. There's also another lawsuit from another company regarding the payment of licensing fees for their shows.

From what I was reading over the last year or two, I kinda thought RTV was going the way of SoapNet. I hope they can turn it around somehow so more folks can get the channel but it seems they've got a long way to go, having fallen out of favor with affiliates and distributors.

Actually, I was just looking at their schedule and it's not as impressive as Me-TV or Antenna TV. Some of what they've got (b & w Dragnet, One Step Beyond) is public domain now and can be seen elsewhere. So can Lucy, Highway to Heaven, Bonanza, Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction...

It's probably more worth relying on somebody to record and upload The Doctors to youtube and hope the copyright infringement seekers don't work overtime. It does seem to be more of a music thing, though. I've had a handful of soap videos up and the half dozen or so notices I've gotten from them that the video is being muted or blocked in some country somewhere has mostly been the music owners and not so much from the show owners.