There are several TV shows that were quite popular in their day but for reasons never went down the syndication path, and consequently can never be seen in rerun on some TV Land or RetroTV type station. Yet basic cable still shows infomercials in the wee hours allowing you to purchase said shows on DVD.
The ones that immediately come to mind are The Carol Burnett Show, Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast, and the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, but I am sure there are others.
My question is, why? Surely it can’t be more profitable then selling the show as a syndication package and getting royalties. If that were the case every popular show would do it. Is it an ego thing? The star of the show is also the producer and doesn’t want to give up control of his/her baby.
At least one of these shows (Carol Burnett) I would watch reruns of, but am not interested enough to purchase the complete series on collectors’ DVD (with bonus footage!).
Just wondering what the motivation is for this business decision.
I think the networks that would want them aren’t in any position to pay: things like MeTV, for instance.
Also, having a DVD does not preclude it being run on some obscure network in a bad time slot. It looks like Carol Burnett is currently being aired in my area on Channel 496.
The DVD’s may offer something that syndicated versions don’t. The last time I caught Carol Burnett in syndication, which was years ago, it was as a 30 minute show called “Carol Burnett and Friends.” It consisted of nothing but sketches from the original variety show. No musical numbers at all and little or nothing featuring any guest stars in the episodes I saw. If the DVD’s offer complete episodes of the variety show, they would be more desirable than the syndicated show to people who have fond memories of when the show was in production.
The shows the OP listed are the type of shows a fan would cherry pick. Rather than just watch a random episode that’s being broadcast, you’d rather watch a specific sketch or guest star. So having the series on dvd works better for fans of these shows.
Carol Burnett is currently on MeTV every day, though as Scumpup notes, these may be cut down. I don’t remember them enough to know if anything is missing.
On the other hand, I got some Smothers Brothers episodes on DVD, and these definitely were cut. it was really annoying for the DVDs to be edited. They should be 100% intact. That’s what we’re paying for!
Hogan’s Heroes is on right before Carol Burnett, and I do know these have been edited, sometimes very sloppily. Sometimes it really is worth finding a low cost DVD somewhere rather than bothering with TV, even retro TV.
Antenna TV will start showing Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show episodes in their entirety beginning on January 1. These are the uncut 60 and 90 minute shows.
Quite true, but I was not talking about a show like Seinfeld, where you can buy the DVD sets and watch it every night in syndication. I meant the shows where it was never in syndication but only available via DVD. I thought Carol Burnett was an example, but other posters have stated this is not the case and you can find a syndicated version of her show. Maybe my premise was faulty and there are no such shows. I need to dig further.
Some shows just lose their luster after being in syndication for a while. Case in point: The Phil Silvers Show (i.e. Sergeant Bilko); I remember when this was in local syndication in the 1970s and 1980s, but until Shout Factory released the complete series on DVD, I was beginning to think it would be lost forever. Among other things, it is quite dated, and not just because it is in black and white.
Also, for whatever reason, repeats of network shows that are longer than 30 minutes have never done well in local syndication; stations would rather air two sitcoms, even if it’s two episodes of the same sitcom, rather than a drama.
Besides - why can’t shows do both? Isn’t Hogan’s Heroes on MeTV? That’s available on DVD.
I thought this was great news, until I realized there’s no local broadcaster taking on Antenna TV. That’s a shame, they also show Jack Benny and the George Burns shows. I need to start a petition drive.
I read once that this is the reason that old episodes of Law & Order were structured as they were; with the investigation taking just over half of the program and the trial taking slightly less time. That way, the episode could be shown in two half-hour segments, with the second half preceded by a recap.
The Carol Burnett shows have often been in syndication. But they have been without the musical numbers for rights reasons. MeTV has been showing in locally at 11pm for at least half a year but in the past other over the air stations have shown it in the NY area at least.
My understanding is that the first 5 or 7 seasons of The Carol Burnett Show are now available on DVD for the first time. This was a ownership issue where the co-owner recently passed away IRC.
After a little more poking, maybe it is just the shows picked up by TimeLife, their catalog appears to be shows that have passed their syndication appeal, and now they infomercial them as a way to milk the last few dollars out.