Syndication prospects for Jack's TV show?

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Syndication prospects for Jack's TV show?

Postby shimp scrampi » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:06 am

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?
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Re: Syndication prospects for Jack's TV show?

Postby LLeff » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:08 pm

shimp scrampi wrote: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.
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Postby shimp scrampi » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:20 am

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!
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Postby Maxwell » Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:15 pm

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).
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Postby Brad from Georgia » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:41 am

Stay tuned, eh? The plot thickens....
Image Oh, for heaven's sake!
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