Monday, June 27, 2011

Retro shuffles the deck!

My good friend Ivan Shreve at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear first tipped this a few weeks back when he linked to another blog, Cultureshark, with hints that Retro would be changing its lineup, something that only happens every so often, and not often enough to suit, at least in this writer's opinion.

Retro has cleared out the Universal library that had dominated their schedule for the better part of the last couple of years, and added some new shows, some of which I've never had the privelege of seeing, and some I have.

They now start their broadcast day around 8 in my district, but I haven't the programming committed to memory just yet. However, this is what is on the docket from 9 am (ET) forward (Albany NY market; your area may vary):

9-10: Daytime
10-11: Celebrity Kitchens (new--2 back-to-back episodes)
11-12: The Rifleman (2 back-to-back episodes)
12 noon: The Adventures of Robin Hood
12:30: Peter Gunn (new time)
1: The Bill Cosby Show (new time; previously has aired on weekends in this market).
1:30: Zorro (Originally aired on the Family Channel (now ABC Family) in the 1990's)
2-3: Movin' On. Claude Akins & Frank Converse starred in this 1974 NBC offering, better known for its theme song, sung by country legend Merle Haggard.

3-4: Naked City
4-5: Route 66
5-6: I Spy (new time)
6-8: Daniel Boone (new time; 2 back-to-back episodes)
8-9: Starsky & Hutch
9-10: Police Story

10-11: The Saint. One of my personal favorites. I spent a few Thursday nights during my senior year in high school falling asleep watching the repeats on The CBS Late Movie. Just for fun, here's a sample of the kick-ass open, uploaded by fabriciojiminez:



11-12: DaVinci's Inquest. Recent vintage, aired in syndication not too long ago to cash in on the movie, "The DaVinci Code".

12 midnight-1: Cold Case Files. Originally aired on A & E, then was released to general syndication this past year.

By the end of the week, I'll know what the weekend schedules should look like, aside from the Saturday cartoon lineup (assuming that remains). All I know now, though, is that I'll be watching The Saint pretty regularly. You'll notice that the schedule now has a decided Sony Pictures flavor, what with the former Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures Television entries and some series (i.e. Starsky & Hutch) in the control of Sony. Tell yer friends!

2 comments:

Scoobyfan1 said...

We just switched recently from Digital Cable to DirecTV, and I had noticed that. On our cable system, KIRO 7 operated the local RTV affiliate, which was a pretty decent channel for a while.

Back when they had the CBS library of shows, they had a good lineup, but ever since that contract ended, it seemed like RTV has gone down the preverbial crapper as far as the schedule goes.

My parents loved watching Hawaii Five O, Wild Wild West, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, etc.; but of course those shows left and we got shows like Adam 12, Dragnet, Battlestar Galactica, Robin Hood, etc.

My parents liked those shows too, but now some of those are leaving the schedule, so it's like why bother watching the channel anymore?

I am hoping DirecTV adds KVOS in Bellingham, Washington which carries Me-TV network's programming to their local channel offerings. As I understand it, Me-TV has some pretty good shows, ones that I think my parents will enjoy.

hobbyfan said...

Since I originally posted this report, RTV has added Highway to Heaven, which is also on the Inspiration Channel and Gospel Music Channel. Time Warner, though, is ignoring and still has Daniel Boone listed at 7 on weeknights.

Personally, I'll be happy when they pick up some more Four Star series, like The Rogues, Honey West, Burke's Law, & Wanted: Dead or Alive.