Production Order VS. Broadcast Order

[Dayton Ward]

It ran in a weird order for a while when I was a kid in Tampa. I knew because I had a copy of the first edition Star Trek Compendium which had the eps listed in production order, and this was the first reference I had which gave me that info (this woud've been between the time of TMP and STII in theaters). They'd run them every day during the week, and those eps would be in order, but then the next week would come and they'd either skip some or else go back to earlier eps. There was no discernible pattern, though it seemed that they mostly ran in order within a M-F block.

I don't know if somebody wrote or called the local station to get it fixed, but when it shifted from running every weekday to Saturdays at noon for a while, the schedule reflected production order, and stayed that way when it went back to every weekday. Looking back on it, I figure the guy at the station was just stoned.

 

[JustKate]

^ Ooh! Was he a space hippie, perchance?

 

[Dayton Ward]

He was not Herbert, at any rate. I mean, he was running Star Trek, so he couldn't be all bad....right?

 

[Grant]

Yeah, I believe that some knucklehead might run them for a while randomly before somebody at the stationm noticed and said,
"hey, they're numbered, dumb-ass, if you keep showing And the Children Shall Lead---they'll tune out"

But running for a decade randomly---no way.

Also, I agree, the monday-friday was always in order, but the weekend showings they might have tended to dump the weak episodes in favor of more popular episodes like 'City...'

 

[milo bloom]

No panties in a bunch----i simply don't believe you.

They didn't send them to an affiliate numbered and they ignored it and ran it 'random' for any length of time.

Maybe for a short time some idiot didn't pay attention, but to think they'd just play them throughout the 1970s in random order---not buying it for a minute.

It also presupposes you knew the production order and knew the airdate order and then noticed it was neither---i don't buy it, sorry.

If other folks want to believe your assertion good for them, I don't take posters word as valid when it makes no sense.

Now you can post again and pretend how 'upset' I am, but me not believing some nonsense story on the internet doesn't upset me in the least.

In the late 90's, early 00's, Cartoon Network briefly held the rights to show Robotech as part of their anime block. This is a network dedicated to animated series, showing one of the seminal anime series of all time*, a series told very much in a A > B > C plotline fashion...

and they showed the first several eps out of order.

If that could happen on a big network, in the modern TV era, I can very much believe some dude half paying attention at a TV station would throw in whatever episode he felt like, disregarding both production numbers and airdates.


*regardless of what you think about it, it made an impact.

 

[Grant]

for a decade? Nobody is in charge of plugging in the episodes for that long at an affiliate and doing a poor job of it, to boot.

Sure, it can/could happen, but not as a policy or for a very long period of time.

It was very important to make sure the viewers didn't see the same episode too often. It really was. Especially for series with very limited runs---like 79 episodes.

That was one reason Paramount had very little faith in TOS as a long-term syndication prospect--not enough episodes.

Glad to be one of the many who made them realize they were wrong!

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Well, we don't know the specifics of the market in which the guy lived. For all we know, the station was owned by some jackball who only liked 20 or 30 of the episodes, so that's what he/she aired (between bong hits, or whatever).

Thankfully, the days of sporadic reruns and hoping your favorite would come on sometime soon are long behind us. Vive la DVD.

 

[ToddPence]

I remember our local affiliate DC-20 showed the reruns for several years in the early 1970's. Round about 1976, the station brass gets together and says, "Okay, a 79-episode series we've been running for several years, time to put it to bed and get another fresh rerun in that slot."
Bad idea. As soon as Star Trek went off, the station was FLOODED with letters from angry Trek fans. I remember a haggard Captain 20 coming on the air to explain to the viewers why Trek wasn't running any more. I think within a week it was back on the air again.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Reverse production order, beginning with episode 79 going all the way back to the beginning. That way the show gets better and better.

 

[milo bloom]

I remember our local affiliate DC-20 showed the reruns for several years in the early 1970's. Round about 1976, the station brass gets together and says, "Okay, a 79-episode series we've been running for several years, time to put it to bed and get another fresh rerun in that slot."
Bad idea. As soon as Star Trek went off, the station was FLOODED with letters from angry Trek fans. I remember a haggard Captain 20 coming on the air to explain to the viewers why Trek wasn't running any more. I think within a week it was back on the air again.

The local Fox affiliate did this with the 6 PM showing of The Simpsons a few years back. It didn't last long either.

 

[Riverside2233]

I have to say I prefer viewing the TOS episodes in production order over original broadcast order if only because (for example) in the third season, Scotty's hair mysteriously changes styles between some of the episodes.



Who's with me?!

I would have to agree. I just started watching season 1 of TOS for the first time ever on Netflix which is, of course, broadcast order, and when I made it to "Where No Man Has Gone Before," I was quite confused about the sudden change...lol.

 

[Green Shirt]

6 years later and its still not settled.

 

[Maurice]

Zombie thread 6.5 years old. Let it rot in pieces.

 

[1001001]

I would have to agree. I just started watching season 1 of TOS for the first time ever on Netflix which is, of course, broadcast order, and when I made it to "Where No Man Has Gone Before," I was quite confused about the sudden change...lol.

First, Welcome to the TrekBBS.

Second, please don't bump long-dead threads. This one hadn't had a reply in over 6 years, and OP hasn't been here in 5 years. If a topic interests you, feel free to start a new conversation.

Thanks!



"Hailing Frequencies Closed"