Here's some friendly advice...Never take advantage of your favorite sitcoms! Just because some of your favorite sitcoms are in syndication, doesn't mean they'll be there forever. I loved The Odd Couple and use to watch it all the time on WPIX here in NY and on TVLand, but never bothered to tape a lot of episodes. Now that the show has disappeared, I'm dying to see them again and only have a handful to look back on.

My advice, tape them or buy them on DVD. Do any of you take advantage of sitcoms?

Originally posted by Brian Damage
Here's some friendly advice...Never take advantage of your favorite sitcoms! Just because some of your favorite sitcoms are in syndication, doesn't mean they'll be there forever. I loved The Odd Couple and use to watch it all the time on WPIX here in NY and on TVLand, but never bothered to tape a lot of episodes. Now that the show has disappeared, I'm dying to see them again and only have a handful to look back on.

My advice, tape them or buy them on DVD. Do any of you take advantage of sitcoms?

I do, and with The Odd Couple too. I got lazy and didn't want to tape them. Now I only have like 30.

Oh, I do, definitely. I was always a fan of Hogan's Heroes, but didn't give it a second glance hardly when I had TV Land. At the time, I just never realized how long it was on TVL, and just assumed it would be on there much longer. When it came to Hallmark, I taped all I could, and then I missed some eps, and then it is just on Saturday's now, so I'm taping it over.

Ditt for Facts of Life. I watched it constantly on Nick @ Nite when it came, and then it was gone. LOL, JUST as I had decided to tape it. So thankfully, it came to TV Land for a fandemonium marathon and I taped all I could then, and then it came to Hallmark, I taped all I could there. I have 193 out of 209 episodes.

Anyway, I've learned to NEVER take a show for granted, lol. If a show I so-so like gets dropped, I don't really fret too much, but if it comes to another network, I'd probably tape it. I just wish I had been able to tape Maude, Laverne & Shirley and The Jeffersons before they were dropped. And The Odd Couple too. Same with Diff'rent Strokes. If any of them pop up again, I'm definitely taping them. I just wish I lived in Chicago (which air on ME-TV a bulk of those shows I just listed). or somewhere that aired them.

Some warning signs to tape a show (now, this may be off, but these are just MY thoughts and suggestions):
1) Tape it the first time it comes to a network, or is brought back. Odds are all episodes will be aired. Great time to tape (Example: Sanford and Son on TV Land)

2) If a show is dropped, then brought back, odds are the rights are running out, so tape all you can.

3) If a show has a nice cushy timeslot and suddenly is dropped to the early morning slot, or even gets MORE timeslots, odds are something is going to happen (a good example: Beverly Hillbillies and The Jeffersons on TV Land, both got extra airings before they were dropped).

Those are just my observations and suggestions. Like Brian said, never take a show for granted, because you never know how long they will be on.

Originally posted by jimmiegirl48
... Now I tape everything I watch if I know I'll want to see it again.

I just posted, but add a big ditto on that.

Yep, that's me. I wanted to tape FOL when it was on Hallmark, but I was taping other stuff at the time and figured I could record it during the next rotation. Didn't happen.

Star Trek is another one that I kind of missed out on. I taped the very last chain reaction they had, other than that I don't have any ST eps.

Originally posted by TVJunkie101
Oh, I do, definitely. I was always a fan of Hogan's Heroes, but didn't give it a second glance hardly when I had TV Land. At the time, I just never realized how long it was on TVL, and just assumed it would be on there much longer.


So did I. Then it left and I realized how much I really liked watching it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

i learned that lesson the hard way.
in the 1980's wkrp in cincinnati was on 3 channels
but i never recorded it assuming it would run forever. because next to m*a*s*h it was the second
highest rated sitcom in syndication in the 80's.
by the early 90's it disappeared.
when it came back on nick at nite about half of the original music was replaced with uncopyrighted elevator music.
odd couple is a good example a sitcom that i thought would be on forever but disappeared.
barney miller maybe the best example because it was one most successful sitcoms ever syndicated but it also disappeared.
my point being if theirs a show you like record it now!

Originally posted by APPLEI
barney miller maybe the best example because it was one most successful sitcoms ever syndicated but it also disappeared.
my point being if theirs a show you like record it now!

You probably know this, but Barney Miller airs every night at 2:30am on TV Land. That is, if you get TV Land.

I too have been victim of not taping and assuming my shows would be on all the time, never fearing the day something like Dharma and Greg would occupy syndication time slots.

WKRP, The Odd Couple, and What's Happening (where the hell is this show??) are a few I regret not taping.

Taxi may be the next one to disappear for a while.

As far as Cheers and Mash and Seinfeld and such, I am fairly tired of watching them (though they are great) and they will all be on DVD. (MASH is on season 3 and Cheers is starting, soon Seinfeld I assume).

Everybody Loves Raymond and That '70s Show are ones I should be taping now.

I can't wait for DVD recorders to reach a reasonable price.

The only show I've ever taped a bunch of episodes of is "Friends".I also have like 5 taps of mixed sitcoms including "The Trouble With Normal","Norm","Rugrats","Taina","The Geena Davis Show" and more!

I should start recording "Life With Bonnie." Its my favorite NEW sitcom, and I hear it might be taken of the air soon. :o

So true. I learned the hard way with The Jeffersons and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Barney Miller is now hidden away at 2:30am. I do tape it and watch it the next day, but then I tape over it. This show goes from month to month. It just got a reprieve for February.
I also love Coach, but I know it can't last forever.
Still, I don't tape them. I don't want all those tapes, and it takes too much time and effort to tape and organize a library of tapes.
I only buy DVD now, and I'm hoping Barney Miller and Coach will be available someday on DVD, but that's a pipedream.
I know I'm going to be sorry, but good advice Brian. :)

Originally posted by Janice
Still, I don't tape them. I don't want all those tapes, and it takes too much time and effort to tape and organize a library of tapes.

Those were my exact same thoughts in 2001 when I really got back into watching TV. I've had TV Land since mid-late 2000, but never really watched. In 2001, I could have taped a load of great shows, but thought the same thing you did, and now hardly any of them are on, lol. I regret that every day. But I mean, it's TV, why should we get so worked up about it? Frankly, I'm glad shows are given rest periods, but I still think some shows are much more favored over others by networks. Anyway, that got a little off topic, but I really do suggest keeping Barney Miller. I think Pav posted somewhere that Nick at Nite has Coach through fall 2004, so you have a little more time, but with Wings coming to N@N in April, I have no doubt it will probably bump Coach (IF double takes are still around). So, you should definitely start keeping them. Or just keep you all time fave episodes, or something, lol.