# How were network television programs distributed in the early days of television? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789 "2022-07-29T18:27:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789/21 "2022-07-31T21:23:45Z")
26 surviving episodes of _Camp Runamuck_ would be more surviving episodes than all of TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs’ TV shows in all the series he hosted. 😠 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789/22 "2022-07-31T21:30:48Z")
Damn, good call. That by all accounts is another huge loss. Ernie Kovacs shows were pretty experimental. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789/23 "2022-07-31T21:33:21Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Ernie Kovacs shows were pretty experimental. The PBS station in Wisconsin, when I was growing up in the late ‘70s, ran a recurring series of Ernie Kovacs’ shows (or, at least, what remained of them). He was hilarious and imaginative, and way ahead of his time. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789/24 "2022-07-31T21:36:17Z")
PBS (Channel 13) in NYC did the same. What little they had was great. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789/25 "2022-07-31T21:41:53Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > _26 surviving episodes of Camp Runamuck would be more surviving episodes than all of TV pioneer Ernie Kovacs’ TV shows in all the series he hosted._ Thank his widow, Edie Adams, for rescuing what we can see. She mortgaged her house and everything she had to buy them when she heard they were going to be trashed. Ernie Kovacs was one of my earliest memories of TV. When I was pre-school age I remember seeing him on TV in the daytime and was fascinated by him. He was a true genius who was one of the first to figure out how to use TV technology, most notably videotape, in unexpected and innovative ways. Comedy Central ran a lot of his shows years and years ago and I have most of them on VHS. Now if can only finding a working VCR… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-network-television-programs-distributed-in-the-early-days-of-television/968789.md?page=1)