No. you're right. I haven't installed the app on my TV but the same thing happens on the Plex website. It's listed all right - you can even watch the trailer - but the episodes are unavailable.
I am referring to something even earlier than even this because it really was only 1-5. It may not have been CBS exclusively nationwide. The 1-8 you are reffering to is probably the same package that TNT had later on.
Same syndication package
Lorimar started repackaging seasons 1 - 8 in 1985/86 and the syndication runs on the local stations started from late 85/early 86. Not a great success so many stations dropped it quickly. Also see @knots4309 post about the Lorimar changes and the subsequent decision to stop the repackaging. Only 160 episodes (to the end of season 7) were made available to local stations and even TNT at the end of 1992 was only offered the same 160 episodes. In 1995 TNT finally managed to get all 344.
I've done my best cleaning up the copy I was given and I think it's probably as good as it gets and definitely the best I've come across. There is a bit of an awkward point at the 6-7 second mark where I had to edit together the audio from the standard season 8 opening with the flute version as unfortunately the first few seconds were cut off the recording. But, this is not far off the quality that people would have had on their TVs back in 1986.
I've done my best cleaning up the copy I was given and I think it's probably as good as it gets and definitely the best I've come across. There is a bit of an awkward point at the 6-7 second mark where I had to edit together the audio from the standard season 8 opening with the flute version as unfortunately the first few seconds were cut off the recording. But, this is not far off the quality that people would have had on their TVs back in 1986.
So without further ado... may I present the forbidden flute
Haha I agree! Which genius decided that this sounded good, especially after the amazing version of the theme in the preceding years will probably remain a mystery forever. The replacement just a few episodes in was better, but for me seasons 8 and 9 will always remain the worst. With season 10, while still slow and jazzy, the theme returned to something more powerful, although it never got back to the amazingness of the earlier seasons.
I'll add WJCL 22, Savannah, GA (ABC), which was my local station that aired the reruns. They had S1-7 (since Karen was left in the basement with the kidnapper when it started over) and I think they re-aired those reruns at least two times before they transitioned to something else. It aired at 4pm which was perfect to catch up on all the early seasons that I'd only casually seen if at all, since I was only nine years old when the show premiered. I can't recall exactly when they started airing the reruns, but I have a sense that it was Fall 1986.
Most "old-school' syndication deals were "free" to the stations that picked up a show. The syndicator would fill 3 of 4 commercial breaks with the ads they sold and got all the money for them. The 4th break was for the local station. So in a way, the syndicator was in full control of how many episodes would be shown and probably simply dictated that the stations which had completed a run before all of S7 was available had to start from the beginning or wait a few months and then start again.
They didn't run season 7 in 1986. Knots Landing first hit off network syndication markets in the fall of 1985 and the initial package only consisted of seasons 1 through 5. Seasons 6 and 7 were added in the fall of 1987. The syndication package was usually a couple of seasons behind the network season. In DFW, WFAA Channel 8 (ABC affiliate) ran Knots Landing weekdays at 3pm central after General Hospital. They later aired Knots in January of 1988 through August of 1988 at 11:35pm central after Nightline adding seasons 6 and 7.
Sorry about that, you are correct. The fall of 1991 TNT ran both Dallas and Knots to May 1992 for Knots and July of 1992 for Dallas.
Did it come back to TNT late 1992 again? I swear I was watching season 14 on Thursday nights and some season 1 & 2 episodes just before Christmas 1992 in the mornings when I was in California for a few months.
Dallas never aired again on TNT. Knots came back as part of TNT's Lunchbox TV in 1995 (might have started in 1994). TNN picked up Dallas in the fall of 1996. Maybe Christmas 1991?
It was definitely 1992 as it was the first time I came to the US. I had never seen the season 1/2 opening (season 3 was used in Germany and France) and also never seen season 14. I even used our camcorder to record both off the TV. I wish the tape was still around haha! I recorded the season 14 opening (totally shocked that there was no JVA) in a hotel in San Francisco and then after a lot of Highway 1, Santa Cruz and coastline footage, I recorded the season 2 opening in a hotel in Monterey. We were on a road trip from SF to San Diego and then back north to Napa.
Which makes perfect sense, and it is so bizarre that the syndicator(s) even have to make it a part of the agreement. Program directors at TV stations should know this is how it has to be aired in order to make sense for the viewer. I recall the sitcom Soap (which aired in a serialized format) got aired in reruns on Comedy Central briefly and they made little to no effort to air it sequentially, which hastened its cancellation/removal from the channel.
Friends on KSWB in the early 2000s was the worst I’ve ever seen. Two episodes at 6PM. One had Ross and Rachel on a break, the next had Rachel pregnant years later
From further perusal of 1991 TV listings, it appears the TNT repeats premiered September 16, 1991. I discovered shortly after and began recording each episode, beginning with "Civil Wives". In those days, unless you were carefully scanning TV Guide or happened to view a promo ad, the rebroadcasting of your favorite network shows could slip by without notice.
You can watch them here in Australia if you use a VPN - I've tried that and it works. But frankly the quality of the prints and the stretched aspect ratio is pretty unsatisfying.
Yep I found that out too. See my post 298 about France. Many later episodes don’t have the US title covered up or otherwise removed but instead the French title is put between the it and the copyright info… and those episodes have the same title font as the CBS Drama (and Austria) versions. Germany went down the route of completely replacing the title & copyright block but kept the original for guest stars etc.
