I bet myself a nickle you'd be commenting on this (I'll probably welsh on it, though).

Yep. 39 was a very common number of shows per season, for a solid show. I checked GUNSMOKE and HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL, in the 1950s. 39, regularly.

In the summer hiatus, you might get some repeats, or some summer try-out show, to fill the gap. Which would be about 13 weeks. and that was not uncommonly what would be produced. If such a show was successful, it might be picked up and made a new season regular. As noted, GH had 26 weeks. And a regular series was often 39. And a summer fill, 13.

Lots of 13 multiples in all that. Adds up to 52.

GKC

Originally they didn't have repeats because they didn't know how to record things...you got a new episode every week because they had to do it live because that was the only way they knew how to broadcast anything....I'm not sure when they finally figured out how to record things so that they could run them again later....

I remember that when Jackie Gleason first made it big and he negotiated his first big contract he insisted on ownership to all the reels of his shows, he knew that eventually the technology would be developed and the reels could be restored and the 're-run' market would be huge....and CBS just gave in because they thought he was nuts....and he lived off The Honeymooners residuals for the rest of his life....

You're talking early 50s, in the days of the kinoscope recordings, which could be reruns. The time delay from the New York shows required some form of rebroadcast (radio had similar problems), not live, and kinoscope was the answer. Video tape came in in 1956. But even before that, there was shows that recorded on 35mm film, not live. And were readily available for reruns. I LOVE LUCY was the pioneer. And thence other Desilu productions. BY the time THE HONEYMOONERS were a big enough hit, as sketches on the Gleason variety shows, to warrant a separate half hour show (39 of them), kinoscopes were on the way out, and Gleason used film.

I remember when the "lost" Honeymooners episodes were "found" in Gleason's closet) and released. These were not the 39 half hour shows, but those sketches from Gleason's variety shows.

"Address the ball...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvN8BNCdeN8


GKC

I have both seasons of Disney's 'Zorro' from the late 50s on DVD ..... part of their Disney Treasures line ..... they were also 39 episodes per season.

That was a standard season.

GKC

I guess you're right. I did the math. That's about half the year. I guess they showed new shows half the year and repeats the other half, right?

They sure don't do that much these days.

Yeah I know, but the thing is, the standard process before was that the reels would be erased and used for next week, which is why a lot of stuff from 'The Golden Age of Television' has been permanently lost, such as the 1954 World Series where Don Larsen pitched a perfect game, you would think that such a big event would be saved, but it wasn't, the tape was wiped immediately and recorded over, not one single video of Don Larsen's perfect game is known to exist.....what Gleason did is insist that instead of the tapes being wiped that they be given to him, this made producing his shows more expensive, but CBS gave in because they figured the tapes were worthless....and then in the 80's when the technology was ready to restore them he released them....and made millions from them, money he badly needed because he was a profligate spender and was constantly running out of money.

But shortly after I posted that it occured to me that of course they must have known how to tape things...movies had been around for decades...they just couldn't do it cheaply, shows were produced on a shoestring budget and live broadcasts were easier....I guess it just took a while for them to figure out a way to make taped broadcasts cost effective, and I do know that the sitcoms produced in the latter half of the 1950's, like Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace and Make Room For Daddy were obviously taped rather than broadcast live.....

Now I'm curious as to the whole history of the process....gee thanks....

Years ago a hyalf hour show would go for 26-27 minutes plus commercials. Now they go 21-22 minutes. When they run reruns of old shows they cut a lot out, often just at random, and very often the show does not make any sense. And you find yourself disappointed because the show doesn't seem as good as you remember.

Now there is an interesting factoid. I had not thought of that

Of course I am. Old time radio (TV to a lesser extent) is a hobby of mine.

Some repeats, possibly, during the summer break. But more likely, the summer hiatus was a chance to try out new ideas, or old ones that hadn't made it on screen yet. Summer replacements shows might make it onto the schedule for the start of the new season, which was a more defined and significant thing, in those days when the networks were all there was.

GKC

You're welcome.

And yes, a lot of what would have been available, from the Golden Age of TV, was lost, like that. Same thing happened to radio; who needs this junk. Most famous case I know of was my favorite comedy show, Vic and Sade. which had about 90% of its available shows destroyed as junk. Sure wish I could hear some of those. And those shows that were originally shot on 35mm film, like THE HONEYMOONERS, at the Dumont network, were not erased, obviously. Destroyed or lost maybe, but erasing was the fate of some of the first taped shows.

And the TV shows that only exist on kinoscope are poor quality, since they are tapes of films of a cathode ray tube image. But some form of reproduction was essential, else all shows would have to be broadcast live, twice, for both coasts. Radio often did just that. But the TV productions were more expensive.

Yes, a lot of the sitcoms were on tape early. Again, Desilu led the way, filming live with a 3 camera setup, for reverse shots and such.

All my books on this stuff are packed, my details from memory are few and some come from googling (disclosure).

GKC

The problem possibly exists if you are watching them broadcast, as Green Hornet was, recently.

Buying them, on dvd/vhs, only rarely a problem.

GKC

I can remember when soap operas were live. Barely...my mom was an addict for a while.

I can remember that too.

And when soap operas were on radio.

The last two major network continuing radio shows were (IIRC) JOHNNY DOLLAR, and a soap opera, MA PERKINS.

GKC

Dune is like science fiction's Lord of the Rings.

Only stultifyingly boring.

Else, an apt comparison.

GKC

I can't believe this thread has stayed at the top of this sub-forum for so long. Of all the threads I have started, THIS one is the one staying at the top. :). What a trip.

Speaking of old stuff - and going off topic a bit - look what I accidentally stumbled upon yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqdTBDkU ... r_embedded

A lot of people think the same about The Lord of the Rings...back in 2004 I gave a friend of mine a hardcover copy of the LOTR because I got annoyed by him constantly asking me questions about things he didn't understand about the movie, the none too subtle message being 'stop asking and find out for yourself' 7 years later he still hasn't finished reading it...I asked him why and he said that.he found it boring. And the first time I read it it took me nearly a year to finish it....it is easy to forget that it can be a very difficult read the first time through.

I endured Dune. I just could not see the appeal and have never picked it up again.. but I could NOT put down LoTR the first time I read it...and I was only 12 years old at the time.

Allen Reed was the voice of Fred, Mel Blanc was Barney. And Reed had been the radio voice of Shrevy, the cab driver, in the Shadow radio show. Sort of returning the thread to the OP theme.

GKC