WPIX Adding 4 Classic Sitcoms 10/2

[JTC]

WPIX is adding four '70s sitcoms to its Saturday night lineup effective 10/2 according to the NY Post and the NY Daily News.

Saturdays
8PM Welcome Back, Kotter
8:30 The Jeffersons
9PM The Odd Couple
9:30 Taxi

[Pavan]

Oh, wow, this is great. 4 classic '70s sitcoms there. Though, The Odd Couple already airs 5 days a week, so they should air something else there like What's Happening!! or One Day at a Time. Welcome Back, Kotter is rare. WPIX is the only local airing it now, though it has a cable run on Goodlife TV. Nice to see Taxi back (it was airing 5 days a week until mid-September, then it disappeared).

[barwars]

Syracuse, NY BLOWS

[vashti1999]

Originally posted by barwars
Syracuse, NY BLOWS

You're just a couple of hours away. You need to come on down. We also get less snow than you guys.

[jamesanthony]

This is pleasant news, indeed. I wonder if they are planning to put those shows on more than 1x a week or if this is just a one time thing? Most local stations strip their shows at least 5x a week and as much as 15-20x if they can get away with it. Jeffersons has enough episodes to have it one that many times a week.

A couple years ago they had an Addams Family marathon which suggests that at least at that time they had that show in their ownership and could put it into rotation. Maybe the marathon had poor ratings and they changed their minds.

[dlemond]

That is an awesome lineup.

Any idea if these series' episodes are going in order?

[AKA]

Originally posted by Riff
[B]Wouldn't get that worked up about it. WPIX has a bug.

Yuck. I wish the FCC would use their powers for good instead of evil for a change and do something about "bugs." Almost every network and cable channel now uses them, and four out of seven locals in my area have them.

[TJL]

I read that in the news this morning. That's awsome.

WPIX would have my undying love if the episodes were uncut, but I'll take what I can get.

Maybe they should do some viewer's choice marathons...

[AKA]

My locals don't use bugs to run promos for upcoming shows, or to tell you what you're currently watching... yet. They just have their logos on the bottom right corner of the screen. And even worse is the fact that the logos are huge (especially KXLY, my ABC affiliate) and they're full-color (with the exception of my KSPS, my PBS, which has a smaller, transparent black and white logo).

The only holdouts right now are my UPN affiliate (KQUP) and my CBS and WB affiliates (KREM and KSKN, which are under the same owndership). But I have a feeling it won't be long before their logos are plastered on their signals.

I've noticed that 24/7 bugs started about twelve years ago with VH1 and E! (although I know CNN has been using them since the '80s), and the trend immediately started worsening.

I have this fear that one day, they'll invade our DVDs.

[TVFactFan]

That does it, i'm looking for an APT in NYC starting tomorrow. I can't take philly anymore

[Pavan]

So the theme is New York based sitcoms, so forget I said why not What's Happening or One Day at a Time, lol. Full story:

Tribune Broadcasting's The WB Television Network affiliate, WPIX New York, has decided to clear out its movies and repurposed WB shows Saturday night -- the netlet doesn't program Saturday -- to make room for a block of New York-themed 1970s sitcoms.

The "PIX at Night" block (not to be confused with PAX or Nick at Nite) launches Oct. 2 with a slate of Welcome Back, Kotter, The Jeffersons, Odd Couple, and Taxi.

Odd Couple already airs on the station at 2:30 a.m. and will continue to run there as well.

The move is a combination of several factors, according to a station spokesman. For one, A-list broadcast movie packages are harder to come by, with films often going first to the cable channel siblings of studios. For another, the flood of first-run, syndicated action dramas that had been a staple of the station has become a trickle. The third?--a creative program director.

[vashti1999]

Originally posted by pavanbadal
The move is a combination of several factors, according to a station spokesman. For one, A-list broadcast movie packages are harder to come by, with films often going first to the cable channel siblings of studios. For another, the flood of first-run, syndicated action dramas that had been a staple of the station has become a trickle. The third?--a creative program director.

Surprised they didn't simply mention audience interest in older shows like these. It is weird to see these types of shows in a time slot where they used to show stuff like Deep Space Nine and Xena Warrior Princess, but I'm not complaining. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing WBK again.

[robyrob]

Originally posted by AKA
My locals don't use bugs to run promos for upcoming shows, or to tell you what you're currently watching... yet. They just have their logos on the bottom right corner of the screen. And even worse is the fact that the logos are huge (especially KXLY, my ABC affiliate) and they're full-color (with the exception of my KSPS, my PBS, which has a smaller, transparent black and white logo).

The only holdouts right now are my UPN affiliate (KQUP) and my CBS and WB affiliates (KREM and KSKN, which are under the same owndership). But I have a feeling it won't be long before their logos are plastered on their signals.

I've noticed that 24/7 bugs started about twelve years ago with VH1 and E! (although I know CNN has been using them since the '80s), and the trend immediately started worsening.

I have this fear that one day, they'll invade our DVDs.

a couple of our local affiliate stations have started adding audio bugs - they are terribly annoying, not too mention distracting, with sound explosions and effects obscuring the show's dialogue at times

[Pavan]

More classic news for WPIX:

Sunday nights/early Monday mornings starting Oct. 3/4:
4:00 am & 4:30am The Three Stooges

[spunkygirl]

Originally posted by AKA
My locals don't use bugs to run promos for upcoming shows, or to tell you what you're currently watching... yet. They just have their logos on the bottom right corner of the screen. And even worse is the fact that the logos are huge (especially KXLY, my ABC affiliate) and they're full-color (with the exception of my KSPS, my PBS, which has a smaller, transparent black and white logo).

The only holdouts right now are my UPN affiliate (KQUP) and my CBS and WB affiliates (KREM and KSKN, which are under the same owndership). But I have a feeling it won't be long before their logos are plastered on their signals.

I've noticed that 24/7 bugs started about twelve years ago with VH1 and E! (although I know CNN has been using them since the '80s), and the trend immediately started worsening.

I have this fear that one day, they'll invade our DVDs.

Our local WB station uses this freaking black box promoting the next show that takes up half the freaking screen. I think they've finally quit doing that after alot of complaints.

Ours all use bugs but they're transparent