DECADES to get a new name (Catchy Comedy) and a new lineup in March

[Sal]

Bad news from the OTA world. The network that you have all come to know and (sometimes) love as DECADES will cease to exist after the end of this month. The network will be re-branded and re-named and it will soon be called --- are you sitting down? --- Catchy Comedy!

The new name will also come with a new lineup highlighted by the appearance of the original "Night Court" which has suddenly become a hot item since the new "Night Court" (starring another hot item, Melissa Rauch) became a surprise hit for NBC. The complete new schedule will look like this:

Monday-Friday Daytime (All Times ET)

6:00am – Full House

6:30am – Full House

7:00am – Full House

7:30am – Full House

8:00am- The Brady Bunch

8:30am- The Brady Bunch

9:00am- Family Affair

9:30am- The Donna Reed Show

10:00am – The Carol Burnett Show

11:00am – The Lucy Show

11:30am – The Lucy Show

12:00pm – I Love Lucy

12:30pm – I Love Lucy

1:00pm – The Mary Tyler Moore Show

1:30pm – Rhoda

2:00pm – Laverne & Shirley

2:30pm – Laverne & Shirley

3:00pm – Mama’s Family

3:30pm – Mama’s Family

4:00pm- The Love Boat

Monday-Friday Primetime (All Times ET)

5:00pm – The Odd Couple

5:30pm – The Odd Couple

6:00pm – Good Times

6:30pm – Good Times

7:00pm – Sanford and Son

7:30pm – Sanford and Son

8:00pm – All in the Family

8:30pm – All in the Family

Monday-Friday Late Night (All Times ET)

9:00pm – Night Court

9:30pm – Night Court

10:00pm – The Dick Van Dyke Show

10:30pm – The Dick Van Dyke Show

11:00pm – Cheers

11:30pm – Cheers

12:00am – Taxi

12:30am – The Bob Newhart Show

1:00am – Newhart

Full Details Here:

Variety - DECADES Network Becomes Catchy Comedy

[BigManMike]

This is great news! Much better than stale MeTV and great to see they got Good Times and Sanford and Son away from Get. I don’t know what the overnight schedule or weekend schedule is though. Hopefully they will still do binge marathons on weekends. But the article did say they would be doing ratings like Me. Hopefully that doesn’t one day make this schedule stale too.

[Bonniegirl]

Will they still do the weekend binge ?

[BigManMike]

Now I see it did say they would still have the weekend binges.

[biffbronson]

I hope they do another mind-blowing binge like Celebrity Bowling. Seriously, I would like to see one like that again!

Any mention of Bill Kurtis' "Through the Decades" feature, not on the schedule? Hard to believe that dates back to 2015.

[Svenfan1234]

I’m kind of surprised about this, and I’ll miss some shows. I did enjoy Through the Decades as well as seeing Dick Cavett shows with guests like The Muppets like the other night. I also did enjoy seeing other shows like dramas on their binges like Remington Steele, but it will be good to see a variety of sitcoms on their binge. I hope Petticoat Junction gets brought back at some point, and seeing Night Court show up is great! I’ll also miss Ed Sullivan!

[brtcmfn]

There is no programming listed from 1:30-6am ET does that mean informercials at the time?

And 6 shows on the schedule are also on METV- So will the plan be to eventually remove those shows on METV?

Carol Burnett
The Brady Bunch
Mama's Family
The love boat
The Dick Van Dyke show
All in the family

[Alan Brady's Hair]

I've grown used to the afternoon Dick van Dyke-Dick van Dyke- Bob Newhart session, but you can't have everything and they've been run through quite a few times.

It seems they're following a course that Antenna tried a while ago, female leads at least in the daytime. Very interesting that they're pitting the new shows against probably the most-similar sitcoms extant - All in the Family v. The Jeffersons and Night Court v. Barney Miller.

I don't think I ever watched Through the Decades, Sullivan and Cavett once in a blue moon.

[1960'sTVfan]

Interesting, looks like they are converting the channel to be a rival for Antenna TV with an all sitcoms lineup.

[space1999]

There's some pros and cons to this change.

Positives:
1. I don't think anybody ever watched Decades for their original news content.
2. This confirms that Weigel acquired other Normal Lear shows and now has a better home airing these shows at better timeslots compared to Get TV.
3. Night Court deserves to air at night instead of the daytime (looking at you LAFF).

Negatives:
1. It seems like the Weekend binges are staying but its only going to be sitcoms. Which means that if we want to see any classic tv show that isn't that genre, we're out of luck. I hope Weigel can air those shows somewhere else. Maybe this channel will open up more space to air other genres besides sitcoms on MeTV
2. This is more so for me. I have DISH and I'm hoping I can get this channel but I never had Decades so it seems unlikely. I have MeTV, H&I, Start TV and Story TV. I use to have MeTV Plus for about 6 months and sadly that was replaced by Story TV.

I find it interesting that they opted to focus on female-lead sitcoms in the daytime hours after the success of Start TV's marketing gimmick.

Farewell Decades!

[Merry24]

It would be nice if at 1:30AM-6AM. They can become like old NICK at NITE

1:30AM The Monkees
2AM Mister Ed
2:30AM Car 54, Where Are You?
3AM The Many Loves Of Dobbie Gillis
3:30AM My Three Sons
4AM The Donna Reed Show
4:30AM The Patty Duke Show
5AM-6AM Laugh-In

Catchy Funny Dream Z’s they can call it and hopefully come up with some clever promos like NICK at NITE did & perhaps retromercials. Classic Rewinds.

[Charles Knox]

I don't think they should totally abandon the classic dramas and crime shows. The FBI, Untouchables, 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye could probably find an audience in the overnight hours.

[Bonniegirl]

Sad about Bill Kurtis's " Through the decades" being taken off, interesting program ! Also, yeah seems the weekend binges will be less variety , just comedies !

But I like the addition of Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley and Sanford & Son !

[24/7 reruns]

Well Decades morphed from a history based channel to a sitcom one. Remember when it started there were 6 hours of programming repeated 4 times a day. Eventually they started to pull the documentaries for variety and talk shows ( Ed Sullivan and Dick Cavett). Then came Television Aross the Decades with sitcoms and informational bumpers on the decades the shows were from. And lastly they added Smartcoms overnight. The only constants were Through the Decades and the weekend Binge.

I'd like to see Through the Decades offered on a streaming service. I wonder if they made an episode for each day of the year and repeated them from year to year. The only episode I watch was January 31. Which is my birthday. I saw that this year. So I'm not sure if there variations of that day from previous years.

Now all is needed is a better name for the channel. The new one ranks up there with FreeVee.

[Sal]

Originally Posted by Merry24

It would be nice if at 1:30AM-6AM. They can become like old NICK at NITE

1:30AM The Monkees
2AM Mister Ed
2:30AM Car 54, Where Are You?
3AM The Many Loves Of Dobbie Gillis
3:30AM My Three Sons
4AM The Donna Reed Show
4:30AM The Patty Duke Show
5AM-6AM Laugh-In

Catchy Funny Dream Z’s they can call it and hopefully come up with some clever promos like NICK at NITE did & perhaps retromercials. Classic Rewinds.

I would love these shows to be on in the afternoons rather than the late night hours. You can save those for Full House and the Norman Lear shows. I wouldn't mind that one bit.