Brian Coltrane Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 The word is getting around that TNN will hit the air again this summer. For those of y'all who are too young to remember it, TNN used to carry the Dukes before CMT picked it up. And while CMT has been good to the Dukes - most notably sponsoring DukesFest in 2005 - their programming has been moving into more reality tv and airing of 20-year old movies. For the past couple years, CMT has had the Dukes of Hazzard on the backburner, parking it in 1 and 2 am Eastern time slots, right before the sleezy infomercials. Years before CMT picked it up, TNN aired the Dukes. TNN butchered the heck out of Dukes eps for more commerical time, but other than that, they aired the show during prime hours and treated it well. In fact, it was TNN that truly brought the Dukes of Hazzard to new generations of fans. I give CMT credit for picking up the Dukes torch and keeping it going, though. Is there any chance TNN will air the Dukes again? Hard to say. TNN is not returning as a cable channel - it's returning via digital broadcast affiliates, and it sounds like they're dusting off some of their old programs for reruns. Meanwhile, the Dukes are part of a package of syndicated programs that are licensed in a bundle. For TNN to aquire the Dukes, it would have to aquire whatever bundle the Dukes came in. (It's not impossible for a show to be licensed by itself but these days it's less common.) This is how ABC Family Channel ended up owning the rights to Dukes a few years ago - and they sat on it and never aired it. Frankly it was a party when CMT got the rights again and put it back on the air. Dukes of Hazzard aside, it's still good news that TNN is coming back. You can view an article about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Coltrane Posted April 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 Speaking of TNN, anybody remember "Prime Time Country" with host Tom Wopat? Here's a clip of the 1996 airing, with John Schneider and Denver Pyle as guests. I found a 10 minute clip of that show on YouTube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrygirl1986 Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 For TNN to aquire the Dukes, it would have to aquire whatever bundle the Dukes came in. (It's not impossible for a show to be licensed by itself but these days it's less common.) This is how ABC Family Channel ended up owning the rights to Dukes a few years ago - and they sat on it and never aired it. Frankly it was a party when CMT got the rights again and put it back on the air. Actually Brian, ABC Family did air the Dukes... but it was in the 2-3 am slot, and there was no guarantee that was the show they were going to air on any given night (and they didn't submit it to TV Guide). They also had a lovely banner they put before the show any time it aired, even coming off the commercials stating that the show did not represent their views.I only know this because I stumbled across it during a 2am channel surfing session... well more than one, but when I went to watch it again another night after finding it, or the next week, it wasn't on, then it would be on the following week and so forth. It was usually around 2 am on Saturday or Sunday if they were going to show it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Redneck Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 This has got me excited. I am glad that someone is resurrecting the The Nashville Network. I loved TNN back in the day when it was owned by Gaylord ( parent company of the Grand Ol Opry) I know the viewership will take a while to establish since most people have cable or satellite. Digital subchannels are not very well known or marketed that much, sort of like HD radio. There are a lot of subchannels but most are not available in all areas. I have DirecTV and added an antenna since my local channels aren't avaialble in HD. I ended up picking up numerous subchannels from the antenna that I wouldn't get with just DirecTV. I get our local accuweather channel, numerous extra ION and PBS channels and my favorite MEtv. MEtv is my favorite with all the old classic TV shows especially Kojak and Rockford Files plus a Saturday night horror movie hosted by an awesome host called Svengoolie. I always wanted RetroTV but none of area chnnels are affliated with it. But I am glad I get MEtv since they have better programming with the old TV shows now than RetroTV (although they have Movin' On and Starskey and Hutch).I'm gone Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrygirl1986 Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 In other words, they treated the show horribly. It would have been better had they just sat on it instead of using it as "Filler Programming." If and when it aired, it was labeled as "Paid Programming" on TV Guide. Hence, of course, why it was so easily over looked.I would have posted comments about that years ago when ABC Family owned the rights to the show, but at the time I had no internet access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Coltrane Posted April 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 I wonder if the Family Channel ever aired it in my area...never seemed to find it on the listings. But if it was on so infrequently it's no wonder. Thanks for the info CountryGirl.Capt, you're talking me into getting an antenna for digital broadcast tv. I let cable go last year and I haven't missed it too much. But if TNN gets picked up in my area I'll be looking into this. Got my fingers crossed. I also think it'll be good news for Nashville - that town used to enjoy incredible advertising and tourism while TNN was on the air. Since Ben Jones has a Dukes store/museum in Nashville he could benefit from a revived TNN as well. I wonder if we'll see commercials for Cooter's Place on TV?Hmm. Maybe we'll see commercials for HazzardNet on tv. Gotta talk to Mufn about our budget... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrygirl1986 Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 Like I said Brian, you wouldn't have found it on the listings. When they aired it, it was labeled as "Paid Programming." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowmufn Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 I absolutely LIVE on MeTV. Best durn thing to happen to television, IMO. LOL. The Rifleman, Kojak, and Rockford is on during the week in the afternoon and Cheers, The Odd Couple, Honeymooners, and Twilight Zone in the evening. Saturdays evenings are full with Batman, Lost In Space, Star Trek, Svengoolie, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Get Smart. I haven't watched this much tv in years. LOL. It's much better than most of the new stuff they're putting out. Heck, they're trying to do reboots of a lot of these shows and failing miserably because they don't have the same chemistry and charm as the originals.What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, TNN. I loved TNN when it was on the air. We do have an antenna, so we might be checking it out when it's back on the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrygirl1986 Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Easily distracted much Mufn? LOL Skipper Duke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Redneck Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Mufn, isn't MEtv an awesome channel. I hope that they dont start updating the programming to the 80s. I got my 9 year old son into Svengoolie. We both love watching him as there are no horrr hosts on TV any more. We camp out every Saturday night with sleeping bags in front of the TV watching all the old Universal horror movies. Brian, get an antenna. Got rabbit ears from Walmart a few years ago when we first got DirecTV. We had to get a seperate componet from DirecTV to intergrate the channels into the onscreen menu but it was worth it. New boxes now I don't think you need it. I might try a different hdtv antenna soon but I am happy just to get my locals in HD from the the antenna. Supposedly my market will get the locals in HD on DirecTV in 2012, they have been saying that since 2008.I'm goneDarrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meadowmufn Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 Mufn, isn't MEtv an awesome channel. I hope that they dont start updating the programming to the 80s.Most definitely. It's basically the ONLY reason we still have cable at the moment. If we can get a better antenna that picks up MeTV (we have a hill in the way), we'd dump cable altogether and live off MeTV and Netflix streaming. Classic TV heaven. I don't mind some 80's programming like Magnum PI, Simon & Simon, Dukes, etc, but yeah, there's plenty of 80's tv I wouldn't want on there. LOL. That's where TV Land went wrong, putting more recent shows on (Boston Legal? Really?) and all these new "original programming" and reality tv shows. I'm content with the 50's, 60's, and 70's. On nights I'm up late, I've caught some Mission Impossible, 12 O' Clock High, and Combat! too. In fact, the Combat! episode with Jimmie was on just a few weeks ago, as was the Jess-Belle episode of Twilight Zone. There are always very recognizable character actors on those old shows... some who've even been on Dukes! My hubby and I love old horror/sci-fi/b movies, so we catch Svengoolie every Saturday. We pop up some popcorn and turn the lights off. Saturday is definitely "family viewing" night in our household. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryAnne Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 First of all, yeeehaw that TNN is comin' back! Second, MeTV is on frequently in my house. And I even get to watch it on my lunch hour at work. LOL. Tho' as much as I like Frank Cannon if I don't get back to going for walks on my lunch hour I will LOOK like Frank Cannon before it's over with... And lastly, I'm amazed that as we sit here in 2012 with digital cable, satellite tv and all, that we can still talk of having rabbit ears for the tv... LOL Skipper Duke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Redneck Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 And lastly, I'm amazed that as we sit here in 2012 with digital cable, satellite tv and all, that we can still talk of having rabbit ears for the tv... LOLI know it does look a bit funny with my HDTV and home theater set up that I have rabbit ears in there. Dang DirecTV doesn't offer my local channels in HD but I pull them in HD from the rabbit ears. I also pull a lot of the digital subchannels too. If DirecTV had the locals in HD I would never had gotten the rabbit ears and then never would have gotten MeTV...I'm goneDarrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Coltrane Posted May 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 I'm gonna look into it. I don't mind investing in the antenna if the programming is free! Especially for TNN. Skipper Duke 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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