Does anyone know why CMT is refusing to show the Vance and Coy eps?

[atlfan]

This makes the third time they are being skipped. Now don't get me wrong I hated the time Tom and John were away too, but they made their choice and did what they felt was right. Having said that it is not fair to the folks that worked on those shows to not have their part of Dukes history shown. CMT needs to rectify this now and give this show proper respect by showing all episodes, evem if they are edited in spots.

Robbie

[Brian Coltrane]

Howdy atlfan,

Same thing came up on another post, so you're not alone in your thoughts. Basically CMT has been using Dukes episides to fill in the 1 a.m and 2 a.m. timeslots for quite a while. And the days the show is aired varies widely; sometimes it's on Saturdays, sometimes not. Sometimes it's only aired during the first part of the week, like Monday thru Wed...but lately it's been on Thurs and Fridays too. The sequence of episodes is random, and yes, they're ignoring the Coy & Vance era. No disrepect but I can understand why; the viewership is probably very scant for those episodes.

While we're glad CMT is showing the Dukes at all, we'd love to see them in a better timeslot since this is a family show. Our prior efforts to contact the program director at CMT were met with a brick wall. As I said to the other poster, I'll try again, but I won't be holding my breath for an answer.

Naturally, as soon as we hear something about changes to the Dukes timeslots with CMT we'll let you know. Every now and then I post a CMT update on the homepage, so check there as well, and check your local cable listings for the most up-to-date scheduling in your area.

[RogerDuke]

I wonder if CMT has to pay for each show they air or if they pay for the rights and then can air as many episodes as they want anytime they want.

I have Dish network and they have something called RFD TV. They play episodes of Hee Haw....in fact they recently had a young Waylon on.

It would be nice if a network played Dukes on a regular basis but not everybody gets RFD TV and they probably couldn't afford to buy the rights to Dukes. I know the idea of TVLAND getting Dukes has come up here before. That would be nice.

I really like watching the Dukes when I know others are watching the same episode at the same time. For some reason I just feel more connected to Hazzard County when I know other fans are smiling at the same time I am.

[roy1elvis]

I'm curious to see if the Dukes continue on CMT. I started recording a few months ago and noticed that the first one I recorded was like episode 6 or 7 -- right after they moved back to Cali. Now -- according to the IMDB schedule -- it is coming full circle and the first five GA eps are due to replay before the month is out. And, they not only skipped Vance and Coy (18 episodes, I believe), but a handful of others (unless my DVR happened to be recording something else?). In the past; I've noticed many networks will move on to another series once they have aired the full run. Any thoughts on this? Has CMT been airing the series for longer than the past few months? My 3 year old is becoming an addict and am thinking the DVD sets are going to start rolling in from Santa come Christmas!

[Brian Coltrane]

I'm curious to see if the Dukes continue on CMT. I started recording a few months ago and noticed that the first one I recorded was like episode 6 or 7 -- right after they moved back to Cali. Now -- according to the IMDB schedule -- it is coming full circle and the first five GA eps are due to replay before the month is out. And, they not only skipped Vance and Coy (18 episodes, I believe), but a handful of others (unless my DVR happened to be recording something else?). In the past; I've noticed many networks will move on to another series once they have aired the full run. Any thoughts on this? Has CMT been airing the series for longer than the past few months? My 3 year old is becoming an addict and am thinking the DVD sets are going to start rolling in from Santa come Christmas!

I haven't been able to find any confirmation of airings past the last week of November. Doesn't mean there won't be airings, but 2 weeks out is about as far out as any of the sites go.

CMT has been airing this round of The Dukes of Hazzard for at least a year. Previously, there was a dry spell of what...2 years, 3, where nobody was airing Dukes, though ABC family channel held the syndication rights.

Prior to the dry spell, CMT had aired the Dukes for years, and had even sponsored "DukesFest" a time or two.

Here's what I know of the TV syndication system. These shows are sold in large batches. Dukes of Hazzard is one show in a pile that gets traded back and forth, with other programs like, "Married with Children" and so on. Sometimes a network will buy the airing rights to a pool of shows when it really wants just a couple of them. This is probably why the Dukes weren't on the air back when ABC had the broadcast rights; ABC bought the pool it was in, but apparently not for Dukes.

Syndication is now more complicated than ever due to online streaming. Competiton between cable providers, channel networks, Hulu and Netflix is fierce.

What's that mean for the future of The Dukes of Hazzard on TV? We don't know, frankly. I suspect that CMT and other broadcast/streaming venues are working out their 2012-2013 contracts as we speak.

The hope I have for CMT/Dukes continuing together, rests with the fact that CMT uses John Schneider in "Trick My What?" and seems aware of the strong fan base that The Dukes of Hazzard has commanded for 30 years. That doesn't mean they won't give up Dukes for awhile of it becomes financially unfeasible to renew it with the syndication pool it's in. After all, they're getting into producing their own shows, and relying less on syndicated content.

Long winded way of saying, YES, by all means, buy the Dukes of Hazzard DVD's because then the show is yours forever. Maybe Dukes of Hazzard will be available for viewing via online streaming eventually, but even those contracts don't run forever. I've seen shows go in and out of Hulu on 1 and 2 year cycles.