TV Land
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This article is about the American cable specialty channel, for the Canadian cable specialty channel see; TV Land Canada.
| TV Land | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | April 29, 1996 |
| Owned by | (Viacom) |
| Slogan | Here for the TV Generation |
| Sister channel(s) | Nickelodeon, Nick-at-Nite, CMT, Spike TV |
| Website | TV Land |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| UHF-TV Inc. (Willmar, Minnesota) | K17FA Channel 17 |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | Channel 301 |
| Dish Network | Channel 106 |
| Cable | |
| Available on most cable systems | Check Local Listings for channels |
TV Land (originally Nick at Nite's TV Land) is an American cable television network launched April 29, 1996. [1]It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Noggin.
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[edit] Origins
Building on the success and popularity of Nick at Nite, TV Land premiered in the first quarter of 1996, delivering classic situation comedies, dramas, variety shows and memorable TV programming 24 hours a day. The network featured a variety of television programming from the 1950s through the 1990s. Its inaugural season featured the Emmy Award-winning Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere and The Ed Sullivan Show, and the popular series Gunsmoke and The Honeymooners. Great detectives were featured every Saturday, with programs including Dog and Cat, Burke's Law, Nero Wolfe (1981) and Ace Crawford, Private Eye. "TV Land Goes West" presented Shane, Barbary Coast, Have Gun, Will Travel and Best of the West. "Hooterville Saturday" featured Petticoat Junction and Green Acres; and "Sunday in the Barracks" laughed with the military in The Phil Silvers Show and Hogan's Heroes.[2]
The network initially was a mix of classic TV and short-lived series, often from the Paramount library. [3] In 1999, a deal with Universal provided the programmers the ability to "cherry-pick" from a variety of series including Emergency!, Kojak and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries.
In February 1999 TV Land's primetime averaged a 1.0 in cable homes, tying ESPN for 10th place among all cable networks. Its siblings, MTV and VH1, tied for 17th and 26th place, respectively.
"That February rating put TV Land into the top 10 for the first time since it began operating," John Dempsey reported for Variety, "and opened the eyes of the cable industry to the rich vein of golden-oldie TV shows that distributors are mining for an audience of nostalgia buffs and kids who are stumbling across the series for the first time."[4]
TV Land celebrated its 10th anniversary on April 29, 2006.
[edit] Programming
Currently, TV Land's programming primarily consists of reruns of television series such as I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, The Munsters, The Andy Griffith Show, Little House on the Prairie, and Gunsmoke.
Starting in 2007, the network began targeting Baby boomers, airing programming from all eras of television; what Boomers watched growing up, and what they watch now. The network no longer labels itself as a "Classic TV" network. Results of this switch were acquisitions of Star Trek and M*A*S*H, both older shows popular among baby boomers. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was acquired in August 2007, and Just Shoot Me!, Mad About You, Murphy Brown and Scrubs were all recent shows acquired for 2008; classic shows The Beverly Hillbillies and Hogan's Heroes were acquired (or re-acquired) as well. Designing Women was borrowed from Nick at Nite and began airing in October, 2007. The network plans to begin airing original programming targeted towards Boomers in 2008 with a revival of The WB's High School Reunion (which features reunions of older classes than the original series) and a modeling show. Accompanying this strategy was a refresh of the network's graphic identity, designed and conceived by Trollback + Company, who also created its earlier look in 2000.
More recently TV Land has aired some original programing, including Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg, TV Land Legends: The 60 Minutes Interviews and I Pity The Fool.
For several years the station broadcast old advertisements, called "TV Land Retromercials." Examples of advertisements aired are the "Mamma mia, that's a spicy meatball!" from Alka-Seltzer and "In Soviet Georgia" from Dannon yogurt, as well as the animated Tootsie Pop owl. Some retromercials have included future stars like Judd Hirsch, Rene Russo, Roy Scheider and Jodie Foster. Interspersed with the classic commercials were fictional retro-style commercials for various substances, almost always brand named "Twip." Retromercials have not surfaced on TV Land in recent years. In early years, current commercials were not shown on TV Land. Also featured frequently during "commercial" breaks were CBS News' In the News segments from the 1970s and 1980s.
TV Land often airs marathon weekends devoted to a single program. In the early 2000s, TV Land aired special programming blocks on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day: the final day of the year would revolve around final episodes of classic television series, and the first day of the new year would air exclusively pilot episodes.
When a program deemed particularly important is airing on another network, TV Land would sometimes air nonsense programming (such as footage of staff members holding signs or wearing T-shirts) to encourage viewers to watch the network programming. Recent examples include the series finales of Friends (2004) and Everybody Loves Raymond (2005). The network went dark during the last episode of Seinfeld (1998).
Harry Shearer is the regular announcer for the network promos. The original announcer was DJ Dan Ingram.
[edit] TV Land Awards
TV Land has been the broadcast home for the TV Land Awards show since the show's inception in 2003. The TV Land Awards are celebration of past classic TV shows and TV stars. The TV Land Awards also broadcasts simultaneously on Nick at Nite.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Bianculli, David, "Oldies Net Loaded with Goodies"; New York Daily News, March 19, 1996
- ^ "Nick at Night's TV Land joins U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Lineup"; Business Wire, April 30, 1996
- ^ TV Land archives on Freewebs (1996–2004)
- ^ Dempsey, John, "It's Boom(er) Time for TV Land"; Variety, March 8–14, 1999
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