FAQ:
Frequently Asked Questions (and
my opinions)
Why
doesn't Nick at Nite run classic TV Shows? [TOP]
Nick at Nite airs what they call
"TV Hits," whereas TV Land airs
"Classics." These shows are classic to a younger
audience. If you look at the Nick schedule, you'll see it
follows a progression, starting with pre-schoolers, pre-teen,
teenage, through the thirty-something generation. When
Nick-at-Nite spun-off TV Land, they moved the older classics to
that channel. As they added newer shows to N@N, the ratings
increased. It also would make no sense to air older classics
late at night, that would be in direct competition to the
programming airing on TV Land. Although I receive a
lot of mail complaining about this programming method, the fact
is, Nick-at-Nite's ratings are higher than ever, and continue to
increase during each ratings period.
Why
does Nick at Nite run the same shows as TBS?
[TOP]
The programs selected have
instant name recognition, and come with a built in following.
In 2003 Dick Wolf, the
producer of "Law and Order," produced a new
version of "Dragnet." While promoting his
new series, he said, "No one under 35 has ever heard of "Dragnet"
unless they were stoned and watching Nick-at-Nite at 3:00AM."
Although his comment is an exaggeration, there's some truth to
it. Selling older titles is more difficult than selling
shows such as "The Cosby Show." The
programs that used to air on Nick, such as "The White
Shadow," are not known to a broad an audience.
Older programs, no matter what their merits, require more
promotion to make these merits known and attract a larger
audience. The time used to promote an older show could be
used for paid commercials.
How
demographics effect what the programs selected?
[TOP]
Demographics refers to characteristics
of populations and population segments used to identify consumer
markets. In sort, advertisers are looking for young
audiences. In market research tests, it was found that
channel surfers in the key demographic (young adults) were less
likely to stop on a channel showing a program in black and white.
Why
won't
they run [insert your favorite program here] ?
[TOP]
'Money! Although we consider television recreation,
it is a business. The decisions as to what programs are
selected are based on their ability to generate advertising
revenue. Although the show you want to see may have a
following, it may not be large enough to cover the costs of
acquisition, editing, and restoration.
Consider, for a moment
a community web site I started: I live in a township with a
population of about 23,000 people on the internet. I created
a community portal for this town. In marketing terms, a
successful site would attract 2% of the target audience, or 460
people. My site met (and exceeded) the marketing goal of 2%,
but a web site with such a small user base is hardly
worthwhile. If I had created a site with a national target,
I would (if successful) reached 2 million users.
Programs such as "Emergency!"
have a very loyal following of devoted fans, however the numbers
are not great enough to consider it a rating success. A
program like "Cheers" has a bigger audience,
although maybe not as devoted.
Distributors don't
always base the fees they charge in correct proportion to what the
network can generate in profits. In the case of an older
program that hasn't been shown in many years, it can be very
costly just to make these shows ready for broadcast. Some of
these shows are only available on film. Before it will be
shown on TV, the film will be cleaned and transferred to digital
video. The new digital image with then be color corrected
and the dirt and scratches will be filled in by a slow,
painstaking, manual process. The sound is also corrected, removing
the hiss, and balancing the peak volume. Once a new digital
copy has been made, it will be edited for time, and electronic
cues are added to indicate where the commercials will be
inserted. This process can cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars per episode. Sometimes the distributor will share in
this cost if the finished product can be used for a DVD release,
or sold to other stations. In the case of older shows,
there's so little market for the program, it's not worth it.
Even new programs such as "Cheers" have needed
restoration, but there's a big audience for it.
I have video tapes of "Petticoat
Junction" that I recorded from a local channel in
the early 80's, and tapes of it as in aired on TV Land. The
TV Land versions are so much better. The colors are bright
and accurate, the sound is crisp and clear, whereas the old prints
are faded and scratchy.
Why
do they leave out certain episodes?
[TOP]
In a way, they
don't. Many of the distributor's contracts are based on the
number of times they cycle through the series within the period of
the contract. So when they pull an episode out for a stunt
event, like a "Boxed Set," they have to skip that
episode in it's regular timeslot to avoid paying for an extra
cycle. At the end of the year, each episode of the entire
series will have been run the same number of times (in most
cases).
Some series are split
into one or more syndication packages, for instance "Mannix."
There are 190 episodes of "Mannix." Paramount
made up a package of 130 episodes. They offered this package
to TV stations, with an option to buy the remaining 60 in a
separate package. Well, the stations never bought the
remaining 60, so they were never prepared for syndication.
Therefore, TV Land bought the packaged 133, rather than paying to
have the others prepared for broadcast (see Why
they won't run...).
Wh
at's
coming up?
[TOP]
Beats me! No I'm not trying to be rude or ignore you,
I really don't know, and when I find out I post it. So if
it's not posted on the Classic TV News
Page, or within the channels I haven't been told about
it. I don't work for TV Land, Viacom or any of it's parent
companies or entities. If I had a big scoop, I'd be
thrilled to share it with you and all my other readers. Most
of my advanced information comes from Pavan Patel (see
below). He's very generous with his information, but he's
not a mystic, he can only tell me what's been provided to him.
Who's
this Pavan guy?
[TOP]
I've been getting questions, from time
to time, about the person I refer to as "Pavan" . Pavan
Patel provides news and schedule information to my web site and
several others. As to who he is, I really don't who he is,
but I do know who he isn't:
-
He's not me.
He really does exist, he's not my alter ego, he's a real live
person.
-
He does not work
for Nick-at-Nite, TV Land, or any other Viacom company, or any
other network for that matter.
Other questions I get are:
Q: Don't you want to know how he gets his info?
A: Nope. It's not important to me. His
information is very accurate, I do not know his sources. Pavan's
been very good me and the site. Not only does he provide the
information, he checks the schedules after I post them to catch my
many errors. It's like a gift, and fans of "Bewitched"
know what happened to Darrin when he asked where a gift came
from. I also remembered what happened when I took my VCR
apart to see what made that work.
Q: Can you ask him something for me ?
A: No. I'm not going to post his email address here,
he gets tons of mail without my help, he's easy to find if it's
really important to you, just go to his web site at: www.jacksbistro.freeservers.com
or leave a message in the general
message board at www.sitcomsonline.com
Can
you ask TV Land (or any network) to change the schedule ?
[TOP]
No! I have less pull
at the Viacom networks than you do. Viacom isn't really a
fan of fan sites like this one, it takes traffic away from their
site. If you have anything to say to a network, go directly
to them. I can't change schedules, add programs or anything
else.
When you write your
requests or complaints, please be polite. Keep in mind it's
a big corporation you are writing to, and your letter will first
be read by someone with very little control over what you
see. The best you can hope for is that your opinion will be
tallied up with other viewers opinions. Being rude or
pissing off the person that handles the mail will get you
nowhere. Here's a list of TV and
cable networks addresses
Why are you always sticking up for
them ?
[TOP]
I really don't. I'm just trying to give you the
facts. I don't like squished credits with voice-overs.
I don't like them chopping out scenes to make room for more
commercials. There are lots more shows I'd like to see added
(see my Wish List), I don't
like Twice as Nice, I want more black and white classics,
however, I also know the reality of it. They are getting
great ratings doing things the way they do. They are running
a business and to do things our way would mean a loss of
money. As much as we may want to disagree, they know how to
program to make money.
How
do I contact TV Land?
[TOP]
That an easy one. Just email postmaster@tvland,com
Other channels are listed here.
Is
my favorite show on DVD yet?
[TOP]
I've listed resources that include links to available DVDs
and VHS shows. The list of shows
is here. If the show you are interested is not
listed, contact me, and I'll add
it. If you're looking for TV merchandise, visit Morty's
Mall.
Why
did they cancel that?
[TOP]
When the ratings start to slump, they cancel it. The
ratings may still be high, but when it gets near time to renew the
contracts the networks consider how the show will be doing at the end
of the next term. If ratings are starting to slip, there's a
good chance they'll continue to go down. Signing a renewal,
which may be for several years, isn't a smart business
decision. The cool thing about cable is that when I show
leaves one network, it often shows up on an other, and old
favorites eventually return.
Is
my favorite show being shown anywhere?
[TOP]
The TV Finder Page lists
over 200 popular titles (and more are being added). It will
tell you if the show is being shown nationally. By clicking
the program's link, you'll be taken to a Showcard Page with
more information. The Showcard Page also has a button
that will search Yahoo for local channels that may be airing the
program. There's also a Yahoo search box on the TV
Finder Page for shows that aren't listed.
How
can I
contact
you?
[TOP]
If you
have a TV question, Ask it Here.
If you want to report a broken link, or make a correction, click
here. If you work for a television network and want to
send press releases or programming information, instruction are here.
When
is my favorite show leaving?
[TOP]
I am not
privileged to the contract details of the programs being
shown. I don't know when a contract will be up, or if it
will be renewed. When I receive new schedules, and a title
is missing, I assume it's gone, although sometimes it'll return
the next month. I post the schedule information as soon as I
get it, before that, it's all a mystery.
I've been giving
viewers this same advice for years, and that is: If a show
is being aired that you like, TAPE IT! All good things
must come to an end at some point the show will leave the
schedule.
Where
can I get a copy of a show that was never sold on tape?
[TOP]
There are
several sources for this. One is the Tape
Trading Message Board on www.sitcomsonline.com.
Another is the newsgroup, alt.video.tape-trading
the people in the newsgroup have dug up tapes I wanted, when
no one else could. Some words of caution: Not every
one in the group is honest. Although it's called
"trading," many will want money. Just because a
"trader" offers to sell you the tape, it doesn't mean
he's a crook. Try to look for message from other that have bought
from him. And lastly, quality varies greatly. Some tapes great,
others are so bad you can barely make out what's happening.
TV Movies can sometimes be found by
www.videorarities.net.
I've never done business with them, I can't vouch for their
integrity. Shokus
Video has some unique stuff you can't get anywhere. I've
bought a lot of stuff from eBay!
,
my experiences have been, for the most part, very good. Half.com
has many out-of-print titles, and used volumes from video
clubs. Richard at:
http://beta.hometown.aol.com/rtususian/
has a great collection of tapes he trades with other collectors,
and Video Man sells and trades titles on DVD, at:
http://members.cox.net/videoman3/tv_series.html
Home
