Bye, bye Donna - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

stevea · 02-14-2018, 06:09 PM

As of March 5, Donna Reed is being replaced on Me TV by Night Gallery.

(Hello, Donna, on decades, same date, 11 am to noon).

Hazel Anyday · 02-14-2018, 10:51 PM

I'm still crying that they took off Highway Patrol without even showing one cycle of the series, then they took off Petticoat Junction weekdays and biggest horror of all they added Fats of Life!! One outrage after another from formerly great Me TV. Next step is for them to go down the horrible waste channel now road that TV Land went, when they start showing Roseanne, we'll know it's all over for a once great classic TV channel.

Thanks goodness my tears are only make believe

as I record these shows when they're on because I know full well from experience over and over that these great shows never ever last long on these always temporary classic TV channels. If you have it recorded, you'll have it forever. Thank Gosh for DVD recorders.

And this

to all these so-called classic channels that always start out great but after a couple years turn into trash heaps filled with one horrible new show after another. Hello TV Land, looks like Me TV is going the same disastrous way.

stevea · 02-15-2018, 06:22 PM

I agree...the real problem with dropping Donna, is Sony may have finished remastering seasons 6 and 7, and we only got to record season 8 on the last go-around. Hardly anyone gets Decades, to find out. It would be great if Sony sold the rights to MPI, so this series could be finished on DVD.

Well, at least we got to copy season 8, edited though they are.

Svenfan1234 · 02-15-2018, 06:34 PM

Roseanne airs on Laff, so even if they wanted to air it (which they don't), it can't air on MeTV.

Hazel Anyday · 02-15-2018, 07:11 PM

Thank goodness for small blessings (I refer to Laff's poor judgement on programs) Laff's loss by running Rosanna Dan is Me TV's gain.

Unfortunately though I do get the totally unwatched and useless Laff channel But I don't get the only wished for Decades channel.

Seems there are loads of useless and unwatchable channels on digital airwaves today, Bounce, Horrible, all the many many many spanish channels, Useless, Justice? Unwatchable, UBD or whatever they call themselves completely baffling and like broadcasts from a foreign universe, totally useless, well, unfortunately I do get all these horrible and totally unwatched channels, while Decades remains evasive.

biffbronson · 02-23-2018, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

I'm still crying that they took off Highway Patrol without even showing one cycle of the series, then they took off Petticoat Junction weekdays and biggest horror of all they added Fats of Life!!

It's a little ironic that you want Decades but dislike Facts of Life, as Decades just did their weekend binge (marathon) on Facts...!

Decades did air a few Petticoat Junctions this past week, but mostly they were easy-to-get eps like "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik" with Dennis Hopper. Highway Patrol has been on THIS-TV in the past, and they ran it thoroughly (watch for Barbara Eden -- woo-woo!).

It looks as though Decades may be giving Donna Reed a much more prominent treatment than MeTV did lately, but it's unusual for them to run a half-hour sitcom as part of their everyday lineup. One of the few scripted shows they're now airing weekdays is the hour-long western Lancer (Andrew Duggan), and James Stacy appeared in both that and Donna Reed (guest on the latter). The other scripted series they air weekdays is Westinghouse Studio One (good Hopper ep recently).

Decades' regular stuff is mainly Laugh-In, Ed Sullivan, and Dick Cavett. And all things JFK. Sitcoms are oftentimes just on briefly as part of the "Lost TV," weekday afternoons.

Madame X · 03-01-2018, 01:34 PM

stevea-

It's a real drag to be at the mercy of broadcasting channels. They determine what we can see then they pull the rug out.

I am using an Amazon Fire Stick which is limited also but they are providing the first five seasons of Donna Reed which I watch over and over. The also provide Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, Family Affair, Father Knows Best, and some I Love Lucy and Roseanne, etc.

The thing that gets me is often I find a good show only to realize I have to pay for each episode. I refuse.

I do have most of my favorites on DVDs just in case. Still waiting for the rest of Donna Reed, though!

Cable, satellite, or wireless, we really have no control.

Hazel Anyday · 03-01-2018, 07:34 PM

As I've preached for years now, I never rely on TV stations good judgement, taste, or reliability to make sure I get to see the shows I want to watch. I know from experience that a great show that's on today WILL be gone tomorrow and possibly will be gone for decades (no implied endorsement of that channel either). Take My 3 Sons, gone ever since Nick at Nite and TV Land let it drop and before that the b/w episodes were gone for 30 years! Finally after a decade ME TV picked up the color episodes, then they dropped it for a couple years more before they recently started the (this time b/w episodes too) run again. We still are in doubt as to whether Me will get to seasons 11 & 12.

ANYWAY, the point of all that is to show once again, unless you record these shows when they are on for only the brief time they are on YOU WILL NOT see them again for possibly decades. Record them and you'll have them forever and WHENEVER you want. Thanks to recordings I was able to watch amongst others Hazel & My 3 Sons for the many many years they vanished from TV screens.

Now here's the REALLY REALLY bad news, DVD recorders are no longer for sale in the U.S., you have to go to Japan to buy a new DVD recorder, there they still have their freedom of choice. It's been taken from us by the TV and movie studios here who want YOU to keep paying subscription fees for the rest of your life to see your favorite shows. With a DVD recording or a tape recording it's yours forever. Now the problem is for newbies, where to find a DVD or a VHS recorder anymore. A round trip to Japan may be your only answer. This is what's really tragic, studios have been successful in the U.S. at taking away our rights to record shows.

Hazel Anyday · 03-01-2018, 07:40 PM

By the way, I know THIS TV ran Highway Patrol (and it was always out of order, by the way) and I recorded it from them, but they also skipped episodes, as did ME TV, for that matter. I was just lamenting that ME TV dropped this program even before they showed just one cycle. And by the way, to once again prove my last point, THIS TV is no longer even available to me in my area. Both channels that used to carry it in this area are now no longer carrying it, one channel is just blank and the other channel is carrying some useless crap channel that I'll never watch. So not only can you not rely on TV channel to always carry your favorite show but even your TV channel may vanish too.

biffbronson · 03-03-2018, 10:36 AM

THIS is not currently airing too many older classic TV series, though I'll still occasionally catch Mister Ed on there as one of very few sitcoms.

Here are the retro networks I currently catch:

Antenna
MeTV
Laff
THIS-TV
Grit
Decades
Ion
Heroes & Icons
Light TV (includes Green Acres)
Movies!

I also catch the flagship World Harvest channel, 46 WHME.

I liked the unpredictability of Decades, but there've been lots of disappointing days as well. The Weekend Binges are fun, but they too can be disappointments. Their new weekday lineup will be a lot more stable than what they've been doing over the past few years.

stevea · 03-03-2018, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

By the way, I know THIS TV ran Highway Patrol (and it was always out of order, by the way) and I recorded it from them, but they also skipped episodes, as did ME TV, for that matter. I was just lamenting that ME TV dropped this program even before they showed just one cycle. And by the way, to once again prove my last point, THIS TV is no longer even available to me in my area. Both channels that used to carry it in this area are now no longer carrying it, one channel is just blank and the other channel is carrying some useless crap channel that I'll never watch. So not only can you not rely on TV channel to always carry your favorite show but even your TV channel may vanish too.

Highway Patrol is on DVD--I checked Amazon after reading on Wikipedia that all 156 episodes are available on DVD. The DVD I looked at, season 4, was really cheap. One of the verified purchase comments claimed the quality is good.

I'm sometimes leery of the old B/W shows on DVD. My commercial Addams Family has bad transfers, and the first season of Father Knows Best were mostly edited (and badly edited) episodes.

Hazel Anyday · 03-03-2018, 11:16 PM

I have the commercial Addams Family too but the picture quality itself I thought was fine. What I didn't like about the commercial release is the old double sided disc routine.

storrs19 · 03-07-2018, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevea

Highway Patrol is on DVD--I checked Amazon after reading on Wikipedia that all 156 episodes are available on DVD. The DVD I looked at, season 4, was really cheap. One of the verified purchase comments claimed the quality is good.

I'm sometimes leery of the old B/W shows on DVD. My commercial Addams Family has bad transfers, and the first season of Father Knows Best were mostly edited (and badly edited) episodes.

I can vouch for seasons 2, 3 and 4 of
highway patrol on dvd. I have them and they’re excellent transfers and unedited complete with Broderick Crawford’s public service announcements at the end of each episode. Well worth picking up. I got mine at Target a few year ago for around $12 per season 😃

stevea · 03-07-2018, 08:50 AM

Season 4 was even cheaper on Amazon. This TV used to show HP (and for that matter Sea Hunt) complete with the PSA at the end, but as HA said above, they skipped episodes and showed them out of order.

TV Guy · 03-07-2018, 01:16 PM

Hazel is right about recording things that are unavailable on DVD. My Three Sons B&W episodes were available for the first time in years. Who knows if MeTV will keep showing it long enough to get around to those episodes again. Hopefully, but in fairness, the show has been on and off the schedule for years.

My advice on recording: get a TiVO DVR. You can then extract the shows and save them to a hard drive. And you don’t have to keep them in TiVo’s proprietary format. Once you have extracted the recordings, there are tools to allow you to convert to MPG and other standard formats.

I would love it if Decades showed season 6 and 7 of Donna, but I’m doubtful. I’ll feel fortunate if they show season 8, as MeTV finally did during its last cycle of the show.

02-14-2018, 06:09 PM	#1
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,163	Bye, bye Donna As of March 5, Donna Reed is being replaced on Me TV by Night Gallery. (Hello, Donna, on decades, same date, 11 am to noon).

02-14-2018, 10:51 PM	#2
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,131	Fats of Life now, can Roseanne be far away? I'm still crying that they took off Highway Patrol without even showing one cycle of the series, then they took off Petticoat Junction weekdays and biggest horror of all they added Fats of Life!! One outrage after another from formerly great Me TV. Next step is for them to go down the horrible waste channel now road that TV Land went, when they start showing Roseanne, we'll know it's all over for a once great classic TV channel. Thanks goodness my tears are only make believe as I record these shows when they're on because I know full well from experience over and over that these great shows never ever last long on these always temporary classic TV channels. If you have it recorded, you'll have it forever. Thank Gosh for DVD recorders. And this to all these so-called classic channels that always start out great but after a couple years turn into trash heaps filled with one horrible new show after another. Hello TV Land, looks like Me TV is going the same disastrous way.
	__________________ Haaazeelll!!

02-15-2018, 06:34 PM	#4
Svenfan1234 Member Forum Star Join Date: Dec 12, 2015 Posts: 11,200	Roseanne airs on Laff, so even if they wanted to air it (which they don't), it can't air on MeTV.
	__________________ [

02-15-2018, 07:11 PM	#5
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,131	So Much Trash, So Few Jewels Thank goodness for small blessings (I refer to Laff's poor judgement on programs) Laff's loss by running Rosanna Dan is Me TV's gain. Unfortunately though I do get the totally unwatched and useless Laff channel But I don't get the only wished for Decades channel. Seems there are loads of useless and unwatchable channels on digital airwaves today, Bounce, Horrible, all the many many many spanish channels, Useless, Justice? Unwatchable, UBD or whatever they call themselves completely baffling and like broadcasts from a foreign universe, totally useless, well, unfortunately I do get all these horrible and totally unwatched channels, while Decades remains evasive.

03-01-2018, 07:34 PM	#8
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,131	I's getting tired of saying it, but here goes As I've preached for years now, I never rely on TV stations good judgement, taste, or reliability to make sure I get to see the shows I want to watch. I know from experience that a great show that's on today WILL be gone tomorrow and possibly will be gone for decades (no implied endorsement of that channel either). Take My 3 Sons, gone ever since Nick at Nite and TV Land let it drop and before that the b/w episodes were gone for 30 years! Finally after a decade ME TV picked up the color episodes, then they dropped it for a couple years more before they recently started the (this time b/w episodes too) run again. We still are in doubt as to whether Me will get to seasons 11 & 12. ANYWAY, the point of all that is to show once again, unless you record these shows when they are on for only the brief time they are on YOU WILL NOT see them again for possibly decades. Record them and you'll have them forever and WHENEVER you want. Thanks to recordings I was able to watch amongst others Hazel & My 3 Sons for the many many years they vanished from TV screens. Now here's the REALLY REALLY bad news, DVD recorders are no longer for sale in the U.S., you have to go to Japan to buy a new DVD recorder, there they still have their freedom of choice. It's been taken from us by the TV and movie studios here who want YOU to keep paying subscription fees for the rest of your life to see your favorite shows. With a DVD recording or a tape recording it's yours forever. Now the problem is for newbies, where to find a DVD or a VHS recorder anymore. A round trip to Japan may be your only answer. This is what's really tragic, studios have been successful in the U.S. at taking away our rights to record shows.

02-15-2018, 06:22 PM	#3
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,163	I agree...the real problem with dropping Donna, is Sony may have finished remastering seasons 6 and 7, and we only got to record season 8 on the last go-around. Hardly anyone gets Decades, to find out. It would be great if Sony sold the rights to MPI, so this series could be finished on DVD. Well, at least we got to copy season 8, edited though they are.

03-01-2018, 01:34 PM	#7
Madame X Member Senior Member Join Date: Sep 15, 2006 Location: Oregon Posts: 1,831	stevea- It's a real drag to be at the mercy of broadcasting channels. They determine what we can see then they pull the rug out. I am using an Amazon Fire Stick which is limited also but they are providing the first five seasons of Donna Reed which I watch over and over. The also provide Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith, Dick Van Dyke, Family Affair, Father Knows Best, and some I Love Lucy and Roseanne, etc. The thing that gets me is often I find a good show only to realize I have to pay for each episode. I refuse. I do have most of my favorites on DVDs just in case. Still waiting for the rest of Donna Reed, though! Cable, satellite, or wireless, we really have no control.

03-01-2018, 07:40 PM	#9
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,131	By the way, I know THIS TV ran Highway Patrol (and it was always out of order, by the way) and I recorded it from them, but they also skipped episodes, as did ME TV, for that matter. I was just lamenting that ME TV dropped this program even before they showed just one cycle. And by the way, to once again prove my last point, THIS TV is no longer even available to me in my area. Both channels that used to carry it in this area are now no longer carrying it, one channel is just blank and the other channel is carrying some useless crap channel that I'll never watch. So not only can you not rely on TV channel to always carry your favorite show but even your TV channel may vanish too.

03-03-2018, 10:36 AM	#10
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,266	THIS is not currently airing too many older classic TV series, though I'll still occasionally catch Mister Ed on there as one of very few sitcoms. Here are the retro networks I currently catch: Antenna MeTV Laff THIS-TV Grit Decades Ion Heroes & Icons Light TV (includes Green Acres) Movies! I also catch the flagship World Harvest channel, 46 WHME. I liked the unpredictability of Decades, but there've been lots of disappointing days as well. The Weekend Binges are fun, but they too can be disappointments. Their new weekday lineup will be a lot more stable than what they've been doing over the past few years.

03-03-2018, 11:16 PM	#12
Hazel Anyday Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 12, 2002 Posts: 2,131	I have the commercial Addams Family too but the picture quality itself I thought was fine. What I didn't like about the commercial release is the old double sided disc routine.

03-07-2018, 08:50 AM	#14
stevea 22 Years On Sitcoms Moderator Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 13, 2003 Location: Indy Posts: 44,163	Season 4 was even cheaper on Amazon. This TV used to show HP (and for that matter Sea Hunt) complete with the PSA at the end, but as HA said above, they skipped episodes and showed them out of order.

03-07-2018, 01:16 PM	#15
TV Guy Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jun 25, 2001 Location: Boston, MA, USA Posts: 3,419	Hazel is right about recording things that are unavailable on DVD. My Three Sons B&W episodes were available for the first time in years. Who knows if MeTV will keep showing it long enough to get around to those episodes again. Hopefully, but in fairness, the show has been on and off the schedule for years. My advice on recording: get a TiVO DVR. You can then extract the shows and save them to a hard drive. And you don’t have to keep them in TiVo’s proprietary format. Once you have extracted the recordings, there are tools to allow you to convert to MPG and other standard formats. I would love it if Decades showed season 6 and 7 of Donna, but I’m doubtful. I’ll feel fortunate if they show season 8, as MeTV finally did during its last cycle of the show.