TV Land: Biased Against Early Season of Three's Company and MASH? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

RobbieG · 12-13-2010, 04:47 PM

As a viewer who likes the earlier seasons of Three's Company (love the Ropers more than Mr. Furley, despite how great I think Don Knotts is) and MASH (love Henry, Trapper, and Frank more than their replacements, and like the humor more when Larry Gelbart and Laurence Marks were more directly involved in writing the episodes), I have long noticed that TV Land's programming tends to favor the later seasons of these shows and had concluded that whoever controls the programming at TV Land must be biased in favor of the later seasons of these shows. It always seems like when MASH wraps back to the early years, its airtime is reduced, and the same with Three's Company.

Up until last week, TV Land was airing one hour of Three's Company and TWO hours of MASH late at night. Three's Company had moved into the Mr. Furley episodes and last week MASH wrapped back to the beginning, so I jokingly said to myself that it must be time for TV Land to expand Three's Company to two hours and reduce MASH to one hour. I thought I was just being paranoid, but lo and behold, it really actually happened this week! Three's Company has been expanded to two hours and MASH has been reduced to one hour. Plus, TV Land found a way to reduce the Sunday evening MASH block by airing a Hot in Cleveland special. They always seem to trot out the specials on Sunday evenings when MASH is in the early seasons.

Also, I don't understand why Sanford and Son and Bonanza get such huge blocks of airtime. I guess it's cheaper for TV Land to run one show for three or four hours than to have to pay for a few more classic shows that could run in some of those slots. This channel has really gone downhill.

Hallmark Channel didn't expand and contract the MASH airtime exactly when MASH was in the later and earlier seasons, respectively. They did change the air times a lot but the changes didn't seem to coincide with the switches between Henry/Trapper/Frank and Potter/BJ/Charles. It didn't seem like whoever controls programming at Hallmark was changing the programming just to suit their own personal preferences of some seasons over others.

I used to think it was my imagination that TV Land was biased against certain seasons of these shows, but I'm not so sure it is just my imagination anymore. I don't think whoever controls TV Land's programming should be allowed to have their personal biases to affect programming at the viewers' expense, but it sure looks like they really do. It's just another example of why this channel is unreliable and inconsistent in providing classic television to viewers.

Robbie

clj2 · 12-14-2010, 05:41 PM

Those aren't the only shows. When TV Land was still showing Leave It to Beaver back in April?, they wouldn't show the latter episodes unless it was on Friday mornings before they aired an episode of Gunsmoke. I have no idea why, they used to not do it. As we all know, it has been on hiatus since and will likely not come back.

They seem biased towards the color episodes of Andy Griffith as well. When they run the episodes on the weekends, they seem to favor these and when they show black and white ones, they seem like the SAME 40-50 episodes. I have not seen episodes such as "Barney Fife, Realtor" and "The Jinx" in ages, yet they show episodes like "High Noon in Mayberry" all the time. It makes no sense. I just watch it on WYFF-4 now.

I absolutely believe your opinion (although I don't watch Three's Company and M*A*S*H on there, so I haven't seen it myself). TV Land has gotten worse and worse when it comes to classic TV and that is unlikely to change. Antenna TV and MeTV will change the way classic TV is watched by die-hard fans when they become widely available, IMO, and TV Land's classic TV model will nolonger be needed.

LUNCH · 12-14-2010, 06:29 PM

There's no rhyme or reason for what TVLand does anymore.I would not even be surprised if they did not have a programming department anymore.They already have lost so many steady viewers. Anyhow I basically agree with clj2---I think once channels like Antenna-TV and ME-TV become widely available hardly anyone will even be talking about TVLand.

ekkostar · 12-20-2010, 05:54 PM

They've been doing this for a while. TV Land only seems to show the episodes of The Nanny from after Fran and Max get engaged. I'm getting sick of seeing those episodes because they are some of the worst in the series. It reminds me of when TVL only ran seasons 7-9 of Night Court near the end of the channel run.

12-13-2010, 04:47 PM	#1
RobbieG Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 24, 2007 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 129	TV Land: Biased Against Early Season of Three's Company and MASH? As a viewer who likes the earlier seasons of Three's Company (love the Ropers more than Mr. Furley, despite how great I think Don Knotts is) and MASH (love Henry, Trapper, and Frank more than their replacements, and like the humor more when Larry Gelbart and Laurence Marks were more directly involved in writing the episodes), I have long noticed that TV Land's programming tends to favor the later seasons of these shows and had concluded that whoever controls the programming at TV Land must be biased in favor of the later seasons of these shows. It always seems like when MASH wraps back to the early years, its airtime is reduced, and the same with Three's Company. Up until last week, TV Land was airing one hour of Three's Company and TWO hours of MASH late at night. Three's Company had moved into the Mr. Furley episodes and last week MASH wrapped back to the beginning, so I jokingly said to myself that it must be time for TV Land to expand Three's Company to two hours and reduce MASH to one hour. I thought I was just being paranoid, but lo and behold, it really actually happened this week! Three's Company has been expanded to two hours and MASH has been reduced to one hour. Plus, TV Land found a way to reduce the Sunday evening MASH block by airing a Hot in Cleveland special. They always seem to trot out the specials on Sunday evenings when MASH is in the early seasons. Also, I don't understand why Sanford and Son and Bonanza get such huge blocks of airtime. I guess it's cheaper for TV Land to run one show for three or four hours than to have to pay for a few more classic shows that could run in some of those slots. This channel has really gone downhill. Hallmark Channel didn't expand and contract the MASH airtime exactly when MASH was in the later and earlier seasons, respectively. They did change the air times a lot but the changes didn't seem to coincide with the switches between Henry/Trapper/Frank and Potter/BJ/Charles. It didn't seem like whoever controls programming at Hallmark was changing the programming just to suit their own personal preferences of some seasons over others. I used to think it was my imagination that TV Land was biased against certain seasons of these shows, but I'm not so sure it is just my imagination anymore. I don't think whoever controls TV Land's programming should be allowed to have their personal biases to affect programming at the viewers' expense, but it sure looks like they really do. It's just another example of why this channel is unreliable and inconsistent in providing classic television to viewers. Robbie

12-14-2010, 05:41 PM	#2
clj2 Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 16, 2005 Location: SC Posts: 3,501	Those aren't the only shows. When TV Land was still showing Leave It to Beaver back in April?, they wouldn't show the latter episodes unless it was on Friday mornings before they aired an episode of Gunsmoke. I have no idea why, they used to not do it. As we all know, it has been on hiatus since and will likely not come back. They seem biased towards the color episodes of Andy Griffith as well. When they run the episodes on the weekends, they seem to favor these and when they show black and white ones, they seem like the SAME 40-50 episodes. I have not seen episodes such as "Barney Fife, Realtor" and "The Jinx" in ages, yet they show episodes like "High Noon in Mayberry" all the time. It makes no sense. I just watch it on WYFF-4 now. I absolutely believe your opinion (although I don't watch Three's Company and MAS*H on there, so I haven't seen it myself). TV Land has gotten worse and worse when it comes to classic TV and that is unlikely to change. Antenna TV and MeTV will change the way classic TV is watched by die-hard fans when they become widely available, IMO, and TV Land's classic TV model will nolonger be needed.
	__________________ -Chris

12-20-2010, 05:54 PM	#4
ekkostar Coffee, Tea & Larroquette! Senior Member Join Date: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 1,077	They've been doing this for a while. TV Land only seems to show the episodes of The Nanny from after Fran and Max get engaged. I'm getting sick of seeing those episodes because they are some of the worst in the series. It reminds me of when TVL only ran seasons 7-9 of Night Court near the end of the channel run.
	__________________ "All my sitcoms had an audience, with four or five cameras, so working this way has always been appealing to me." - John Larroquette A living legend, five Emmys and a Tony award! Your favorites could never...

12-14-2010, 06:29 PM	#3
LUNCH Member Senior Member Join Date: Oct 23, 2010 Location: New York State Posts: 1,304	There's no rhyme or reason for what TVLand does anymore.I would not even be surprised if they did not have a programming department anymore.They already have lost so many steady viewers. Anyhow I basically agree with clj2---I think once channels like Antenna-TV and ME-TV become widely available hardly anyone will even be talking about TVLand.