PBS Oldies Night---Questions and Comments

**daviddesper** · 08-09-2014, 11:55 PM

My local PBS station tonight ran three two-hour shows back to back. The primary focus was on Doo Wop music, but there were other treats as well, such as Barbara Harris and the Toys, The Ronettes, Lala and the Crystals, and for pop lovers, an amazing performance of Cara Mia by a still vocally impressive Jay Black.

So that made me stop and think. Could a weekly music variety show featuring classic oldies make it on network TV? Goodness knows we would have hundreds of artists to choose from so the well would never run dry. I know today's teenagers and young people would never give it a second thought, so that could be the killer, but I would like to think that there is still a market out there to watch either old clips or live performances of our old favorites. There could be features showing what they are doing today, chart countdowns from days gone by, etc.

Could it work or am I just posing this question because tonight has been a 60s night?

**marv2** · 08-10-2014, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by daviddesper

My local PBS station tonight ran three two-hour shows back to back. The primary focus was on Doo Wop music, but there were other treats as well, such as Barbara Harris and the Toys, The Ronettes, Lala and the Crystals, and for pop lovers, an amazing performance of Cara Mia by a still vocally impressive Jay Black.

So that made me stop and think. Could a weekly music variety show featuring classic oldies make it on network TV? Goodness knows we would have hundreds of artists to choose from so the well would never run dry. I know today's teenagers and young people would never give it a second thought, so that could be the killer, but I would like to think that there is still a market out there to watch either old clips or live performances of our old favorites. There could be features showing what they are doing today, chart countdowns from days gone by, etc.

Could it work or am I just posing this question because tonight has been a 60s night?

Great concept, I like it.....................I love TJ's shows, but I do not believe it would work on commercial network television [[PBS is a network by the way.). The commercial networks would never give it a chance because they are still chasing a "younger" demographic whether it makes sense or not to do so.

**splanky** · 08-10-2014, 09:13 AM

I don't watch Tv so I wouldn't have seen this. Let me correct that-the only tv I watch is shows
posted on sites like youtube. I do like to go back and view earlier episodes of The Cosby Show, What's Happenin', The Arsenio Hall Show, etc. I'd defintely watch something like this if it was web hosted. That way nobody would have to worry much about chasing after
younger demographics. Let the kids have their own stuff, whatever keeps them from killing each other...

**milven** · 08-10-2014, 09:51 AM

Last week I watched an entire Time-Life infomercial selling their CD. I was hooked on the pristine clips they had of some of my favorite songs and artists. My thought at the time was that it would be nice if TV LAND put on some kind of talk / variety show using clips like this and also getting some of the surviving artists like Paul Anka, Johnny Mathis, Martha Reeves Ben E King- popular artists of soul, rock and roll and easy listening.

TV LAND caters to an older audience. This week, they are starting a new version of CANDID CAMERA. A show like this would be a good fit with TV LAND.

**marv2** · 08-10-2014, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by splanky

I don't watch Tv so I wouldn't have seen this. Let me correct that-the only tv I watch is shows
posted on sites like youtube. I do like to go back and view earlier episodes of The Cosby Show, What's Happenin', The Arsenio Hall Show, etc. I'd defintely watch something like this if it was web hosted. That way nobody would have to worry much about chasing after
younger demographics. Let the kids have their own stuff, whatever keeps them from killing each other...

Splanky, now that is an even better idea! I don't watch commercial network television and haven't much since probably the early to mid 90's. I watch programs on HULU.com and Netflix, some foreign television via the internet etc. They do have original programming just for internet sites like HULU.

**stephanie** · 08-11-2014, 01:26 AM

The closest we have gotten to something like this is Hit Me Baby One more Time and I saw Shalamar , Wang Chung [[who is still good by the way check them out on youtube) and groups from the 80s. It didnt last long but I think with all of the high pledges PBS gets and a generation dying for good music it could work.