Why did METV put Dragnet in the weekday morning slots at 6AM PT?

[Hawkee]

I don't who is controlling the programming schedule at METV but I can't figure out why METV decided to put Dragnet weekday mornings at 6AM PT when METV should've replaced one of the westerns with Dragnet? When it was announced that METV was gonna carry Dragnet my mom got excited because Dragnet was one of her favorite shows and now Mom has to wait til 6AM to see Dragnet when she's already asleep. Why doesn't METV show Dragnet in the afternoons rather than early in the morning? Is it because METV's highest viewership in the early morning time?
Bestie

[DadTheKing]

Hi, Bestie! I think they will put it on in the morning first, then when they run out of episodes they will move it to afternoons. That gives them 2 audiences. What do you think?
DTK

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by LaBestia

I don't who is controlling the programming schedule at METV but I can't figure out why METV decided to put Dragnet weekday mornings at 6AM PT when METV should've replaced one of the westerns with Dragnet? When it was announced that METV was gonna carry Dragnet my mom got excited because Dragnet was one of her favorite shows and now Mom has to wait til 6AM to see Dragnet when she's already asleep. Why doesn't METV show Dragnet in the afternoons rather than early in the morning? Is it because METV's highest viewership in the early morning time?
Bestie

Let me start by saying something about westerns, you may not like them but a lot of people do. The rating must be there or METV wouldn't run them. Westerns are one of the cornerstones of the station they help pay the bills, and make the rest of it work as well.

Dragnet has had several successful runs on USA and Nick At Nite but I don't think it did that well on COZI so it may be played out. Also, there are only 98 episodes so in an hour timeslot you through the series in 10 weeks. Some of the episodes about weed might seem a bit out there especially considering what's going in many of the States in our country.

[stevea]

They could have paired it with Adam-12 in the 5:00 pm hour. I don't like the Westerns either, but I agree a lot of people do. As long as they're popular they're there to stay.

But their immediate need was something to replace The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. One thing they could have done to fill one of the half hours would be to expand My Three Sons to the full 7:00 hour--there are 380 episodes of that. They could have done something really innovative with one of the other half hours and put on The New Leave it to Beaver, which ran several seasons.

Another thing about Dragnet--there are around 8 seasons of the black and white version. These may not be ready for broadcast, but MeTV should make plans to air those as well as the color version.

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by stevea

They could have paired it with Adam-12 in the 5:00 pm hour. I don't like the Westerns either, but I agree a lot of people do. As long as they're popular they're there to stay.

But their immediate need was something to replace The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. One thing they could have done to fill one of the half hours would be to expand My Three Sons to the full 7:00 hour--there are 380 episodes of that. They could have done something really innovative with one of the other half hours and put on The New Leave it to Beaver, which ran several seasons.

Another thing about Dragnet--there are around 8 seasons of the black and white version. These may not be ready for broadcast, but MeTV should make plans to air those as well as the color version.

Two interesting ideas, let's take a look:

The New Leave It to Beaver

From what I have read no one seems to know whether or not the prints for that series exists anymore. You would think that if they did someone would have attempted to do something with them.

Dragnet (the original series)

I have never seen this series, but I think I speak for a lot of people in saying I would love to see it put into syndication. There's a problem and unfortunately it's a big one, similar to series we just discussed, no one seems to know where or even if the prints of the series exist. Right now there are around 52 episodes circulating but that's all anyone has been able to locate (there were a total of 276 episodes). Some have speculated that the estate of the late Jack Webb have copies and are just sitting on them. There is no proof the estate has them, Webb and his partners sold the rights to the series in the 50's. Universal may have the prints but there was a large fire that destroyed some of the company's inventory years ago, so the prints may have gone up in smoke.

[stevea]

I've also read somewhere that rights to The New Leave it to Beaver are in protracted litigation. Which is probably why it never made it to DVD.

Universal supposedly holds the rights to B/W Dragnet. Yes, they could have gone up in smoke and they were probably never digitized.