ME-TV has bumpers for Happy Days like it's on ABC???

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by mets82

Let me ask, why did they go with Laverne & Shirley & Company?

Because L&S was still on the air when it went into syndication so they had to create a seperate title

[Dr. Thong]

Because they wanted to differentiate from the still-in-first-run episodes that were airing on the network, I guess.

Personally, I never understood retitling for that reason, but whatever...

[ILUVO&H]

I thought I read someplace something about that the reason for the name change for the reruns was because the Network, ABC, was the one running the reruns of the series. They ran them on Saturday afternoons. So it wasn't changing the name just because it was in syndication on some local station but because the actual network that aired the original shows were also running reruns every Saturday.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by ILUVO&H

I thought I read someplace something about that the reason for the name change for the reruns was because the Network, ABC, was the one running the reruns of the series. They ran them on Saturday afternoons. So it wasn't changing the name just because it was in syndication on some local station but because the actual network that aired the original shows were also running reruns every Saturday.

Nope. ABC was showing reruns while new episodes aired in prime time, but they were on weekday mornings at 11AM with no name change.

But ABC replaced them with Laverne & Shirley reruns in early 1979, probably because HD would be going into syndication that fall.

[Loves Old Tv]

I know that this is an old thread, so in case anyone is still following it, here goes.

Renaming shows that were syndicated to local markets while the show was still airing new episodes on network TV was a common practice from the 1950s to early 1980s--essentially the pre-cable era. The reasoning behind this practice was to distinguish the older episodes of the show from the current network run. Networks were concerned that viewers would confuse the two. This seems quaint now, but it was a real concern at the time. People who frequent TV message boards today are--and were, if they were around at the time that this was done--are not thought to be typical casual viewers. They were and are a bit more sophisticated than casual viewers. In the cable area, my father, rest his soul, never could quite understand the difference between the then-current and first-run episodes of comedies such as Everybody Loves Raymond or drams such as NCIS. So the method had some merit to it.

Not all shows did it. M*A*S*H and Three's Company are examples of 1970s shows that chose not to do it. In fact, they set the stage for the cessation of the practice. But here is a short listing of but a few shows that did follow the convention of renaming.

Dragnet--->Badge 714
You Bet Your Life--->Best of Groucho
Bonanza--->Ponderosa
Gunsmoke--->Marshal Dillon
I Love Lucy--->Sunday Lucy Show and also Lucy in Connecticut
Andy Griffith Show-->Andy of Mayberry
Emergency--->Emergency One!
Ironside--->Raymond Burr Show
Happy Days--->Happy Days Again
Laverne and Shirley--->Laverne and Shirley and Company
Marcus Welby, MD--->Robert Young, Family Doctor
CHIPS-->CHIPS Patrol

Prior to the late 1970s, popular shows were often rerun by the network itself on its daytime schedule, while new episodes ran in prime time. For example, Brady Bunch, which ran from1969-74 on ABC, was shown in reruns at 11:30 on weekdays on ABC from 1972-1975, under the same name. When it was syndicated to local stations in 1975, the 11:30 weekdays slot was taken over by Happy Days, which had started airing in prime time in January 1974 and continued for a decade. In the fall of 1975, Happy Days was so popular that its first two seasons were continuously rerun on weekdays. This was another rule of network daytime reruns: Never air the current season on the daytime reruns, only past seasons. In the late summer of 1976, ABC did begin airing the current (third) season episodes in the daytime, because in September the fourth season would be underway. Part of why ABC jumped the gun was because Happy Days' first season was not a full one, so there was a limited amount of episodes from the first two seasons.

Both Happy Days and Brady Bunch used their series' true names while on network daytime reruns. But Happy Days, still running in primetime when the show was syndicated in 1979, was re-named Happy Days Again. When the original episodes stopped in 1984, so did the altered syndication title. The show moved to TBS in the late 1980s under its original title.

[biffbronson]

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob

It was Three's Company and Friends

[Loves Old Tv]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

You mention Three's Company as never having a name change, but I thought for a while they were using Three's Company Too in syndication ...?

A few more:

Lassie ---> Jeff's Collie
Hawaii Five-O ---> McGarrett
The Bob Cummings Show ---> Love That Bob

Yup. I believe that the Three's Company, Too was the Three's a Crowd portion of the Three's Company syndication package. That and at least some of The Ropers were included in the package.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Loves Old Tv

Yup. I believe that the Three's Company, Too was the Three's a Crowd portion of the Three's Company syndication package. That and at least some of The Ropers were included in the package.

It wasn't Three's Company Too it was Three's Company and Friends

[Loves Old Tv]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

It wasn't Three's Company Too it was Three's Company and Friends

Wikipedia suggests otherwise.

[biffbronson]

I do vaguely remember Three's Company Too in my area. Maybe it wasn't used all over the U.S.

[JMFabiano524]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I do vaguely remember Three's Company Too in my area. Maybe it wasn't used all over the U.S.

I think this was the syndie name of Three's a Crowd. Where some of the Ropers were "Three's Company's Friends The Ropers" (as if the title of the show was a person)

Back to the original topic, I think L&S kept some of the ABC bumpers ("Hi this is Shirley, me and Laverne will be right back!") when it aired on WLNY.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by Loves Old Tv

In the fall of 1975, Happy Days was so popular that its first two seasons were continuously rerun on weekdays. This was another rule of network daytime reruns: Never air the current season on the daytime reruns, only past seasons. In the late summer of 1976, ABC did begin airing the current (third) season episodes in the daytime, because in September the fourth season would be underway.

During the early part of summer 1978, ABC began airing then-current fifth season Happy Days shows during the daytime reruns, even though the sixth season had yet to begin.

I remember this, because I was shocked that they were jumping the gun and not waiting until the 6th season began to start airing them in the daytime slot.