MeTV Network broadcasts the black and white episodes

[odaatfan24]

On Tuesday July 12, 2011 the MeTV Network started to broadcast the black and white episodes of Petticoat Junction.

[FanofRetroTV]

Sounds good cant wait to watch.

[RWCTV]

Originally Posted by odaatfan24

On Tuesday July 12, 2011 the MeTV Network started to broadcast the black and white episodes of Petticoat Junction.

I noticed that this morning. That explains why there are no specific episode listings for it on zap2it.com or the satellite search grid.

In fact, this show has gone through one complete rotation this year, and last year when it was carried, was stopped before it could complete one rotation. Both times, they began with season three.

This is a real treat considering that the black and white episodes are never included in any syndication package. And METV airs the entire episodes too. They aren't edited for syndication.

[66WASTOPS]

Originally Posted by RWCTV

I noticed that this morning. That explains why there are no specific episode listings for it on zap2it.com or the satellite search grid.

In fact, this show has gone through one complete rotation this year, and last year when it was carried, was stopped before it could complete one rotation. Both times, they began with season three.

This is a real treat considering that the black and white episodes are never included in any syndication package. And METV airs the entire episodes too. They aren't edited for syndication.

I noticed yesterday July 21st they aired the 1st color eps.Have they given up on the black and hite eps.already?Would it be a legal hassle or metv getting an incomplete pkg. of eps.?

[biffbronson]

It's a shame that they aired so few of the black & white episodes before moving on to Season 3. In fact there are some public domain Season 1 episodes (in addition to the first episode) that would seem to have been no-brainers to show.

[Jude The Obscure]

Since the color episodes are still a package until themselves, do you think Me-TV simply aired the 20 public domain black and white episodes at the time?

[liane49]

Originally Posted by 66WASTOPS

I noticed yesterday July 21st they aired the 1st color eps.Have they given up on the black and hite eps.already?Would it be a legal hassle or metv getting an incomplete pkg. of eps.?

I'm watching the shows today and they don't show them.

[RWCTV]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

It's a shame that they aired so few of the black & white episodes before moving on to Season 3. In fact there are some public domain Season 1 episodes (in addition to the first episode) that would seem to have been no-brainers to show.

I think that one of the reasons why they don't air the black and white seasons is because of 2 main reasons.

1. Running Time-- Some of the black and white episodes ran over 25 minutes. Some were a little over 26 minutes. That's bad if you want to air more commercials. especially in this day and age where each and every commercial slot is good money. Also, I'm sure that the company would not go back into the vault, and re-edit the masters to allow for more commercial time, unless the program was so popular and timeless, that it would generate a good profit to follow through on such a project. Viacom did this with "I Love Lucy," and those edited reruns ran for decades. In fact, they managed to shave them down from 25 minutes to 21 minutes.

2. The Commercials -- When you watch the end credits, you will notice that the sponsored product for the week runs with them. For example, if Dove soap sponsored the program during the week of the original airing, then they would show a graphic of a Dove soap bar in the corner of the screen along with the end credits. Today, to run that would be free advertising for the very product that was being sponsored back then. In other words, there may be legalities involved. And so, in order to get rid of that problem entirely, they would have to go back into some sort of production, access the masters, re-dub them, and remove the graphic digitally, or re-do the credits entirely (which would take a lot of work). And so I'm sure that would cost a lot for each individual episode, just to throw in the already existing syndication package.

At any rate, I'm just happy that they put the show on DVD.

[liane49]

Originally Posted by RWCTV

I noticed that this morning. That explains why there are no specific episode listings for it on zap2it.com or the satellite search grid.

In fact, this show has gone through one complete rotation this year, and last year when it was carried, was stopped before it could complete one rotation. Both times, they began with season three.

This is a real treat considering that the black and white episodes are never included in any syndication package. And METV airs the entire episodes too. They aren't edited for syndication.

The only ones we get on METV are the ones from season 3 when they started to be in color. I'd like to see the shows from the beginning.

[tlc38tlc38]

Originally Posted by liane49

The only ones we get on METV are the ones from season 3 when they started to be in color. I'd like to see the shows from the beginning.

Seasons 1 & 2 are on DVD. I'm not able to get Me TV so seeing season 3 would be a treat!

[RWCTV]

Originally Posted by liane49

The only ones we get on METV are the ones from season 3 when they started to be in color. I'd like to see the shows from the beginning.

You're right, liane49. The ones we get on METV normally start from season three and run for the rest of the series. Then, after the series runs, then they re-begin another rotation starting at season three again. This is also how it worked when TVLAND aired the show as well.

But in the summer of 2011, without any notice or expectation, after finishing one of their rotations of the show, ME-TV began airing some of the rare black and white episodes before airing season 3 episodes. That was so out of the ordinary, so unexpected, and yet such a treat. And the kicker is that it only happened that one time, and hasn't (to this date anyway) happened since.

[Ronny G]

I guess I'm in the minority. I'm happy that Me-TV only shows the color episodes because the b&w years are already available on DVD AND at an affordable price --so if anyone really wants to see them they can get the DVDs. They are uncut and commercial free and the picture is better and sharper than broadcast on Me-tv. Me-TV also uses time compression on the shows so everything is sped up, and some stations have an annoying logo in the corner. Even if Me-TV does start to show the b&w episodes, I would rather watch my official DVDs.
You also get to own them and watch them over and over whenever you want, and not have to rely on Me-TV to air them.
If you can afford it, I suggest everyone pick up the DVDs now before they go out of print--then they really will be rare and expensive!

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by RWCTV

I think that one of the reasons why they don't air the black and white seasons is because of 2 main reasons.

1. Running Time-- Some of the black and white episodes ran over 25 minutes. Some were a little over 26 minutes. That's bad if you want to air more commercials. especially in this day and age where each and every commercial slot is good money. Also, I'm sure that the company would not go back into the vault, and re-edit the masters to allow for more commercial time, unless the program was so popular and timeless, that it would generate a good profit to follow through on such a project. Viacom did this with "I Love Lucy," and those edited reruns ran for decades. In fact, they managed to shave them down from 25 minutes to 21 minutes.

We live in a digital age. It's not a problem to shorten these eps, even though we all hate that. Me-TV currently airs shows like Make Room for Daddy, The Rebel, Sgt. Preston, The Lone Ranger, and The Donna Reed Show -- all of which began before PJ. They do any number of things to trim time -- look for example at the time-sped Donna Reed opening. If they wanted to air the public domain PJs, they could and would be handled similarly.

Originally Posted by RWCTV

2. The Commercials -- When you watch the end credits, you will notice that the sponsored product for the week runs with them. For example, if Dove soap sponsored the program during the week of the original airing, then they would show a graphic of a Dove soap bar in the corner of the screen along with the end credits. Today, to run that would be free advertising for the very product that was being sponsored back then. In other words, there may be legalities involved. And so, in order to get rid of that problem entirely, they would have to go back into some sort of production, access the masters, re-dub them, and remove the graphic digitally, or re-do the credits entirely (which would take a lot of work). And so I'm sure that would cost a lot for each individual episode, just to throw in the already existing syndication package.

Once again we're in the digital age of editing. These product placements can be blurred very easily, or covered over with the Me-TV logo. If you've seen any commercials produced by Me-TV, they've gone back and edited their logo into many scenes. They've also done more complex things, like having scenes from other series run through McGarrett's windshield on a Hawaii Five-O scene for a spot.

Furthermore, lately Donna Reed eps have been run with the original Franco-American/Campbells products in their original placement in the closing credits...! Same for The Rebel ("Blue Cheer" boxes). There's absolutely nothing to stop Me-TV from runnning any Public Domain eps.

[liane49]

Originally Posted by Ronny G

I guess I'm in the minority. I'm happy that Me-TV only shows the color episodes because the b&w years are already available on DVD AND at an affordable price --so if anyone really wants to see them they can get the DVDs. They are uncut and commercial free and the picture is better and sharper than broadcast on Me-tv. Me-TV also uses time compression on the shows so everything is sped up, and some stations have an annoying logo in the corner. Even if Me-TV does start to show the b&w episodes, I would rather watch my official DVDs.
You also get to own them and watch them over and over whenever you want, and not have to rely on Me-TV to air them.
If you can afford it, I suggest everyone pick up the DVDs now before they go out of print--then they really will be rare and expensive!

You can watch season 1 1nd 2 on youtube.