Syndication prospects for Jack's TV show?

[shimp scrampi]

I was thinking back to my first experiences with Jack's TV show - mostly the CBN run in the 1980s - and the great line up of other shows they ran in the wee small hours of the morning: Jack, Burns and Allen, the Bob Cummings Show, You Bet Your Life, Dobie Gillis - and it occurs to me that I don't think ANY of these programs are shown any longer, and haven't been in years, the dozen or so B&A episodes on TV Land excluded.

So the question is - does MCA even currently offer a syndication package of Benny shows? Could a station run them even if they wanted to?

I realize economics and distribution have probably changed - it seems, and this is just guesswork from someone not in the industry - that the national cable channels often get "exclusives" - so TV Land may be the only channel allowed to run "Bewitched" or whatever it may be - and the local channels (what few there are left) are excluded from running these programs while the national channels do?

How do syndication packages work these days anyhow?

Could a straggling local UHF station license the Benny shows and start running them? Or is that not even an option?

[LLeff]

So the question is - does MCA even currently offer a syndication package of Benny shows? Could a station run them even if they wanted to?

I'm sure if someone came to MCA and said, "Here's a pile of money, I want to run the Benny shows," they'd give them copies. But I'm not aware that they are actively marketing them. They were on the air in Canada until a couple years ago, and since then I've not heard of any stations running them.

However, this is a topic that is going to be even more important to me soon. Stay tuned.

[shimp scrampi]

Hmmm...interesting, especially the cryptic last comment.

I am sure you're right on the "pile of money", especially a major cable channel came a' knocking. I was wondering though if maybe a small station could pick them up as a bargain if they're just sitting around gathering dust.

Many years ago our local PBS station in Michigan picked up the rights to run two seasons of "The Avengers" twice for a big $2000 (I remember the pledge breaks, vividly!) - but it certainly turned me on to that wonderful show, and generated enough local interest that Patrick Macnee made a stop in our town on a book tour and had lines around the block to meet him - this being 20 years after the show went off the air. It's amazing what effect even a small, limited airing can have. It'd be great if Jack could get some of that!

[Maxwell]

A few years ago WYCC in Chicago (owned by the Chicago City Colleges - 2 year schools) was showing reruns of Jack, the early live Burns & Allen shows, the early NBC Red Skelton shows (before he moved to CBS), and the Dinah Shore Chevy Show during the summer (b&w kinescopes or tapes of color episodes, unfortunately).

[Brad from Georgia]

Stay tuned, eh? The plot thickens....