Author | Message |
Most of early Television is lost/destroyed Reading up on the early years of TV, I find it a shame that most early TV has been destroyed. No one believed that anyone would care about that stuff and had any value for the future. First episodes, actors first appearance, singers first performances all gone. One of the earliest networks, the DuMont Network which started in 1946 along with NBC; well before CBS and ABC. The DuMont Network ended in 1956. Of the four major networks it was not common practice to save various programs. DuMont was a network who saved a lot of stuff. That was until the mid 70s after the library was purchased by ABC. Well they found no need for it and dumped everything in the NY East River. Even up until the late 70s the networks were reusing tapes to save money. Most of the Tonight Show with Jack Paar was not saved. Johnny Carson requested that they tape over all of his shows to save money. It wasn't until 1973 where that practice stopped. A lot of early TV soap operas are lost since they came on daily. They'd just tape over the previous episode. Even shows that come on today from the 50's some episodes are missing. They just rediscovered some episodes of the Honeymooners a few years back. The first sitcom is floating in the NYC river. Johnny Carson first show, taped over. A shame really. PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever ----- Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It reminds me about the same problem within the BBC in the UK. Plently of classic episodes of Doctor Who from the First Doctor & Second Doctor eras are still lost and/or missing. [Edited 2/15/18 19:19pm] | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I just find it crazy. You pay all this money for these productions than once it's aired, you re-use the tape. And over and over and over Imagine if they did that to music back in the day. PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever ----- Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
It's a shame but it was the times. You are talking about them getting rid of stuff in the 70's, no internet, DVD's and so once it aired that was it. There were VCR's in the 70's but really didn't boom until the 80's. What about all the soap operas (As the world turns, Guiding light and so on) doubt if ALL episodes survived. [Edited 2/15/18 18:46pm] | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
kpowers said: It's a shame but it was the times. You are talking about them getting rid of stuff in the 70's, no internet, DVD's and so once it aired that was it. There were VCR's in the 70's but really didn't boom until the 80's. What about all the soap operas (As the world turns, Guiding light and so on) doubt if ALL episodes survived. [Edited 2/15/18 18:46pm] But they kept some things around. Why not all o it. PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever ----- Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
OK, but do they exist??? | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Not sure. These are all on tapes that are 50 years plus old?????Maybe they got ruined??? I've heard some stuff have been destroyed like some episodes of Dark Shadows. Out of 1225 episodes of Dark Shadows, this is the only episode where there is no surviving video. 1219
Bramwell marries Daphne, whilst Catherine learns she is pregnant with his child. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
kpowers said:
OK, but do they exist??? They don't. Most early soap especially something that aired 5 times a week was recorded over. PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever ----- Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
No comment. FOOLS multiply when WISE Men & Women are silent. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Same with early film, 2/3rds of the silents are gone. The biggest loss with early television is the live plays that are gone. Unfortunately shows like Burns and Allen didn't film their early seasons and only kinescopes survive. The world is blessed that Desi Arnaz had the foresight to shoot I Love Lucy on film so it could be immortalized. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Are you posting that on every thread you're not commenting on? Hey loudmouth, shut the fuck up, right? | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Yep, for some BBC shows like Steptoe they found some home recorded copies, this would have been late 60s. But in general a lot of shows were recorded over. Plus tape degrades overtime too. Best idea is to digitize everything now whilst they can. | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Hudson said: Same with early film, 2/3rds of the silents are gone. The biggest loss with early television is the live plays that are gone. Unfortunately shows like Burns and Allen didn't film their early seasons and only kinescopes survive. The world is blessed that Desi Arnaz had the foresight to shoot I Love Lucy on film so it could be immortalized. Burns and Allen still exist in some format. Most of the first sitcom Mary Kay and Johnny was destroyed. The soap Edge of the Night is mostly gone. Some of the earlier episodes are around. PRINCE: Always and Forever
MICHAEL JACKSON: Always and Forever ----- Live Your Life How U Wanna Live It | |
- E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |