 This is the SF Productions podcast network It's time for the FTPCB summer playhouse From the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy and I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my way free comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast network dot com So we're now in the middle of summer. Yes, and the TV broadcast networks have brought out their summer series There are like mini series or ongoing that reappear each summer along with more reality and game shows Yes, some of the shows that are out there ABC has the whispers this spooky thing Astronaut wives club. Yes. We have mistresses coming back Rookie blue coming back Celebrity family feud and battle bots coming back for a second time from the 90s. Yes CBS has the briefcase under the dome Extent both coming back zoo and the perennial big brother although extant has been changed quite a bit apparently Yeah, not that we're gonna watch the second season of that NBC has the island Aquarius. Welcome to Sweden. Amazingly coming back for a second season and I can do that We have on Fox wayward pines and boom Not quite so much summer programming on Fox. No, so the broadcast networks traditionally closed up shop on Memorial Day Returning on Labor Day essentially putting out a sign saying gone fishing. We're done They really just showed reruns and in a way that was kind of nice for some viewers back then You know 20 years ago. We didn't have these serialized stories So if you missed a show you could catch it in reruns during the summer and you didn't have a thousand different ways to Get it. Yeah, you if you missed it when it was on you might have caught it in a rerun And that was the only way you're ever gonna ever gonna see it, right and They kind of gave up during the summer because they had no competition There was kind of a gentleman's agreement among the networks of okay. Nobody put on anything new But people didn't really watch as much television during summer So it took them years to realize that cable and now the internet was eating their lunch It was now competition. Yeah, because what they've now found is a great deal The audience goes to cable in the summer and then a lot some of them never come back to the traditional broadcast So However, there are some Examples of what were then called summer replacement shows Early television use the summer to burn off failed TV pilots So it was not good enough to bring up in our schedule, but it's good enough for the summer In programs such as CBS summer Playhouse and vacation Playhouse, but don't you wish they did that now sometimes? I really wish they did and in fact some networks have actually tried some cable networks have tried to kind of bring this up There was I don't know if trio is still around. I think it's gone. They probably rebranded 15 times But at one point they were taking failed TV pilots and showing them as an ongoing concept Then in the late 60s in the early 70s There were a number of variety shows that didn't translate well into reruns or the stars didn't allow Reruns in their contracts right said no, you're not showing this a second time So the networks ended up with a lot of slots to fill because there used to be a lot of variety shows So summer variety replacements were created These were designed to run during what was then a very short period between seasons keep in mind in the early days of television Some shows ran 40 weeks of new episodes a year. Yeah And then it got whittled down to about 26 in the 60s and that continued up and through about the 80s And now you're lucky to get 20 So the idea was to get a show that was either a good But not too good Because you didn't want to annoy the regular shows hosts the stars that had their regular fall shows or Be good enough to become its own regular series kind of a stepping stone, right? Dean Martin had a long running variety show from 65 all the way to 74 Although by 74 he was basically and morphed it into the man of the hour roasts format And his company produced a number of summer replacement shows Ronan Martin got their first shot in 1966 and a summer replacement show They were a big hit and of course they later got laughing in 1968 a 1930s themed show was created kind of based on old Broadway and and movie theater Musicals and it was called the gold diggers and some of those girls ended up as Oh the ding-a-ding girls the ding-a-ding sisters coming on a day on Dean's show So we then had the Bobby Darren amusement company and a lot of these shows had just goofy names in 1972 He actually got a second summer season in 73, but he died soon after that second season Dean Martin's comedy world 1974 presented comedy acts from around the globe Clips from Monty Python were shown their first appearance in the United States and The show the production company converted the show the Python shows from UK's pal format, which is separate format This is all gone because of digital now, but in the analog days It was a completely incompatible format to what you saw in the US Which allowed those shows to be easily sold to PPS later. Yep So Dean Martin was indirectly responsible for Monty Python success. Thank you Dean. Yeah Replacement shows often came from someone with a top 40 hit at the time. Yes, many of which became one hit wonders So here are some of those shows The Sonny and Cher comedy hour in 1971 which started as a summer replacement for the venerable Ed Sullivan show With such a hit they got a regular series along with later a divorce and later separate series Mm-hmm, and when they split up their replacement was Tony, Orlando and Don 1974 classic example of a one-hit wonder Later tried to run the show during the regular season, which was also a pattern. It didn't survive I remember watching Sonny and Cher and Tony Ireland. Oh, yeah, absolutely Yes, the Jerry Reed when you're hot you're hot hour 1972 based on his one hit A replacement for the Glen Campbell good time hour Glenn got his start on the Smothers Brothers as a summer replacement back in 68 I can't say I remember either Jerry Reed or I know who Glenn Campbell was I remember watching the Glen Campbell good time hour because that had become a like a regular fall series The Ken Berry wow show 1972 Mary Berry RFD had just been canceled despite being in the top 20 And this is all because of the rural purge Which was this concept where CBS had the hugely high ratings and then these Demographers came in and said you're not getting the right audience. You're getting old rural audiences that don't spend money So they cleared out all their rural shows that was referred to as the rural purge and So baby RFD was just one of those shows that got cut out So he needed a job fast because he was like, you know, I'm gonna have next season You know, I have a certain standard of living what I don't have a job anymore. Yes Joey and dad 1975 I wish I had seen this a Summer replacement for shares solo show after they got divorced Uh-huh a bizarre concept Joey Heatherton Bob Hope regular and showgirl along with her real dad Ray Who was on a 50s kids show As a variety team Here's the weird part at one point Monty again money python the dead parrot sketch was read almost verbatim by Pat Paulson from the Smothers Brothers and Sherman Hemsley of the Jefferson. Okay, that might have been interesting It ran for four whole weeks and then it was what play so you actually replaced a summer replacement By the Manhattan transfer in 1975 a jazz singing quartet, which also flopped in four weeks. Okay share Supposedly blames those two shows failure to force her to get back with Sonny to give another variety series Where they truly and visibly hated each other as opposed to the bit they used to do with a night in each other Now they hated each other and you can see it Shields and yarn L 1977 who doesn't love mimes Everyone a married couple and mine performers It actually became a hit and was brought back as a mid-season replacement that quickly died I do remember that show as well and as a result the couple broke up and then never made it as solo acts Because again mines right the Starland vocal band show 1977 another one hit wonder afternoon delight Along with a few minor comedians you might have heard of like David Letterman and Michael Keaton were both Bit players on this show Weren't they like writers who were sort of also writer writer performers. Yeah, yeah So that's something I think you can actually find little bits on YouTube somewhere of this Just a trot show which had these two huge would soon be huge performers So with variety shows possible of making a comeback because you've got Neil Patrick Harris Getting a show this fall. Yeah, could shows like this be making a comeback probably not. I don't think so And so if you do, you know, they do make a comeback, but you don't want to watch them instead You can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast network.com from the pop culture bunker. I'm Nadine and I'm Mark. Thanks for watching